Why Airplanes WIFI Is Expensive And Slow?

Airplane WiFi is slow and usually expensive. And just because you're paying more doesn't necessarily mean you're getting more. You may not get WiFi until you're 10,000 feet in the air, and when you do get it, it may be slow and spotty. Even so, people are still willing to cough up their cash to post pictures of clouds mid-flight or do some actual work. The industry is expected to be worth $130 billion by 2035. But if it's such a huge industry, why does in-flight WiFi still suck? First, we need to talk about how these planes, speeding around hundreds of miles an hour, 36,000 feet in the air, can even get WiFi. There are two ways: towers on the ground or satellites in space.

Let's look at the towers. This method is called air-to-ground, or ATG for short. Antennas on the belly of the craft pick up signals from cell towers on the ground. The benefit? You'll get less delay because the towers are closer to your plane than a satellite. The downside? No towers, no signals.
That means whenyou're flying over large bodies of water, above mountains,or passing over countries with cell towersthat restrict WiFi access, you probably won'tget any WiFi. So, what about satellites? The big dome-shapedantenna on top of the plane will pick up signalsfrom the satellites.

These satellite-basedsystems will either use Ku-band or Ka-bandconnections, which is similarto 3G versus 4G. There's a wholedebate on whether Ku or Ka band is better, but they're both wayfaster than ATG systems. But when you'resharing internet with a couple hundredother people, traveling 500miles per hour, 36,000 feet in the air, there's bound to bea hiccup or two. But towers versus satelliteisn't the only thing that affects whetheryou'll be able to stream this week's episode of"The Bachelor" or not. The quality and priceof your in-flight WiFi actually depend onfour more things: your airline, aircraft, the in-flight WiFi provider, and the region you'retraveling to and from.

First of all, in aneffort to cut costs, some airlines, like Frontier,don't even offer WiFi. If your airlinedoes offer WiFi, it could be free, or go all the way up to$30 for an all-day pass. But just because theairline offers WiFi doesn't mean yourplane supports it. Some aircraft aren't evenbuilt with WiFi capabilities. An American AirlinesBoeing 738 might havesatellite-based WiFi, but an American AirlinesBoeing 757 might not. Then there's the provider.

They all offer differentspeeds, which is crucial for watchingthose meltdowns in HD. And lastly, you'll needto factor in your route. If you're flying over a lotof mountains or an ocean, there probably won't bemany towers along the way. And if the planeisn't equipped to receivesatellite internet, you'll be completelyout of luck. For a while, HawaiianAirlines didn't want to invest in in-flight WiFi because the technologyalong their flight paths crossing the PacificOcean was sparse, but communicationcompanies are launching new satellites, and Hawaiian is rethinkingthe investment.

So, whyisn't everyone upgrading theirequipment? For some airlines, it's justnot their highest priority. Upgrading equipmentmeans taking planes out of service for a few days, which meansairlines lose money. It also means budgetingfor new infrastructure. Plus, at least onein-flight provider has 10-year contractswith some of the airlines, which doesn't leavea lot of wiggle room for upgrades and changes. But better andfaster in-flight WiFi is definitely on its way.

American Airlines, forexample, is making moves to invest in betterin-flight WiFi. One survey showedthat 67% of passengers would rebookwith an airline  if high-qualityWiFi were available. In other words,good WiFi means customer satisfactionand loyalty. Airlines have good reasonto upgrade their offerings, so it might not bea bad call for airlines to speed up the process. But for now, you'reprobably better off saving your reality-TV bingefor when you get home. Producer: That's howa plane moves.... For sure.