
Inmarsat's European short-haul wi-fi spacecraft launches - willvarfar
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40435832
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tyingq
_" from calculations we see that the total capacity of the satellite component
is, for Europe, 100 Megabits per second"_

That doesn't sound like it's going to improve inflight WiFi much. They do
mention also downward connectivity to cell towers, so hopefully the satellite
link isn't used much. There's not much info on how many spots over Europe
won't be covered by the ground cell towers.

Edit: I do find the grumbling about inflight WiFi performance funny. You're in
a metal tube that twists and turns, 5+ miles high in the sky, going 500mph.
Installing the system means cutting a huge hole in the plane and detailed
certification testing down to every wire connector...and thus nothing can be
upgraded at a normal pace. Isn't being able to check your email novel enough?
Why are you surprised that YouTube doesn't work well?

~~~
ghaff
Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only person who genuinely doesn't care if I'm
disconnected for some number of hours while I'm in a plane. I have reading
material, downloaded video, and various apps. I almost appreciate flying time
as an opportunity to catch up on various things without distraction.

~~~
resf
For a short-haul flight I agree. Wifi provides little benefit, and being
disconnected can actually be a blessing.

A long-haul flight is so much more pleasant with wifi. There's only so many
movies I can watch (for me, 1 or 2) before I get bored out of my mind.

It can get lonely on a plane if you are traveling alone. The people around you
aren't always willing or able to talk (they may be asleep, don't speak
English, or are preoccupied with a movie), so you may end up sitting for
extended periods with nobody to talk to.

Being able to chat to friends while in the air makes the experience more
comfortable than any seat ever could.

~~~
ghaff
To each their own I guess. I have no problem spending a long flight without
conversation. Some movies/TV shows/books/games and (preferably) a comfortable
seat and I'm set. Give me the choice between a business class seat without
WiFi and economy with WiFi and the former gets my vote every time.

~~~
nkoren
Out of curiosity, how do you define a long flight? I've found that most
Americans call a flight "long" if it's 4-5 hours. But in my circles -- London-
based, doing business in Asia -- "long" means 9-13 hours. Which is
qualitatively _very_ different.

(Mind, in those circumstances, a choice between being able to stretch out in
business class vs. having WiFi in coach would tilt even harder towards the
former. But after about 8 hours in the air, I do find a lack of communications
really starts to bite.)

~~~
ghaff
I fly to both Europe and Asia from the US east coast. Yeah it's boring but
mostly because I'm more or less stuck in a seat and not because I'm cut off
from email, Facebook, and Twitter. Though, for context, I mostly work remotely
so not having a real conversation over the course of a day isn't that unusual
for me. The boredom of a long flight is more that I can't go outside and walk
around or fiddle around in the kitchen than that I can't communicate with
someone.

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filleokus
I guess it's never going to happen, but wouldn't it be pretty cool if
Netflix/HBO/Spotify provided a content mirror on the aircraft? Could probably
only carry a subset of all content, but pretty cool to just open your app and
get some nice Silicon Valley episodes man-in-the-middle delivered to your
device of choice.

~~~
ghaff
United and, I'm sure, other airlines have a variety of TV shows and movies
that you can stream to their app on your phone and tablet over WiFi. Also note
that both Netflix and Amazon allow you to download content for offline viewing
these days though HBO doesn't currently AFAIK.

They have music stations as well although I've never used them as I keep a
pretty large library on my phone.

~~~
duozerk
> both Netflix and Amazon allow you to download content for offline viewing
> these days

In both cases sadly still with DRM; beyond the ideological stuff I'd love to
be able to download a file and play it with the player I like, or to be able
to reencode it. On some aspects pirate services are still better (though only
if you care about that kind of things).

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willvarfar
I know that the laptop bans are currently only on inter-continental routes,
but investors in this kind of system must be watching the laptop ban in horror
of things to come.

~~~
krallja
Airlines can creatively work around this. They could provide a browser on
seat-back touch screens, which would be satisfactory to most customers, who
just want to watch HBO, Netflix, Hulu (maybe not in Europe), or YouTube.

Also, smartphones have WiFi, so that's a way for the security-aware to control
the device for typing your very important passwords into. Bring a Bluetooth
keyboard and a phone mount with a built-in magnifying glass, and it's almost a
laptop!

~~~
willvarfar
I don't think this system's price-point nor bandwidth is going to be suitable
for having large numbers of passengers idling hours by watching movies?

I think the target is more likely to be business users doing work during the
flight?

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rb808
Just when you thought flying couldn't get any worse, now you'll have some
loudmouth chatterbox facetiming with their friends for hours talking inane b
__ __*t.

~~~
tjohns
Most inflight WiFi services block VoIP and video chat, both to conserve
bandwidth and to preserve sanity in the cabin.

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JumpCrisscross
I VPN and have received (though not answered) FaceTime Audio calls in the air.

~~~
tjohns
Well, sure, there's workarounds. But most people aren't going to be running a
VPN.

And the documentation for in-flight WiFi explicitly instructs you not to take
voice calls, out of consideration for other passengers. You wouldn't be out of
line politely asking somebody to stop.

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funnyfacts365
Nice to see cell phones don't cause interference with the systems aboard
airplanes... SMH

