Community
Wiki Posts
Search

FlyFi Performance

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Feb 27, 2016 | 8:06 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
FlyFi Performance

I thought I was doing the right thing by resurrecting a related thread for my question, but it appears now that the question wasn't clearly understood, and I'm concerned that the thread won't be revisited and therefore my clarification will remain unseen.

I'm trying to find out whether the advertised streaming of Amazon media via FlyFi performs well, with a minimum of stutter/rebuffering and good resolution. The flight's tonight (27 Feb 2016) and I need to start downloading now if performance is going to suck. I'd appreciate any experiences that can be shared.

If the equipment makes a difference, it's an A320. I don't know how (or even if it's possible) to obtain the tail number at this point.
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2016 | 9:24 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Programs: jetBlue TrueBlue, Marriott Rewards, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 2,164
I have no heard any complaints from any customers about the Amazon Service. I saw several people taking advantage of the Amazon Streaming Service last night. I think you will be happy with the performance.
JetBlueFA is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2016 | 10:06 am
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
Originally Posted by JetBlueFA
I have no heard any complaints from any customers about the Amazon Service. I saw several people taking advantage of the Amazon Streaming Service last night. I think you will be happy with the performance.
Thank you, JetBlueFA!
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2016 | 8:43 am
  #4  
All eyes on you!
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: SPG Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, JetBlue Mosaic, AA Platinum, National Executive Elite
Posts: 635
Yes, in general I've found FlyFi very reliable and the speeds are VASTLY superior to all other airlines WiFi--it's not even close!

Other airlines WiFi = 0.1-0.3mb GoGo connection (3/mb connection shared between everyone on plane)
JetBlue FlyFi WiFi = 12-15mb per user (~100/mb connection for entire plane)
moulder3 is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2016 | 9:13 pm
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
I had no issues using it BOS to LAS on Saturday. Streaming quality and surfing was completely normal using the "free" option. My wife did experience problems getting her iPad connected, but disabling and re-enabling her wifi adapter fixed it.
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  
Old Feb 29, 2016 | 10:25 pm
  #6  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
10 Countries Visited20 Countries Visited30 Countries Visited20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Originally Posted by Dodge DeBoulet
I thought I was doing the right thing by resurrecting a related thread for my question, but it appears now that the question wasn't clearly understood, and I'm concerned that the thread won't be revisited and therefore my clarification will remain unseen.
I completely understood your question.
sbm12 is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2016 | 9:01 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 880
My flight yesterday had fly-fi and speed was decent but the ping was bad. Around 700-800 ping. Overall for the free version I enjoyed it considering last time I flew wifi on planes was a pipe dream and considering the limitations I understood how it can be.
Closingracer is offline  
Old Mar 1, 2016 | 9:58 pm
  #8  
All eyes on you!
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: SPG Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, JetBlue Mosaic, AA Platinum, National Executive Elite
Posts: 635
Originally Posted by Closingracer
My flight yesterday had fly-fi and speed was decent but the ping was bad. Around 700-800 ping.
That will always be the downside of satellite-based internet service. It's physically impossible to bounce a signal off a satellite and have it travel back to Earth for less than ~600ms, because of the distance traveled.
moulder3 is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2016 | 6:09 am
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
Originally Posted by sbm12
I completely understood your question.
I do appreciate that you took the time to answer, but the question was not "how does it work," it was "how well does it work." You provided instructions, not an assessment.
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2016 | 10:49 am
  #10  
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,856
In my experience, Jetblue's FlyFi is vastly superior to Gogo and the system WN uses
CMK10 is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2016 | 1:46 pm
  #11  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
10 Countries Visited20 Countries Visited30 Countries Visited20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
Originally Posted by Dodge DeBoulet
I do appreciate that you took the time to answer, but the question was not "how does it work," it was "how well does it work." You provided instructions, not an assessment.
I thought the "do whatever you want" part was sufficient to cover that aspect of things. :-:
sbm12 is offline  
Old Mar 4, 2016 | 3:08 pm
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
Originally Posted by sbm12
I thought the "do whatever you want" part was sufficient to cover that aspect of things. :-:
Again, not a response that provides insight into the quality of the service, and I think the word "well" pretty clearly indicates what I was looking for.

Adding some qualifications to my criteria gave me the type of response I was expecting. In the future I'll be sure to spell things out.

Peace.
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  
Old Mar 8, 2016 | 6:11 am
  #13  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Exclusively OMNI/PR, for Reasons
Posts: 4,186
Figured I should at least follow up with my personal experience from Sunday afternoon/evening (flight 178 LAS->BOS).

Using the free option on an OG iPad Air, the Amazon Video app was a bit slow to display thumbnails, and initial buffering took a few seconds longer than on my home network. Once buffered, though, performance was very good with only very rare freezing/stuttering.

My Hulu experience wasn't quite as good, with longer times to display available selections and, at least initially for each selection, lower video quality and more frequent (albeit still rare) freezes/stuttering. It's obvious that there's some bandwidth management going on for services other than Amazon. Hulu content was still very watchable, though.

My SO had a bit of difficulty in getting her iPad 2 connected, but I'm inclined to think it was simply that she's less technically inclined and assumed that the connection was established as soon as the "Free" option was selected (it's not, there's one more button to click). Once that was resolved, she used Amazon with no further issues.

If my immediate seating area (rows 11-13) were representative of the the rest of the aircraft, I'd estimate that 20-25% of the passengers were using the service. I don't know how that compares to utilization across all flights, but it appears there's bandwidth to spare.

The overall experience was far superior to any I've had with GoGo. I'm looking forward to having this available on the E190s, since most of my travel on B6 is regional.

Nice job, JetBlue!
Dodge DeBoulet is offline  


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.