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The first information in this post is also the most important: it was published straight from the cabin of a Airbus A380 about 11 meters off the ground.
Traveling by plane with access to Internet until recently it was impossible. But in recent years, some companies have started to make the service available on certain routes. Enjoying a trip with Airbus A380 on the Hong Kong – Dubai section, we tested the connection offered by Emirates.
In the first 5 hours of the trip, the service did not work, possibly due to the position of the satellite used to send and receive data. After a few attempts, I managed to make the connection when the plane was flying over the city of Ajanta, India.
A Internet is charged. For smartphones the cost is US$ 2,75 (about R$ 6,30) for 5 MB or US$ 10 (about R$ 23) for 30 MB. Now when you use the Wi-Fi from the computer, prices change: $7,50 for 15 MB and $20 for 100 MB of data.
When choosing the plan, there is the option to block the service when reaching the data limit or pay extra for every 100 KB used.
Not to be surprised, I chose the option to close the connection when reaching the limit. Then, just make a brief registration and enter your credit card information to release access.
Once the service is activated, a screen in the browser indicates the amount of data used. I decided to connect my smartphone instead of the notebook to enjoy the Whatsapp.
In the case of smartphones, the first tip is disable background data synchronization. So you don't waste your precious MB on unused apps or updates.
For starters, I decided to do some tests with the Facebook and Instagram. I soon realized that both apps were going to ruin my plan in a few minutes. So I quickly looked at my notifications and closed both apps (I went to the app manager and chose the “force quit” option so they wouldn't be running in the background).
I also took the opportunity to do a test with the Ookla Speedtest. For , the speed was 0,41 Mbps and for 0,67 Mbps. Not bad for someone flying at 900 km/h.
Then I did an update of mine emails. As it was Sunday in Brazil, I didn't have many messages and I was able to view them all without problems.
After checking the messages, I started using the Whatsapp to talk to friends. I spent more than an hour sending messages and some pictures from the plane's cabin and I didn't spend even 10 MB. In other words, it's really worth it!
I had already tried to use similar services in other companies, always without success. It was fun to stay connected on the plane and I hope that soon more companies will offer the service (if possible, for free!).
Have you used the service in another company? Tell us your experience!
