As Neowin heads to CES, what better way to kick off our coverage than with a review of GoGo inflight Wi-Fi service. The service is offered on most Delta flights that originate and touchdown within the continental United States.
Gogo is the preferred provider for Delta ( your only option) so it"s either pay their price or have no internet access at all. On this flight it cost $9.95 for the duration of the flight but the longer your flight the more expensive the service will cost you. One note, it would be more convenient if you could pay with PayPal as sitting in coach and having to take your wallet out and pay using a credit card number can be cumbersome not to mention everyone around you can see you enter your information.
The service is straight forward to use, you turn your device on and access your Wi-Fi connection and select "gogoinflight". You then launch your browser and follow the directions on the landing page; the page is not IE8 compliant and you must set your browser to compatibility mode. After paying it"s like using any other hotspot except that you"re on a plane. As a general rule, common curtsey should be applied; your neighbors don"t want to listen to your YouTube videos all flight.
The speed of the connection is acceptable, out of three speed tests the average was around 1.34 Mb/s down and .33 Mb/s up. Nothing earth shattering but it does allow for a solid in flight browsing experience but don"t expect to be doing any heavy downloading while soaring in the sky.
Gogo inflight Wi-Fi offers what you would expect, Wi-Fi on a plane. The service provides adequate speed at a reasonable price. The lack of privacy when entering your payment information is a bit unnerving and could be easily remedied by masking your payment information as your type. Overall, it"s what you would expect and as long as the price doesn"t rise with airline prices, it"s a viable service to get some work done while flying.