Wifi on aer lingus

Monkeysgomad

Just wondering has anyone used the wifi you purchase on aer lingus flights to America. I know the planes in the us mostly have free wifi, but you've to pay for the full flight it's €15. Has anyone used it and does it stay connected ? Thanks

L1011

It works fairly well but its not that fast

Domestic flights in the US rarely if ever have free wifi.

Danbo!

It's grand. You won't be streaming HD movies or using Spotify but for keeping on top of email and some general web browsing it's fine. Well worth the €15 (?) for a transatlantic flight. I think last time I used it, it was a 24hr pass for €25.

Signal can be a little patchy sometimes but, if you bear in mind you're at 30 odd thousand feet in the middle of an ocean, it's pretty impressive.

I've used wifi on a good few airlines in the past few years - Etihad, Emirates, United, Singapore, Delta - and Aer Lingus was up there with the best in terms of speed, connectivity and price.

Tenger

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

Just wondering has anyone used the wifi you purchase on aer lingus flights to America. I know the planes in the us mostly have free wifi, but you've to pay for the full flight it's €15......

US aircraft use ground base Wi-Fi, oceanic flights use satellite based system. Hence ground based is cheaper to operate. Jetblue offer free Wi-Fi on domestic flights, not sure what other US airlines offer free Wi-Fi.

Thud

was able to stream one of the rugby world cup games on my last EI transatlantic flight, it froze a few times though

faceman

I use it regularly and generally speaking the service is pretty good considering its satellite.

I've been able to stream low bandwidth YouTube clips with it

spatchco

well my daughter was on 2 EI flights in the last month both to and from SFO and no wi-fi on board she had work to do was not impressed

JCX BXC

Anyone do a speed test on it?

bkehoe

Carnacalla wrote: »

Anyone do a speed test on it?

Over 10MBit any time I've used it, but remember its satellite so latency will make it appear sluggish.

Certainly more expensive than 15 euro. Usually the system will drop connection 2 times on the way to/from the US as the satcom unit changes the satellite it's using for the connection. Takes around 5 mins to reconnect when this happens.

Monkeysgomad

bkehoe wrote: »

Over 10MBit any time I've used it, but remember its satellite so latency will make it appear sluggish.

Certainly more expensive than 15 euro. Usually the system will drop connection 2 times on the way to/from the US as the satcom unit changes the satellite it's using for the connection. Takes around 5 mins to reconnect when this happens.

No it's €14.99. I just got an email about an upcoming flight saying the price.

Monkeysgomad

bkehoe wrote: »

Over 10MBit any time I've used it, but remember its satellite so latency will make it appear sluggish.

Certainly more expensive than 15 euro. Usually the system will drop connection 2 times on the way to/from the US as the satcom unit changes the satellite it's using for the connection. Takes around 5 mins to reconnect when this happens.

'New lower prices' is on their website.

This is also from it:
'When it comes to staying connected, here are your options:

Business class passengers surf for free.
Aer Lingus Wi-Fi 1 hour pass: €7.95/$9.95
Aer Lingus Wi-Fi Full flight pass: €14.95/$18.95'

The_Wanderer

I used it for a recent trip to SFO.

In general very good. Certainly made the 11 hour flight go a lot faster with a connection to the outside world. Outbound we did lose the signal near Greenland so were offline for about an hour approx.

yer man!

New Ka-band Spectrum Sat wifi on JetBlue is getting amazing results so far, friend got 40mbps down near FL a few days ago on it. Few more satellites being launched by SpaceX soon to increase coverage across Europe and the North Atlantic. Hopefully more of this can migrate over to here and airlines can get away from Ground to Air configuration which seems to be causing hassle for budget airlines across Europe.

Monkeysgomad

The_Wanderer wrote: »

I used it for a recent trip to SFO.

In general very good. Certainly made the 11 hour flight go a lot faster with a connection to the outside world. Outbound we did lose the signal near Greenland so were offline for about an hour approx.

Okay, just don't want to buy it if I'll be loosing it and not being able to use it in general. 1hour is quite a while to be offline.

Growler!!!

It all depends on the route the aircraft takes. In the pic above if the aircraft flies over northern Greenland then you are outside the Sats footprint and will receive no signal. The newer Ku Sats have a footprint over southern Greenland but not the North.

_Tombstone_

How Does In-Flight Wi-Fi Really Work?

http://thepointsguy.com/2015/11/how-in-flight-wi-fi-works/

The_Wanderer

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

Okay, just don't want to buy it if I'll be loosing it and not being able to use it in general. 1hour is quite a while to be offline.

One hour in a 11 hour flight is nothing really.

Plus as grower has pointed out it depends on the coverage of the satellite and how far north the aircraft routes. I guessed we were out of range of it and judging by the map just provided we were.

Monkeysgomad

The_Wanderer wrote: »

One hour in a 11 hour flight is nothing really.

Plus as grower has pointed out it depends on the coverage of the satellite and how far north the aircraft routes. I guessed we were out of range of it and judging by the map just provided we were.

I'll be on an 9 hour flight not 11. I live on my phone so that's why I'm checking it out. So in your opinion the €15 is worth it?

Pat Dunne

The_Wanderer wrote: »

One hour in a 11 hour flight is nothing really.

Plus as grower has pointed out it depends on the coverage of the satellite and how far north the aircraft routes. I guessed we were out of range of it and judging by the map just provided we were.

Interesting you mention "how far north the aircraft routes". About 2 years ago I flew LBY to OSL with DY and had an excellent signal for the entire flight. I expected no signal for the first hour of the flight, but had a very strong signal right from the word go and all for "free".

Stinicker

I presume wifi is not available on the 757 fleet, I'm thinking of making a shorthop over JFK sometime next year but I'm debating whether or not to fly SNN-JFK or go KIR-DUB-JFK on the A330.

JCX BXC

Stinicker wrote: »

I presume wifi is not available on the 757 fleet, I'm thinking of making a shorthop over JFK sometime next year but I'm debating whether or not to fly SNN-JFK or go KIR-DUB-JFK on the A330.

Nope WiFi isn't available on the B757 fleet.

The_Wanderer

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

I'll be on an 9 hour flight not 11. I live on my phone so that's why I'm checking it out. So in your opinion the €15 is worth it?

One word. YES!

Tenger

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

I'll be on an 9 hour flight not 11. I live on my phone so that's why I'm checking it out. So in your opinion the €15 is worth it?

"you live on your phone"...well in that case E15 is worth it to keep you connected for 7-8 hours of the 10 1/2 hour flight DUB-SFO.

Rgb.ie

It is most certainly worth it if traveling for more than several hours.

Fixed an exchange 2003 issue 35,000 feet in the sky remotely with logmein ( which ran fine given the connection ) back in February - felt a bit surreal.

dudara

I purchased it on a flight at the end of last year, to JFK, IIRC.

Overall, it was fine, but we did lose signal for 2-3 hours which was irritating.

It would be nice if it was a free perk for Gold Circle members

Pat Dunne

Now running in two different topics. Do I sense a Gold Circle take over of this forum

ahbell

I used the wifi on EI from Dublin to Boston in the summer, worked fine and was able to stream music on soundcloud and use whatsapp no bother, connection stayed up the entire time we were in the cruise. Only annoying thing is on the way back the USB at my seat wouldn't charge my phone, worked fine on the way over though.

Pat Dunne

Back to discussing WiFi

GekkePrutser

Tenger wrote: »

TheWanderer posted this response from their customer team in the IAG thread: (emphasis is mine)

Ah so I misunderstood: They do grant points on the new scheme for applicant members? Great. I didn't get to the 2400 yet so I thought they would be lost, I thought that's what the email said. Great if it carries over, so.