V-Flyer

Just saw this VA blog

https://blog.virgin-atlantic.com/watch- ... 7s-summer/

Will be interesting knowing the current IT gremlins we encounter

what?! hmm, hardly seems believable!
ok, will check it out next month.... maybe

A comment on their Facebook made me smile. "Well done Virgin Atlantic. Doing something JetBlue have been able to do for the past 15 years. Good for you guys."

It's a move forward which is superb, but does anyone know how they're actually making this work and what effect it will have on the already-patchy-but-good-enough wifi?

Mike

mikethe3rd wrote:A comment on their Facebook made me smile. "Well done Virgin Atlantic. Doing something JetBlue have been able to do for the past 15 years. Good for you guys."

It's a move forward which is superb, but does anyone know how they're actually making this work and what effect it will have on the already-patchy-but-good-enough wifi?

Mike

Plucked from the IBTIMES..

"The ability to beam live TV to its flying fleet has been made possible by a partnership with Panasonic Avionics who develop in-flight entertainment systems and aviation communications that have been bringing the internet to flyers."

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/virgin-atlantic-introduces-live-tv-flight-entertainment-passengers-its-787-dreamliners-1575339

The live TV system doesn't use WiFi as I think it's just a direct satellite feed working in exactly the same way home satellite systems work.

It uses the same satellite as the Wi-Fi so it would be interesting to see how much (if any) an impact it makes to speed/bandwidth, from some reading it is actually IPTV so would use bandwidth. Apparently Lufthansa and Turkish already offer it.

Hamster wrote:It uses the same satellite as the Wi-Fi so it would be interesting to see how much (if any) an impact it makes to speed/bandwidth, from some reading it is actually IPTV so would use bandwidth. Apparently Lufthansa and Turkish already offer it.

TV channels shouldn't be an issue, as satellite downstream is really quick (even for data). Its the upstream which is slow. More of a latency issue than a bandwidth I would have thought. Thats why satellite internet never really took off.

mikethe3rd wrote:A comment on their Facebook made me smile. "Well done Virgin Atlantic. Doing something JetBlue have been able to do for the past 15 years. Good for you guys."

Slightly unfair given it's a whole lot easier to provide wifi over land than it is over the ocean. And last time I looked JetBlue didn't fly transatlantic!

gumshoe wrote:

mikethe3rd wrote:A comment on their Facebook made me smile. "Well done Virgin Atlantic. Doing something JetBlue have been able to do for the past 15 years. Good for you guys."

Slightly unfair given it's a whole lot easier to provide wifi over land than it is over the ocean. And last time I looked JetBlue didn't fly transatlantic!

Indeed.

The internet provided on the 787 is provided by T Mobile, or at least that's who send receipts whenever I've used it.

gumshoe wrote:Slightly unfair given it's a whole lot easier to provide wifi over land than it is over the ocean. And last time I looked JetBlue didn't fly transatlantic!

But the average passenger isn't going to care. Sending a PR about 3 live TV channels in 2005 would be a good breakthough for a transatlantic carrier. Sending a PR about 3 live TV channels in 2016 and I think most would wonder 'why only now?'

mikethe3rd wrote:

gumshoe wrote:Slightly unfair given it's a whole lot easier to provide wifi over land than it is over the ocean. And last time I looked JetBlue didn't fly transatlantic!

But the average passenger isn't going to care. Sending a PR about 3 live TV channels in 2005 would be a good breakthough for a transatlantic carrier. Sending a PR about 3 live TV channels in 2016 and I think most would wonder 'why only now?'

I would disagree, Think of the USA & say dish network - they offer satellite service the length & width of the country. So that is a big mesh of coverage from their satellites. Would be quite easy to offer live TV (I believe Dish Network does do this on some flights?)
Now if you look at Europe of a similar size, there is multiple markets, multiple languages. Sky UK satellite footprint is not designed to offer services in Spain for example (You can get Sky in Spain with a very big dish!). A provider would need to pay for bandwidth on each satellite it needed to use to beam their channel. So to cover the majority of Europe alone you would be looking at using satellites belonging to Astra, Eutelsat, Thor, Hotbird & Hispasat.
As you go transatlantic, that is thousand of miles that have less satellite beams. So would be quite difficult to provide service on a whim of an idea.

Think of XM radio in the US - Satellite based Radio & why we do not get it in the UK/Europe.

Travelled on th vs007 yesterday .message form the captain good morning we are pleased to announce we can now offer the olympics on live tv during this flight .only problem
Was didn't get to see any of as there as a problem with the satellite we was told so no live tv all flight

Flew on G-VOOH today and Live TV was installed and working well.

Also worked on vs8. Today

Flew the VS602 on Friday on G-VSPY and this was working perfectly for the entire journey.

Sounds like this is a quick software upgrade rather than new kit install, so roll-out should be pretty swift.

The only visible changes to the interface are new icons in the TV section of VERA.

Flew on VS05 on 27th to Miami. Timing of the flight was great on a Saturday, as I managed to watch 3 Premier League games live. Firstly the lunchtime Spurs v Liverpool game, then the Watford v Arsenal game, then the later Hull v Man U. That was 6 hours of the flight gone.... Then at the end, there was a live German game to watch.
Service was good, with a slight occasional buffering.