Hang on to your devices – there may be help on the way for frustratingly slow in-flight WiFi – for a price.
The Federal Aviation Administration this week gave Gogo (GOGO) approval for technology that could boost WiFi speeds to more than 70 Mbps, more than 20 times faster than current speeds in-flight.
Gogo, the dominant player in the space, currently handles WiFi service on some 2,400 planes and plans to build out the faster service on more than 500 planes next year. But that dominance has allowed Gogo to raise prices at a somewhat alarming rate if you’re a frequent traveler.
The New York Times did an analysis of in-flight prices and found that prices for WiFi on some transcontinental flights have more than doubled from three years ago.
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According to The Times, Gogo uses so-called dynamic pricing, which means it scales pricing according to predictions of what demand for WiFi will be on a particular flight.
The company's CEO, Michael Small, says the reason for the rapid rise in prices is mostly due to the fact that demand for Internet service in flight has exceeded capacity.
“We’re starting to have millions of users, so it’s getting more and more congested, and we have raised prices, which you typically do when you have more demand than you have supply,” he said. “There’s nothing to apologize for. We have trouble finding a business in America that does anything differently.”
So while the quality may be speeding up, price increases are likely to speed up as well.
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