Air India flyers may get in-flight Wi-Fi internet connectivity by August-end; Here's how it will work

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on 25 August 2016. It is being republished in light of the fact that the Central government is likely to permit internet access on aircraft  from August onwards.

With Wi-Fi becoming omnipresent in India, there is one area where it still has to make a mark – inside a mid-air flight. That will hopefully change, as aviation secretary, RN Choubey has hinted that passengers will be able to use Wi-Fi while flying in the Indian air space soon.  Late last week, the date of 11 August was earmarked as a potential starting of the roll-out.

According to a report in Mint, Choubey says that the matter is being discussed with other government departments and there seems to be synergy between them. Choubey said that there is a broad understanding between the departments and he expects to give ‘good news’ in 10 days.

Currently you cannot access Wi-Fi inside an airplane due to security reasons. None of the Indian aircrafts have Wi-Fi on board as they find the service too expensive. Choubey also said that there will not be any caps on the pricing and it will be up to the airlines to charge for the service.

How does Airplane Wi-Fi work though?

There are many international airlines that provide Wi-Fi on-board. Airplane Wi-Fi works on the same basic principles as the those on the ground. Most of the times airplanes use the same towers that provide wireless data to your laptops or smartphones, when on the ground. Base stations on the ground communicate with the antennas placed on the underside of the planes which gets Wi-Fi on board. As you may have guessed, it dosen’t really augur well for high speed internet due to the speeds at which planes are flying. There has to be a large number of towers and seamless handover to maintain a fast connection.

If you are over a sea body or out of range of the ground network due to the altitude, then the other way to get internet is via satellites. The antennas on top of the planes kick into action then, communicating with orbitting satellites which provide internet.

Unlike internet on the ground, the one mid-air is generally slower as it is a shared connection for the entire flight. Also with so many people in the flight and constant moving around, the signals aren’t the strongest. Speeds can therefore vary from seat to seat.

It is also quite expensive , with only some airlines offering it for free to certain customers or on certain routes in certain geographical areas, where the provider might have their towers. Also one needs to understand that placing antennas on the plan involves additional design changes on the plane body, which increases air drag, which means more fuel is required to fly this plane, which ultimately translates to higher costs for the passenger.

In the US, it is Gogo which provides majority of in-flight Wi-Fi and it has plans that can be bought before you board a plane (the one with which Gogo has partnerships such as Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines and Virgin America) or those you can buy on-board (which is relatively more expensive). Since it has little competition, it can decide the rates, which are generally on the expensive side.