What does the GoGo inflight Wi-Fi look like when leaving CiscoLive2013?

I noticed that my AirTran flight out of Orlando this evening happened to have GoGo Wi-Fi onboard. After hearing several people talk about how great the conference was this year, and that it was better than the last five they had attended, I decided to see how many people on the aircraft were using this service.

Using Fluke’s AirMagnet WiFi Analzyer, I learned a few things:

Three dual band Cisco APs are onboard, using channels 1, 6, 11, 36, 40 & 44. Apparently they’re not using the DFS channels – I wonder why. (okay, I don’t really wonder why)

There’s a Jayhawk (University of Kansas student) onboard, and that person has also been to Livestrong Park in Kansas City for a soccer game:

Looks like we have 30 client devices on the plane also… This is a Boeing 717-200, and since I’m too cheap to pay for Internet access, I will only guess as to how occupants there are on the plane. This flight is probably 90% full, unlike the usual 105% oversold flights I have been on lately. I would not have expected half of the client devices to be on 5GHz, but the packets never lie.

Now here’s something I did not expect to see. Maybe they’re on for a reason?

Here’s the top ten analysis. Not much to see here.

Here’s some good news! They don’t support live video or other streaming technologies. Sorry bandwidthhogs. You know who you are!

One thing I noticed is that they’re not broadcasting two other SSIDs. Anyone know what they’re for? My guess would be for the point of sale and maybe some sort of access for when we’re on the ground.

What is the Internet connection speed is on an airplane traveling 500+ MPH at 30,000+ feet above the earth? I haven’t a clue how they’re accomplishing this? Anyone? Buehler?

I looked around the aircraft, trying NOT to look suspicious, attempting to find the three access points – but never did. Must be tucked away somewhere behind all of that plastic…

At least we have equal distribution of client devices. I can only assume that is because the devices are turned off for takeoff and landing, so we don’t get the “front door effect”, where devices associate to the AP at the place of entry and stick to that AP for the entire time.

How much does it cost? The first time I looked, it was 3 dollars for 30 minutes. Then I looked again and it was $4.50 for three minutes. Either that, or I’m seeing things. It has been a long day…

Thanks for making it this far!

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