WiFi Connection On Airplanes

• It’s normal to have wifi on aircraft and To provide that in the air, airlines have to have access to land-based cell towers or satellite-based services. There has to be some way for the antennas and satellites to hit the cell towers or corresponding satellites in order for the WiFi to work properly.

There are some ways that you can get WiFi

• ATG (air-to-ground):

With this type, two antennas are placed on the belly of the plane so that signals from land-based cell towers can be picked up. The flight attendant turns on the ATG switch; used mostly for domestic travel over land and its approximate speed is only around three Mbps, which is enough for reading emails and checking Facebook.

• Ku-Band:

This is a satellite-based service that can provide service even over the ocean and when flying out of the range of land-based cell towers. There is a large saucer-shaped antenna placed on top of the airplane and it can be directed towards the transmitting satellite while the plane is in the air. It works similar to a rooftop TV dish. speed can get up to 30 to 40 Mbps.