How WiFi work on plane flying thousands of feet

The speed of WiFi in airplanes is always slow but the price is expensive. It is better not to expect that you will get good service on the plane by paying a high price. You can’t get WiFi until you reach an altitude of 10,000 feet.

When you get it, the WiFi you get is also slow and there are a lot of problems with the signal coming and going. By spending money even on WiFi with weak signals, people want to take pictures of clouds during the flight and post them on social media.

By 2035, the aviation sector will be worth 130 billion. If it’s such a big area, why is there so poor Wi-Fi in it?

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To know this, first of all, it is important to know how WiFi works on these planes. How to pick up WiFi on these planes that travel hundreds of miles per hour and fly at an altitude of 36,000 feet? This can be a matter of interest and curiosity for everyone.

There are two ways to get WiFi. Towers on the ground or from space satellites. The technology of the tower is called air to ground technology. ATG in short. The antenna inside the aircraft picks up the signals from the towers on the ground.

The advantage of this is that the signals do not come too late as they are closer to the ground towers than the satellites. But if the plane comes down too much, there will be no signal and no tower. Therefore, when the plane is flying over the oceans, mountains and countries with cell towers that restrict Wi-Fi access, the Wi-Fi signal cannot be found on the plane.

As for the satellite. The large antenna at the top of the aircraft picks up the signal from the satellite. This satellite based system uses ‘Ku Band’ or ‘Ka Band’ connection. It’s like 3G versus 4G.

There is always a debate about which band is better and which one is better. But both of these connection systems are better and faster than the ATG system. When you share WiFi with many at a speed of 500 miles per hour at an altitude of 36,000 feet, the connection can’t be good.

But Tower Versus Satellite is not the only factor affecting your WiFi. The WiFi on your flight depends on four things. The airline company, the plane you boarded, the in-flight WiFi service provider and the area you travel to.

Airlines like Frontier do not offer Wi-Fi to reduce operating costs. If your airline offers Wi-Fi, it is free or it can charge up to तीस 30 per trip.

Just because an airline provides Wi-Fi does not guarantee that the aircraft supports Wi-Fi. Some aircraft are designed to not support Wi-Fi. American Airlines Boeing 738 supports satellite-based WiFi. But the Boeing 757 does not support that.

And there are many service providers in the world like Gogo, Vysat, Panasonic, Thales. These service providers provide internet service at different speeds.

Another final factor is the route of your plane. If your plane is flying over large seas and mountains, there may not be a tower. In this case, if your plane does not have the ability to pick up satellite WiFi, you will be out of reach of the Internet.

Hawaiian Airlines does not want to invest in in-flight WiFi. Because the technology used on their aircraft cannot work in the Pacific Ocean on its route. Communications companies are launching new satellites and Hawaii is considering investing in them.

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Why doesn’t everyone upgrade their devices?

In-flight WiFi is not the first priority for all airlines. In order to upgrade the equipment, the aircraft has to be shut down for a few days. This means that the airlines will lose a few days’ income.

The company also has to invest in new infrastructure. In addition, WiFi service providers have contracts with some airlines for up to ten years.

But good and fast in-flight WiFi is coming soon. American airlines are investing in better in-flight WiFi facilities.

According to a survey, 67 percent of passengers rebook (re-book) on airlines that offer high-quality in-flight WiFi. In other words, good WiFi means customer satisfaction and loyalty to them.