Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Faster Wi-Fi is in the cards for passengers on Cathay and Emirates airlines

By

Laptop Ban
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Your time in the skies may not fly by at 500 miles per hour (even if that’s how fast your airplane is moving), especially with Wi-Fi speeds that feel more like they’re crawling on the ground. But now that two airlines have made commitments to bringing faster connectivity speeds to their flights, you may finally feel as though your flight is as efficient as it really is. Cathay Pacific Group has announced its decision to bring GoGo’s 2Ku satellite-based broadband technology onboard beginning mid-next year, while Emirates is collaborating with Thales to bring 50Mbps Wi-Fi to its Boeing 777X fleet by 2020.

So while you’ll still have to wait awhile to enjoy these upgraded speeds, perhaps by the next decade’s holiday season, you’ll have something to keep you occupied on your way home.

Recommended Videos

Cathay’s new partner, GoGo, is said to be the “industry’s leading inflight connectivity solution,” and claims to deliver “an internet experience comparable to what passengers have on the ground.” Airlines across North and South America, as well as Europe and now Asia, make use of GoGo’s services, and Cathay is the latest to join the bunch.

Related

Though GoGo hasn’t made clear how fast its new offerings will be, folks flying Emirates will soon be able to enjoy 50Mbps speeds on Emirates flights. “The new agreement is part of Emirates and Thales’ plans to develop state-of-the-art inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) on the airline’s new Boeing 777X fleet,” the company noted in a press release. The airline claims that 800,000 passengers per month currently connect to in-flight Wi-Fi, and this number is expected to increase with the provision of faster services.

Faster or more substantial connectivity options is nothing novel for airlines to be offering in our hyper-connected world. For example, JetBlue recently began providing free Wi-Fi to all customers, while Delta gave passengers the option of using WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage for free on any Wi-Fi-equipped flight.

So if you need to keep folks on the ground abreast of what’s happening to you in the skies, or want to stay in the know about earthly happenings, these new internet options just may be what you’ve been waiting for.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
These new Eero PoE devices are for serious Wi-Fi setups only
The Eero PoE 6 with the price listed.

At the annual Amazon hardware event, router company Eero has announced two new devices for serious connectivity: the Eero PoE 6 and Eero PoE Gateway. These are not for your average Wi-Fi setup.

PoE, or power over ethernet, is a way of bringing wireless connectivity to wired infrastructures, especially made for professional installers and businesses. The Eero PoE 6 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 access point that covers up to 2,000 square feet of space with connectivity, including connections for more than 100 devices. Eero says it can go "almost anywhere ethernet cable can be pulled," including being mounted flush to surfaces like walls or ceilings.

Read more
This dongle can bring a superfast Wi-Fi 6 connection to your old computer
The Netgear Nighthawk A8000 Wi Fi 6 adapter

To upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 you would customarily need to buy an entirely new laptop or replace the Wi-Fi card in your desktop. Netgear has come up with a clever way to avoid this. The Netgear Nighthawk A8000 adapter simply plugs into any USB slot and brings instant Wi-Fi 6 connectivity to your computer.

What it does is retroactively bring Wi-Fi 6 to older computers, allowing them to enjoy the same high bandwidth and speeds as brand-new top-of-the-line machines with Wi-Fi 6-capable receivers. It supports all three Wi-Fi bands -- 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz -- and can deliver blazing speeds of up to 1.2GBps, which is comparable to an ethernet connection. However, there is a catch.

Read more
This new gaming monitor has a built-in Wi-Fi antenna
Phantom gaming monitor PG34WQ15R2B and PG27FF1A models.

The Taiwanese brand ASRock is getting more into the gaming market, now introducing its first gaming monitors, one with a never-before-seen integrated Wi-Fi antenna feature on such a product.

The Phantom gaming monitors include the PG34WQ15R2B and PG27FF1A models, but the first is the one with the integrated antenna.

Read more