IcelandAir says it has inflight wi-fi on 95% of its transatlantic flights
A recent infographic about inflight wi-fi prepared by Icelandair caught our eye this month. It contains a mountain of info about one of our favorite subjects, and for your reading pleasure, we’ve excised some of the keenest facts, and then provided the entire graphic below. Enjoy!
1> Fifteen years ago, in 2000, only 4% of US households had broadband. Today it’s 87%. Remember this sound?
2> Every month, two million airline passengers connect to inflight wi-fi, which has only been around since 2004.
3> The average American spends between eight and nine hours per week online—about 35 hours per month.
4> Only 18% of travelers travel with phone, tablet and laptop. (Wait, I thought everyone did that!)
5> In 2013 a whopping 84% of inflight wi-fi users used the Apple OS vs Android. Device type is nearly evenly split three ways between phones, tablets and laptops.
6> While it may not always feel like it, inflight wi-fi speeds are increasing rapidly. For example, Icelandair says that when inflight wi-fi was first introduced in 2004, speed was about 3 Mbps. The newest versions of air-to-ground systems (like Gogo’s) run at about 70 Mbps while satellite based systems (like United’s) run at about 50Mbps.
7> Each seatback entertainment system weighs 13 pounds. Removing those systems and having passengers access systems via their own devices would conserve 80 metric tons of fuel year on a single 260-seat Boeing 767. (In the US, United has tried this approach with mixed results.)
8> Outfitting a typical plane with seatback entertainment systems costs about $3 million per plane.
For all the fun facts, take a spin through the infographic below:
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I think they have a little typo in their Challenges & Solutions section. Fiber Optic cable can carry much more than 100 Mbps. Fiber to the home (FTTH) providers like Google can offer 1Gbps (1000Mbps) today. Provider fiber networks can carry well over 8Tbps (8000Gbps) with future systems to increase that capacity greatly well exceeding satellites.
United had mixed results? I really cannot imagine why anyone would care about IFE any more. I haven’t touched it for years. You’d think the airlines would just rent charged-up iPads for passengers who don’t have devices. De gustibus non est disputandum.
did they ever figure out how much current ( and drain on the charging system) the seat back systems equate to in fuel used ?