FlyinHawaiian

This thread was temporarily closed as it had gotten sidetracked by some bickering and other off-topic posts. Going forward, please stay on topic.

Thank you.

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United MileagePlus Forum

rudling

Flew 8481 today on 862 HKG-SFO. Wifi was advertised briefly in the pre-departure FA announcement (although there were no other printed materials onboard I could see), but was not working at any time throughout the flight.

Neither my phone nor my laptop could find any SSIDs at any time throughout the flight (I checked every 1-2 hours or so).

Also seems like there's been no training for the FAs, which I guess is not surprising considering how things are going at United these days.

When I asked, Purser & FA told me that satellite reception was spotty, particularly for the first half of the flight, but to "keep trying." I explained that, IMO, my phone/laptop should be able to see/connect to the onboard access point and captive web server, even if the satellite was intermittent/inoperative. The FAs were nice about it, but basically unable to help, and kept advising me to "keep trying."

I guess it's conceivable that the system is designed to shut down the access point if the satellite drops, but that seems unlikely to me. I figured more likely was that someone had forgotten to turn it on as we passed through 10K feet. I asked the FAs about it, but they insisted that neither they nor the flight deck had any controls whatsoever for the system, and that it all operated automatically.

Or maybe it was just busted

Just curious - has anyone successfully used wifi on 8481? What was your experience with the SSID and connectivity? Were you able to connect your wifi device to the SSID/access point consistently/easily, even when the satellite connectivity dropped?

edcho

I had it working on my flight but didn't actually use the wifi because I didn't want to waste the money for spotty coverage I was hearing about. I also wanted to sleep for most of the flight anyway. I did talk to the FAs about it and they had no training in terms of troubleshooting issues (unlike the AVOD system) so I'm sure they couldn't really help you of the system needed to be reset or something.

Since I didn't stay on it for long, I didn't experience any dropped signal issues. I was on the upper deck FYI.

planemechanic

On the 747 there are two switches for this system located in the G2 galley, left side, by door 2LH. If both of these switches are NOT illuminated then the system should be operational. The FA's can toggle the system on and off using those switches, there really is no other troubleshooting that can be done in the air.

rudling

Now this would have been good to know! Ironically, the conversations I had with the purser, etc. about this happened mostly by door 2R (and I'm the kind of guy that checks out the various buttons and knobs on the panels while waiting for the lav :-).

Next time I'll look for the lit-up switches by 2L. Thanks for the tip!

unavaca

I am the opposite I could care less about onboard streaming; I'd only pay for Wi-Fi internet access.

uastarflyer

The streaming is supposed to be free. So hopefully we can get both ASAP!

colpuck

just out of curiosity, how many devices can be connected to a single router before bandwith is impacted?

planemechanic

The switches are inside a compartment, not normally visible unless the compartment door is open.

phkc070408

Has anyone else had any luck with WiFi on 8481, or any other 744 for that matter?

ljwobker

I was on UA 870, tail #8404, MEL-SYD-SFO on Friday (March 8). Zero service availability from MEL-SYD. I checked about every hour on SYD-SFO, and every time *except once* it said "internet access is currently not available". The one time it did appear to be up, I didn't actually pay and connect, as I (naively?) thought that meant we were close enough that it would be available for the rest of the flight. Turns out it was not, which really sucked. That one "available" time was maybe 4-5 hours out of Sydney, so maybe somewhere about over Fiji? Anyway, I was quite disappointed to be on the supposedly only "working" aircraft and still no service. I didn't even bother asking the flight attendants about the non-service, assuming they'd just tell me to "try again later" which I was going to do anyway. ;-)

northsideguy

Lucky passengers on UA 895 ORD-HKG on Monday, 18 March! There has been a plane subsitution and they are now scheduled on the 747 with Wi-Fi. Looks like UA is ferry in N104UA Flight 6852 from SFO to be used for Flt 895. I don't know what or where the scheduled 747,(which arrived from HKG to ORD on Sunday) is located or going.

I wish I would be lucky for the HKG flight on Tuesday. The plane I'm on is N120UA and it had MX issuses last week. One day it MX and the flight cancelled, and the next it took off and returned to the SFO for a plane subsitution. Safe Travels!

hirohito888

Darn..I just got off at HKG on UA895 on (departed Sunday). No wifi and one brutal flight in econ+ (GPU didn't clear).

thesun

I was on #8481, N181UA, on UA 870 SYD-SFO 3/30. WiFi was active the whole flight but never got satellite Internet reception. I checked 4-5 times from about 2 hours out of Sydney until 1.5 hours from SFO.

Snapshot of the WiFi page that I saved on my phone:

edcho

On the SIN-HKG-ORD route, I took a picture of the WiFi pricing. It seemed to work between the Alaska region all the way to the Canadian boarder pretty well before cutting in and out again.