gogo spyware/malware??
 

I flew AS635 yesterday from PHX-SEA, and paid to use gogo inflight. I wanted to do a speed test, as it is the first time that I was on a wifi plane.

When i went to speedtest.net, the page that loaded for me instead was the itunes page for the speedtest.net app. I'm certain the address was correct, which makes me wonder if there was a spyware/malware issue somehow on the network. Once at home, I tried again, wondering if it was my computer, and the page loaded correctly to speedtest.net

My question is this: Can anyone else who will be using in flight wifi try next time they are up in the air, and let me know if they are seeing the same thing? Anyone else experienced anything similar at other sites? Perhaps gogo is redirecting traffic in an effort to generate more revenue for advertisers?

I had something odd show up before using speedtest.net - IIRC it was very similar... and confusing.

No, it's poor design/configuration on their (speedtest.net's) part. The same thing happens when I browse to the site using my iPad here at home.

Not fully Alaska Airlines-related, so we'll try moving it to Travel Technology, since that seems like a more appropriate home for this kind of discussion. :)

jackal
Co-Moderator
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan forum

Yep. There seems to be some bugs / issues with Speedtests configuration.

...was wondering where this went ;)

So what is causing speedtest to redirect like this :confused:

Like the others said - it was something Speedtest.net does on their page. They probably have a user agent mixed up and thought you were browsing from a mobile device. A redirect like this is hardly "malware".

Doesn't gogo basically use the same system as cell phone internet, so it wouldn't be reasonable to have speedtest see you on a 3G network instead of wired internet?

It uses EVDO Rev. A technology but operates on their own completely separate network. That said, I believe their IP block is owned by AT&T, so perhaps Speedtest.net is assuming it's a mobile network. Odd, though, because surfing on Verizon or AT&T's broadband networks with a real computer doesn't have the same behavior (last I checked).

I have noticed some websites incorrectly interpreting the Google Chrome user agent as a mobile device.

If only people stopped all using speedtest.net any time they use Gogo, we may all have some more speed left for actual work :D

I use dslreports.com....... works often enough for me, :)

Agreed. If you are lucky enough to be on a wifi equipped aircraft and said wifi works, life is good. If it doesn't work, "could be worse......could be raining" ;)

I've used speedtest.net and it works fine with a laptop. I usually use the dslreports MOBILE site for this type of connection test, and get the same results. Latency is the problem of course, not necessarilly speed