WiFi It has become one of the most necessary tools for all human beings and which is found today in all or almost all places, whether from shopping malls, squares, stadiums, airports, hotels, at your own address among others. Despite all this, one of the spaces where this type of connection had not yet arrived was inside the planes while they were flying.
However, all this has been changing for some time, since some airlines have started to implement the wireless connections within them for what passengers can be connected to the network while traveling to their destination. Usually when a person board an airplane must place the mobile or tablet in airplane mode, which prevents the person from using your data during the journey.
But according to everyone technological advances some airlines allow you to connect to a WiFi network completely free or through a payment plan to have a better performance. That is why here we will explain a little more about what all this consists of and what are the main airlines that offer this service.
How does WiFi for planes work? How do they connect while they fly?
It is important to mention that not all aircraft currently have this feature, the truth is that very few airlines have implemented this type of service in them. What you can do with the Wifi they offer you basically depend on each of the companies I board, just like him price of the same.
This is how this service wireless network in the air will allow you to perform all the activities you want, although most of them do not allow access websites like YouTube, although this will also depend if you are using lto free or paid network.
What leaves no doubt is that being able connect to the Internet during your trips especially yes they are long becomes a great advantage, especially if you are one of the people who they work online. It is key to mention that the speed of these networks are not at all similar to what you can get on landThey also usually be unstable and limited.
To connect to WiFi while traveling you can do it thanks to two methods that are used and implemented by airlineseither through satellites or terrestrial antenna, The latter being the simplest and cheapest to implement. This is how it consists of place antennas on the plane who are responsible for obtaining said signal from earth, so the quality of it will depend on the area where the plane is passing, this means that when is crossing the ocean the signal will be lost.
While in the case of aircraft that use the satellite connectionthis will be a lot faster and more stable, but it will depend on how many planes are connected to the satellite for its quality of coverage. As a project to improve the quality of the internet inside the planes it is expected to achieve better reaches when 5G technology is deployed.
List of airlines with in-flight WiFi service to have Internet on planes
There are already several airlines that they have started to offer WiFi service during the trip, what has allowed travelers can keep in touch with their families as they go to your destiny and even power check social media or entertain yourself somewhere preference website.
It is also important to mention that the conditions of this service will depend on the company that board, so much for the type of connection they offer, such as the speed of the connection.
Accordingly, then We are going to show you which are the main airlines that are offering this service to each of their clients:
Air Europe
Air Europe It is one of the most important commercial lines in Europe and which has also joined companies that offer a wireless signal while traveling. For this they are in charge of offer three different plans where the price of each of them will depend on the amount of MB the person wants. Also these depend on whether it is a long or short destination flight.
It is worth mentioning that they have a requirement to activate this service, and that is that the flight must have a duration of more than 45 minutes, otherwise there will be no such service. To connect to the network will be done completely the same as when is done on land, adding that here the user must create a kind of registry to be able to access it and choose the plan you want.
The plans that Air Europa offers at the moment are the following:
air France
Other airlines that currently offer this service are Air France, it has a WiFi connection on all Boeing 787 models and other models of the company, reason why the service is offered in most of its commercial flights. This company uses the satellite connection with which it assures you a connectivity service to its passengers throughout the trip.
Like the previous company, it offers three types of plans, which we will show you below:
Lufthansa
Lufthansa It is one of german airlines best known worldwide, it stands out for offering a large number of aircraft models who are responsible for doing so much national as well as international trips. This is how they have made the decision to Join the new WiFi service over the air for long and short distance travel only.
In this way, Lufthansa does not offer this type of wireless connection for flights lasting less than 45 minutes. for company reasons. For network connection It is very simple, the user simply must search the FlyNet network and register in it, the payment for the benefit Can be done PayPal or credit card.
For this it offers different plans which we will show you below:
Iberia
Iberia is currently one of the best companies in Spain airlines, it offers its clients different airplane models for both domestic and international travel. In this way, it counts with two types of Internet offer that will depend on the aircraft model that board. It is important to mention that with this type of connection the user you will not be able to enter to applications like Skype, WhatsApp Messenger or Facetime.
Despite this, you can use this network to enter some web portals, watch news while downloading, work in case you work through this service, among other. To connect to it you simply have to search for a network called "Iberia WiFi or OnAir" depending on the model of airplane you take.
The rates offered by the Iberia company are as follows:
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines It stands out mainly because it offers them the service of free messaging to all its passengers. Thus, The connectivity you hire will depend mainly on the use that you want to give it. This is how the user when boarding said flight will have access to apps such as WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook Messenger, iMessage.
Note that SMS services if they are not available during the trip. In the case of wanting to obtain a much more complete package, Delta Air Lines offers you the following:
- North America: This is a 1-day pass that has a value of $ 16 plus taxes, this offers unlimited Wi-Fi access for 24 hours on flights equipped with North American Delta Gogo.
- North America: This consists of an annual pass that has a value of $ 599 plus taxes, offers you an unlimited Internet service for one year for all flights to North America with Delta Air Lines.
- North America: It consists of a monthly pass that has a value of $ 49 plus taxes.
- International 24 hour pass: With this pass the passenger can obtain a Unlimited continuous Internet access for 24 hours on all flights of the airline that they are equipped with Gogo everywhere in the world, it is valid for one or more flights that you make during the day.
United
United is another of the aviation companies that currently offers WiFi service in the air, it will depend on the plan hired by the passenger when taking the flight, so they can cancel a monthly or annual fee and that they can use on the different flights of the company.
To make sure you offer a guaranteed service has four providers of different connectivities. However, it will vary depending on the airplane model that addresses the person.
The different coverages that United offers are the following:
- WiFi coverage with ViaSat: This includes the destinations of the United States, Mexico, Central America, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean and which operates on the models Boeing 757-200 with a premium transcontinental service and 737 MAX 9. In the case of flights to and from Alaska and Hawaii do not have connection or will be limited.
- WiFi coverage with Gogo: This coverage includes the countries of the continental United States, part of Canada and Alaska, and which works in the aircraft models Embraer 170. Embraer 175, Bombardier CRJ-700 and Boeing 757-200.
- Coverage with Panasonic: It is a global service that excludes India and China and which operates in the aircraft models Airbus 320, Airbus 319, Select Airbus 757-200, Select 757-300, 767-300 ER, 767-400ER, 777-200, 777-200ER, 777-300ER, 787-8, 787-9 and 787 -10.
- Thales coverage: In this case we include lThe continental United States which works through the select Boeing 737-700, 737-900, 737, 737-800 and 757-300.
All Nippon Airways
All Nippon Airways is a company that offers wireless Internet service for all its first-class passengers, for the rest of the passengers there are different rates that can be pay only by credit card, they are as follows:
- 30 minute plan: $ 4.95 with a 15MB limit.
- 1 hour plan: $ 8.95 with a 30 MB limit.
- Complete flight plan: $ 19.95 with a limit of 100 MB.
How fast is WiFi on planes? Is it as bad as they say?
Honestly yes WiFi in planes usually has very poor coverage, especially because it is very unstable and in many areas it usually runs out of signal. As already mentioned above There are two types of wireless Internet services on airplanes., one of them is about connecting to the antennas of the earth and from there take the Internet signal to transmit it on the air.
However, this method of Obtaining WiFi is not the best since the signal and quality of coverage will depend on the area where the plane is passing, that is to say, that during all the trip the signal of the area through which it passes is bad simply the passenger will not be able to enjoy the service, to this adding when they go through above the ocean where the signal is completely lost.
The other way to get the Internet is connecting to satellites, this method usually offers a higher speed than the previous one, but in the same way it will depend on how many more planes are connected to the same satellite, what can end causing interference and that the received signal is of very poor quality.
Therefore, despite being a novel service and very important for many, the truth is that not worth paying for himself unless it's really necessary either because work online and need to do life or death while traveling. Otherwise it would be a waste of money paying for this service while traveling to your destination.