BA wi-fi pricing revealed as in-flight trials begin

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• Jimmy says:

  7 May7 May 20:54

  Rob, you need to be more circumspect when reading PR blurb. Fibre (FTTC being the most common) is *much* faster generally than 20Mbps. I get 65Mbps myself along copper wire into my home (after FTTC) without a Virgin in sight.

  However for those in the sticks, where FTTC is uneconomical to install, those guys will get snail speeds in comparison.

  Thereafter, while the BA pricing is clearly aimed at the business traveller (on expenses)…don’t be fooled into thinking that all connected users will stream content (in a practical, viable manner) if there are numerous concurrent users, second gen implementation or otherwise. There will be a bandwidth constriction that will dictate the final outcome on any given flight.

• Fenny says:

  7 May7 May 21:49

  I’m sure there will be plenty of people who choose to pay for the wifi. Probably the same people who can’t cope with having to turn their phone off until the doors open at the other end of the flight. I’m sure those people will also complain when the promised speeds are not delivered.

  • Callum says:

    8 May8 May 03:14

    I find it amusing how so many people on this site look down on others with thinly veiled disgust because they want to use their phone etc., yet moaning about dented milk cartons, sandwiches still having the cling film on them or, oh the horror, having to go an hour without free alcohol, is legitimate…

    (I obviously don’t know your personal view on those specific things, so I’m talking generally!)

    • bill says:

      8 May8 May 20:30

      hear hear, you should have seen how people on here lost their rag when BA took away the bacon rolls.

    • the real harry1 says:

      8 May8 May 20:35

      heh heh Callum 🙂

      nothing was ever wrong about exaggerating to make your point

• CV3V says:

  8 May8 May 10:23

  Wifi on plane uses:
  Post pic on Facebook, showing i am on a plane with wifi.
  Post pics of my food on Facebook, showing i am eating on a plane, that has wifi.
  Try streaming to phone/tablet to then realise I would be better off using the IFE instead and that have used up my phone battery (and that i cant charge an iphone 7 and use headphones at the same time without a stupid extra cable).
  Get really annoyed at the passenger sat beside me who has been doing precisely the same things as me, but is now using Facetime to talk (loudly) to friend and showing them the cabin.

  Next there will be a 3G signal on the London underground (in the tunnels, like other cities).

• Andrew Lyons says:

  8 May8 May 11:29

  I read the announcement about charges for mobile data on BA with interest, but what happens to the Club London City flight to JFK? This has always had free mobile data from its inception. Are BA going to charge for it now, in which case that is retrograde. Conversely I would be extremely annoyed being charged £23 for this Facilty in First whilst someone travelling Club had it for free!!

  • Tom says:

    8 May8 May 14:04

    CWLCY has never had free mobile data to my knowledge – it’s always charged via your mobile operator at (normally) extortionate overseas rates.

• Nick OCallaghan says:

  8 May8 May 16:20

  I would say the pricing is definitely not too bad. Not much more than what the US Carriers charge on domestic flights here in the States. Looking forward to seeing if it works the majority of the time…..

• Nick says:

  8 May8 May 16:24

  I’ve been digging around the internet, and for those interested, the wifi is starting on 747s (think why… the ‘Super J’ is designed for high-business routes). Forget CV3V’s comments above, which merely express ignorance about modern aircraft – the 787 ‘wifi’ on the ground is for the various engineering systems to ‘talk’ to each other and not for passenger use (and is the same on all 787 aircraft worldwide).

  BA is apparently also aware that customers can use Bluetooth to ‘pool’ connections and have accepted that this will simply happen (presumably factored into the price). I imagine they’d take a dim view of ‘reselling’, but don’t know how much they could do about it!

• keith s says:

  9 May9 May 10:55

  In economy I barely fit in the seat and can only just eat the ‘meal’, then when the person in front pushes their seat fully reclined it leaves no room to get a laptop out to work, I might just be able to use a tablet up in my face so wifi is a bit pointless if I travel economy. I can see the benefit in club and FIRST. BA could actually make it complementary in FIRST and for relatively little money for the 12-14 seats have a differentiated offering…

• Alex says:

  9 May9 May 15:56

  Free WiFi last time I travelled on Norwegian…..just saying…..

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