FTcadence

Earlier this morning, Southwest announced that the airline will be partnering with Beats Music to offer free music to passengers.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2...-flights.html/

cgachuck

Would be so much better if they would fix the horrible and unusable WiFi speeds before adding new features. I wonder how long they are locked into their contract with Row 44. A switch to GoGo would be a dream for this CP holder!

sleasure

Three songs is it? Seems skimpy. And, with the bandwidth issues that already exist, hopefully this comes out of the Dish bandwidth bucket and not the WiFi allotment. The WiFi is already terrible as noted in other threads.

jbdear

.... ugh. I've almost given up using Wifi for anything productive. SO SLOW.

tusphotog

A switch to Gogo would likely mean the end of free wifi for us A list preferred folks....

cgachuck

That's fine. I already pay for the monthly pass with GoGo. I don't have such option with Row 44 and Southwest.

bofc

What good is "Free wifi" for A+ members if what you receive for free is basically worthless? PLEASE switch to GoGo. ASAP!

joshua362

The only potential advantage with Row 44 is gate to gate capability. But it clearly has to be acknowledged as broken & fixed if possible by the powers. As they are in clear denial about Devolve and Business seating, I won't hold breath.

Also, what person over the age of 6 does not travel without music today? A better option would be to stream Sirius/XM like AirTran did...

steved5480

As previously discussed in other threads, basic GoGo service is fed via antennas mounted <mostly> on terrestrial based cellular towers. Row44 OTOH is fed leased spectrum from geostationary satellites in the Ku band.

This is why GoGo doesn't consistently work while an aircraft is on the ground (antennas mounted on the belly of the plane & cell towers not typically right on adjacent airport property).

OTOH, a satellite service such as Row44 is not intrinsically evil and is not (simply by virtue of being satellite-fed) inherently "slow". Certainly the satellite service providers can and do charge based upon how much space a given user is consuming at the trough. I have no idea how much bandwidth Southwest has "purchased" from Row44; it seems reasonable to think "not enough". Although it does sometimes work. Sorta kinda.

It seems unlikely that Southwest will discard their Row44 equipment investment anytime soon, especially after recently performing this work on 500+/- aircraft.

Much like your landline-based internet connections at home or the office, you can generally go just about as fast as you can afford to go with satellite. Usually. With Google Fiber in the final stages of constructing an entire new plant with fiber all the way to my house, I will admit a tad bit of bias

sleasure

It is possible to stream SiriusXM as long as there is a WiFi connection on the aircraft. It may take a minute or two to get enough data in the buffer to make it work, but it does! I've managed to stay connected the entire time on cross country flights. The only time it stings are on flights to SJU, where the signal cuts out about halfway there.

N830MH

Actually, I always pay wifi for 24 hours pass, but not a monthly. Sometime I can used wifi, but not too often.

Toan

Anytime you add new equipment on a plane, it needs to be recertified, new manuals printed, checklist created. Doubtful they will do that for GoGo.

rsteinmetz70112

AirTran already did that for their 737s, probably others also.

joelangphoto

My friend just flew Southwest today from DAL to MDW and received free Beats headphones.

Have to say I'm a little jealous, three songs or not.

sleasure

Would be a nice gift to send out with the a-list preferred cards. Hint for our friends at the WN listening center.