Using Internet on a flight? Worth it or not?
 

Some airlines are beginning to introduce Internet connectivity on their flights for exorbitant fees.

I am wondering. Which airline is the cheapest? What kind of connection speed do you get? What restrictions are imposed? Is it worth it for those who have tried it out?

I've done it a few times with Delta, though I admit it is mostly because I think it is so neat (and not because I need it). I would do it again for a flight over 1.5 hrs - just to have something to do.

Speeds were impressive - obviously no cable modem or dsl, but faster than dialup.

Being on a plane is one of the very few places I can escape from work and be out of contact of the boss.

I'm sure in 5-10 years internet on planes will be ubiquitous and we'll be unable to remember how we ever coped without it but for the moment I'm happy to be offline when I'm in the air.

It's only worth it if it is free. :cool:

Price depends on how long the flight is, and if you are paying for one session or for the entire month. Many of the airlines use gogo inflight, full details are on their page here - www.gogoinflight.com

Their FAQ page will answer many of your questions - http://custhelp.gogoinflight.com/app/home/c/11

but in general they support small clip streaming, not full shows (they will cut back your speed if you are using too much bandwidth). They will support messaging on skype type services but not voip, and if the airline has requested it, they will block certain sites.

That's in general, of course reality may be different and everything you want to do will work just fine.

Speed can be as slow as 200 kb or I've seen it as fast as 1.25 meg. I don't check it every two seconds, so it can of course be all over the place.

Is it worth it? That's totally up to you. If I want to get some work done, to me it's totally worth it, but there are also flights I have been on that I didn't bother.

Yup.

Back about 2005 or so, I once paid $20 to use Boeing Connexion wi-fi on JFK-NRT, well worth the money on a 13 hour flight.

I won't use them. When I'm in the air, it's either my book, ipod or my thoughts. No work, no phone, no internet.

I used gogo on two p.s. flight two weeks ago. It really passed the time, and let me play around on FT for almost all of the flight. I'd recommend it.

I totally agree. No doubt Alliances with introduce a flat coverage across all carriers for couple hundred bucks a year valid (12months etc)...otherwise highly inflated hourly rates etc

I paid for wifi a few times. Sometimes, it's not how much time you get that's limiting, but rather battery life of your laptop, if the plane isn't equipped with power outlets.

Having said that, it's nice to be able to stay connected on transcon flights and I don't find the $10-15 to be an unfair price. What does suck is that speed really varies. Sometimes I can stream Hulu, at other times I have a hard time loading a Google search query.

Definitely worth it on a transcon, especially since it's so easy to sign up/in at the mobile rate, and use it on your laptop. :)

Its only worth it if you have a good battery that will make it worth it, most of the wifi equipped aircraft that i've been on don't have ac power at seats which makes wifi just about useless to me
jbs