Passengers can look forward to improved internet connectivity in the sky as leading global provider, Gogo, takes its inflight Wi-Fi service to the next level, exceeding speeds of 100 mbps.
The company reached the industry-leading performance on board its test aircraft, Jimmy Ray, where it used Gogo’s proprietary 2Ku antenna, next-generation modem, and satellite. The faster speed means travellers can stream video live TV through the internet via Gogo’s inflight IPTV product, Gogo TV.
The proprietary modem enhances the performance of both its 2Ku and Ku global satellite services with news features that considerably increases throughput and reliability. The new modem will be installed later this year and will eventually be fitted on more than 1500 2Ku across 13 major airlines.
Gogo’s chief technology officer, Anand Chari said of the ground-breaking performance, “When we launched 2Ku, we knew that the performance would get better with our next generation modem and new high-throughput satellites."
“We have capacity on HTS satellites in orbit today and 2Ku’s open architecture allows us to take advantage of satellite innovations over time. We also continue to improve our aircraft hardware – servers, modems, antenna, and wireless access points. This performance achievement demonstrates the progress we’ve made on both fronts."
Meanwhile president and CEO of Gogo, Michael Small, said in a statement that Gogo technologies is setting very high standards within the industry, especially in the fact that they can install the Wi-Fi technology on the aircraft without having to take it out of service and impacting on their daily operations.
Gogo partners with 16 leading commercial airlines and has installed inflight connectivity on more than 2,900 commercial aircraft. Major carriers include American Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Hainan Airlines, Japan Airlines, United Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.