MrWilliamston

if VOIP is banned on UA's in-flight wifi, how did the woman next to me use it?

she was chatting it up with her friend on Skype running on her tablet during most of the 5-hour flight...

or is just "not allowed" instead of actually being blocked on UA's inflight wifi system?

although... Skype uses relatively little bandwidth, definitely a LOT less when I used the wifi to sync full size photos into my iCloud account during the flight... which was about 900MB of photos that I took at the airport just before boarding the flight.

docbert

I don't actually know if UA's wifi attempts to block VOIP or not, but even if they did it's not actually possible to do it.

VOIP is a concept, not a specific protocol - there are dozens of different VOIP protocols, all of which work in very different ways.

Some VOIP protocols are easy to block. Others range from more difficult to basically to impossible to block (at least without blocking other things as well). And all of them are impossible to block if the user uses something like a VPN.

MrWilliamston

What is the purpose of blocking VOIP or any form of voice communication using onboard wifi? It's can't be for bandwidth because I do a lot of things that eats tons more bandwidth than chatting on Skype or Hangouts.(which consume very little)

Or is it to prevent people from talking and annoying seatmates? Well.. then they need to ban those two women who kept talking to each other loudly. (always seems to end up sitting next to two of them on every flight, in coach or business, long haul or short haul)

cfischer

you can certainly do this when using VPN. Easy to report to the FA and they will shut this down quickly. I would not tolerate such behavior.

MrWilliamston

FA has the ability to shut down someone's connection based on seat number?

WineCountryUA

No, but the FA can speak to the passenger and remind them of the rules.

MrWilliamston

When I politely hinted to the flight attendant that the two women next to me were talking too loudly for over 4 hours on the TATL night flight, she just shrugged and looked at me like I was some kind troublemaker.

WineCountryUA

When two passenger are talking too loud for you (a very subjective situation) there is little the FA can do, there is no "rule" issue unless they are considered disrupting the flight which is very high standard.

When someone is using voip app, they are violating a rule and there is something the FA can mention.

MrWilliamston

true... but I wasn't the only one who were kept awake by those women.

I was in row 16(first row of E+) on the 767-400. The women were on the other side of the aisle in the same row. When I walked to the back to use the lavatories, I could still hear clearly what they were saying. The lavatories were about 12 or 13 rows away.

WineCountryUA

Different situation from viop case. However if others complained, then maybe the FAs would have done something. But if you were the only complaint and FA did not feel they were out of place, unlikely any FA would have done anything. Consequences if being in a public place

MrWilliamston

sorry for dragging this off-topic...

let me get back to the VOIP. so what is the reason for banning VOIP? Surelty it's not bandwidth, because I use up way more bandwidth just viewing and syncing my photos using onboard wifi... probably 100 times that what a typical VOIP call would use.

WineCountryUA

passenger disruption --- just like the guy in the lounge that talks too loud on their mobile. For some reason, many people think they need to speak louder when on an electronic device vs normal conversational levels talking to a person next to them. They are wrong but you see it all the time. Plus there are some that would talk the entire flight to someone remote when none of those around them are involved.

This is the primary reason most airlines do not allow / have not offered cell phone calls on the aircraft. It is technical doable ( one of the ME airlines provide). When the FCC was debating it for US airlines, the airlines lobbied against it -- to avoid passenger distribution and passenger conflicts. FA unions were also very vocal against that.

Airplane cell phone calls won’t be allowed in US any time soon
The FCC is reversing its proposal to allow cellphone use on planes

MrWilliamston

This is the solution.... I've been waiting patiently for it.
https://www.cnet.com/news/hushme-may...-ever-created/

GeorgeK

UNITED Flight 222 ORD to SFO 2/7/2017 - First class cabin....

I am currently in row 1 and the gentlemen next to me was using his phone in flight. I asked him if he was allowed and he said it was VOIP and using a Whats App and it was allowed. I then asked the FA attending the first class cabin if he was allowed to use his cellphone through VOIP. She said she didn't know, walked off and sat back down chit chatting with the other FA in the first class cabin. The guy continued his conversation. Of course once he got off he started giving me a hard time...Thanks United First Class FA for not knowing your own policy.

Upon further research it appears that it IS against United Policy to use your cellphone and VOIP using the united in flight internet. I would suggest updating this FA on the policy, and to not be so rude if another passenger in first class, has a similar situation.

SFO 1K

GeorgeK it sounds like you want United to know about this. Since they won’t read this post you may wish to contact United through your customer service email to make a report.