V-Flyer

Hey Everyone, I will be flying next week and was considering to purchase WiFi onboard the B747 (£14.99 for the flight, unlimited data).

I cant seem to find anywhere online that has any information on speed etc for Virgin's WiFi onboard, especially as they are now advertising that ALL planes have WiFi onboard.

I can only find 3year old posts which are quite old.

I look forward to all your responses!

Steve

I can only speak from experience this year .... 744 aircraft wifi utterly useless, 789 wifi is pretty good

You won't find them quoting speeds anywhere. Internet speed on the ground, provided with actual cables always comes with caveats, let alone Wifi on planes and it is still in its infancy really, at least in the commercial aviation market.

There are dead spots too. Most notably over northern china/siberia on the 789 HKG route.

I haven't experienced the 744 wifi at all.

Speeds where good on my VS109 flight (A333) the other week:



The pings are very high, buts that’s to be expected with it being a satellite based system.

It worked every time I used it without any issues. It’s easy to use multiple devices as well as you create a GoGo account during the sign-up process (if you don’t already have a GoGo account; which I do).

I believe the system on the B789’s is still the T-Mobile hotspot system with the GoGo system used on everything else.

It’s all going to depend on how many other pax are using it at the same time though. I believe the total download bandwidth speed is approx. 60Mbps on the newer KU band system which VS are using.

I like the sound of multiple devices ;)

That means half the price

We were on the VS75 last Thursday and used the new WiFi on the 747.

It is good for checking emails, Facebook and playing games. I also used it to check Flight Radar 24 which was fun.

Tried to use it to stream videos and films but wouldn't have it.

The in-seat WiFi instruction card does state that streaming is not possible using the system.

Must admit I only tried it once and we were mid Atlantic.

mitchja wrote:The in-seat WiFi instruction card does state that streaming is not possible using the system.

For my own interest I checked and was able to stream youtube and younow

I used to GoGo wifi on Jersey Girl to/from MCO earlier this month and it was very fast for a satellite system.

Only 350pax onboard the outbound flight / inbound was 100% full due to Hurricane Irma. Had no problems on either flight & was able to stream HD videos on YouTube no problem with minimal (if any) buffering. All the normal websites I use worked fine. No idea how many pax were using the wifi, but I seemed to be the only person in Upper using it both ways. The flight literally flew by both ways as I was online pretty much most of the flight - including chatting with friends on the later VS73 via facebook messenger.

My VPN software even worked as well to confuse BBC iPlayer I was in the UK, as opposed to Chicago - which is where the GoGo IP address seems to be based.

Based on my experience on a TATL route, I would definitely use the wifi again.

Currently using WiFi on 787/TMobile on the vs7 (somewhere between Iceland and Greenland).Patchy service all the way so far and it's 15 quid for 150MB. I don't remember it being limited when I used it on the 787 in march 2016.

And believe it or not refreshing the page that tells you how much you have used uses your data. I think that's broken though as it went from 61MB to 60MB...

£14.99 for unlimited data? That's pretty good... although EI offer free Wifi in J.

The GoGo wifi is flawless every time I've used it. Using VPN, managed to stream CNNGO most of the flight. The T-Mobile service on the 787 is standard but does the job.

Kraken wrote:I used to GoGo wifi on Jersey Girl to/from MCO earlier this month and it was very fast for a satellite system.

Only 350pax onboard the outbound flight / inbound was 100% full due to Hurricane Irma. Had no problems on either flight & was able to stream HD videos on YouTube no problem with minimal (if any) buffering. All the normal websites I use worked fine. No idea how many pax were using the wifi, but I seemed to be the only person in Upper using it both ways. The flight literally flew by both ways as I was online pretty much most of the flight - including chatting with friends on the later VS73 via facebook messenger.

My VPN software even worked as well to confuse BBC iPlayer I was in the UK, as opposed to Chicago - which is where the GoGo IP address seems to be based.

Based on my experience on a TATL route, I would definitely use the wifi again.

Good to hear, what VPN software are you using out of interest? Thinking it will come in hand for the iPlayer also.