Traditionally, flying on a regional jet meant you would be disconnected till you landed.
These days, nevertheless, are about to be a distant reminiscence — particularly if you happen to’re flying on American Airways.
In late 2023, the provider introduced that it will set up satellite-based Wi-Fi service throughout almost 500 American Eagle regional jets. This contains the next two-class jets: Bombardier CRJ-700, Bombardier CRJ-900, Embraer E170 and Embraer E175. Sadly, the Bombardier CRJ-200 and the Embraer E145, which do not at present supply Wi-Fi, nonetheless will not obtain web service.
Whereas the rollout began final yr and remains to be very a lot ongoing, I scored an incredible improve on a current flight from Philadelphia to Nashville. (And no, I am not speaking about my first complimentary first-class improve as an AAdvantage Government Platinum member in almost six months.)
As I approached the gate and regarded on the Embraer E175 ready to fly me right down to Nashville, I observed one thing unusual in regards to the prime of the fuselage. The jet appeared to have a flat satellite tv for pc radome on the again close to the tail, my first indication that this is able to be an American Eagle regional flight like no different.
As soon as inside, I requested the flight attendant if the aircraft might need the brand new Wi-Fi expertise. Her reply? “All I do know is that I often hear numerous complaints about web entry on these planes.”
My hopes briefly dashed, I shortly linked to aainflight.com, American’s Wi-Fi touchdown web page — and voila. I scrolled to the underside and confirmed that this jet, an 11-year-old Embraer E175 registered N422YX, had certainly been upgraded with an Intelsat antenna.
After which, as a self-proclaimed techie, I made a decision to spend the subsequent 90 minutes placing the brand new Wi-Fi service by way of the paces.
Step one was really connecting to the web. Although American has completed an important job bringing sooner and extra dependable connectivity to the skies, its Wi-Fi pricing scheme remains to be probably the most costly within the home skies. A flight move for my brief hop to Nashville was $20 or 3,100 miles. On Delta Air Strains, it will have been free, and on United Airways, it will have price $8. (Perhaps sooner or later American may even introduce free Wi-Fi, however proper now, the provider is barely testing such an idea.)
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After forking over $20, I began with a easy pace take a look at to find out what I used to be working with. Obtain speeds persistently hovered round 10 Mbps, and add speeds clocked in round 4 Mbps. The latency, measured by ping, was almost 700 milliseconds.
These numbers may not imply a lot to you, however to me, they indicated that the service ought to have the ability to deal with video streaming and importing high-definition content material. With such a excessive latency (which measures how lengthy it takes information to switch over a community), video calls and stay gaming may not work as effectively, however why not take a look at all of it out.
My first take a look at was whether or not I may entry the web throughout takeoff, one thing that wasn’t potential with the older air-to-ground connectivity that American used to supply on regional jets. (Gogo, just lately rebranded as Wi-Fi Onboard, is barely obtainable if you’re above 10,000 ft.)
Happily, I had no bother connecting throughout takeoff, descent and even on the bottom.
Then, I made a decision to mess around with some extra intensive duties. To begin, I opened up all 4 units I used to be touring with: a MacBook Air, an iPad Professional, an iPhone 16 Professional and an iPhone 15 Professional. (I all the time journey with a backup cellphone since you by no means know when your main cellphone will die or get broken.)
I instantly opened streaming providers throughout all 4 units, and I am happy to report that I had no bother watching completely different scenes from Severance on all 4 units with no lag in any respect.
I attempted different issues, like looking Instagram and TikTok, and, as soon as once more, there was minimal buffering. At one level, I wanted to restart the Instagram app to get it to load once more, however that was the one main web hiccup I skilled all through the flight.
Along with the sooner speeds and improved reliability of satellite tv for pc Wi-Fi, one other main improve is protection. American’s air-to-ground supplier solely supplied reception over the continental U.S.
With the brand new satellite tv for pc resolution, you’ll be able to keep linked wherever American’s regional jets fly. From Canada to the Caribbean, you may have international protection.
All through the flight, I continued to push the Wi-Fi to its limits. I bumped into a couple of roadblocks, however not due to a technical limitation. After I tried utilizing Zoom and FaceTime, I discovered that my calls would not join. Though the Wi-Fi speeds have been actually quick sufficient to help these apps, Federal Aviation Administration guidelines prohibit video calls inflight, so American put in blockers that prevented using these apps.
Earlier than lengthy, it was time to descend into Nashville. Again within the day, that will’ve meant wrapping up all of your work and saying goodbye (if you happen to may even join) to your family and friends till you landed. The truth is, the prerecorded touchdown announcement even talked about that Wi-Fi can be unavailable as soon as we handed under 10,000 ft.
However it is a new period, and I used to be nonetheless receiving texts and notifications all the best way till we parked at Gate T1 at Nashville Worldwide Airport (BNA).
As I exited the aircraft, I reminisced in regards to the days when flying on regional jets, particularly the Embraer E170 household, offered a giant trade-off for me. Whereas I discover the cabin configuration to be comfy in each financial system and firstclass, I typically prevented these planes through the work day due to their unreliable and gradual Wi-Fi.
However now that increasingly more planes are getting satellite tv for pc connectivity, I will not shrink back from reserving a regional jet for my upcoming flight.
American plans to have 100 plane with high-speed Wi-Fi put in by the top of March and expects to have this tech put in throughout almost 500 dual-class regional jets by the top of 2025.
If solely American may inform me throughout reserving which aircraft would have what Wi-Fi supplier, I might be golden. However till then, I (and my Slack feed) will likely be hoping that my subsequent American Eagle flight has satellite tv for pc web connectivity.
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