nmenaker

WiFi can certainly be hit or miss, for either functionality, availability or reliability… at least today the pricing (at about $8, often lower for MPM or CC users) is somewhat more in line with expectation.

Some flyers, maybe depending on frequency of the same route seem to have very consistent problems with WiFi, either overall accessibility, or overall functionality. That is probably true. For me/us, I find about 1 in 6/7 sessions are either IN-accessible, or overall very poor functionality (can’t even load web pages, some apps totally fail to function, can’t download a 1MB attachment, etc) but overall I can get fairly reliable access for simple things… CONUS is better than HI, or over the Atlantic.

What i will say for anyone who runs into issues, it takes about 60 seconds to submit a service ticket on UAL.com and request a refund - which in my experience they refund basically automatically.. So depending on your TVM if it’s less than about $400 an hour, just submit a ticket and move on to the next journey.

UAFLYER22

Flying EWR to UVF soon on 737-700. Will there be Wi-Fi coverage for the entire flight?

RJNYC

Unlikely. My experience with this aircraft is that the wi-fi cuts out around 100-200 miles off the US coast.

LarryJ

It depends on which internet system is installed on the airplane that you fly on.

If it is the Thales system, it only works over the CONUS. Most 737s have Thales.

If it is the Viasat system, it will cover the Caribbean. All 737 MAX aircraft have Viasat and some of the others do, too. They are all being converted to Viasat over the next couple of years.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...rage-maps.html

VWang1111

Last few flights on the Panasonic system on the 777 have been met with a blank page/unable to load any content when logging in, attempting to activate using T-Mobile phone number, activate free messaging. Checked using both iPhone and Mac with multiple browsers. The unitedwifi.com home page works fine, shows flight info, weather, etc. Any one else with the same issue?

FriendlySkies

I flew a r/t to FCO this past weekend with a 764 out and 763 on the way back. The WiFi on the outbound flight wasn’t terrible, but it took a long time for the portal to actually load once I clicked “sign in”. It typically timed out which happened on both of my phones and my iPad.

The return was horrendous. During the drink service, the Purser told me she had received several complaints about the WiFi not working. It simply wouldn’t go load anything past the initial page you see when you hit the WiFi website. I, again, tried to other devices and had the same issue. Purser said she restarted the system at least half a dozen times and it didn’t start to work until almost four hours into the flight.

I won’t mention how bad Gogo is on the Mesa E175s

fumje

I've been having this issue on multiple different aircraft. I didn't check which systems they're using, but I don't think all Panasonic.

Xyzzy

I've had similar issues on at least tw different 737-700 aircraft.

LarryJ

Those are (almost) all using the Thales system which is being phased out in favor of the much more reliable Viasat. You can see which system your airplane has on the unitedwifi.com portal page. i.e. "Network by Viasat".

The long haul fleet has Panasonic as it's the only one with global coverage. Viasat is building toward global coverage but it has a long way to go.

I rode home on a (non-United Next) A319 on Monday which had been converted to Viasat.

Xyzzy

Indeed - those tw aircraft did indicate they were using Thales.

LarryJ

We use the aircraft's wifi internet to update our weather apps during each flight. Since I fly the 737, I do a lot of flights with both Thales and Viasat. My experience is that the Viasat is significantly more reliable and faster, too. It also has a larger service area so internet service continues into Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

fumje

Went back to look now at my flights. They were panasonic or viasat. So it seems this issue isn't strictly dependent on the provider.