Since my previous post about airplane wifi, a few more airlines have launched wifi Internet using either Aircell’s GoGo or Row 44’s service.

A quick review of the two technologies is below.

Aircell’s GoGo Airplane Internet Service

Aircell has been authorized by the FAA and FCC to use cellular frequencies for inflight broadband communications. Based on a tech primer by Aircell from March 2007 the network is summarized below.

• 100 or fewer EVDO antennas across the US providing coast-to-coast coverage.
• AirCell broadband uses an EV-DO (Rev. A) air-to-ground link, which provides peak data rates up to 3.1Mbps from the ground to the airplane, and up to 1.8Mbps from the airplane to the ground.
• Usable Internet access but not high speed Internet as expected by users with 30Mbps Internet access at home.

Language from tech primer below acknowledging speed limitations of network architecture and GoGo service.

AirCell broadband will be fast enough to give you complete, unfettered access to the Internet without excessive load times. It will run regular e-mail programs with normal attachments just like you do on the ground. It’s not as fast as a T1 line feeding a large corporation, but in daily operations very few people would notice a difference in download times between the two – and then, only when working with very large files. Participants that have demonstrated prototypes of the system in flight have been extremely happy with their experience.

Row 44’s Airplane Internet Service

Unlike Aircell, who built a wireless network for inflight WiFi Internet, Row 44 purchases bandwidth from HughesNet. Bandwidth can be very high, much higher than the EVDO based network used by Aircell but HughesNet uses geosynchronous satellites (about 42,164 km from Earth) has always suffered from latency issues when used for two-way communications. Additional details from Row 44’s website about the broadband system are below.

• Data rates averaging 30 Mbps in the downlink direction (from the satellite to the aircraft) and 620 Kbps maximum in the uplink direction.
• System will allow full access to the Internet as well as VoIP services, cell phone roaming usage where allowed by government regulation as well as live TV using IPTV.
• The system weighs less than 150 lbs and can be installed in two overnights, with the plane re-entering revenue service between the overnights.
• Second multi-cast 45 Mbps receive-only channel can be provisioned using the same equipment for dedicated transport of IP television. The passenger will gain access to all these services via the airline’s in-flight entertainment system or their own devices through Wi-Fi access points onboard the aircraft.

In-Flight WiFi Guide

Below is a summary compiled by travel site Jaunted with prices and WiFi Internet services offered by major airlines.

© 2008 Copyright WLANBook.com

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The IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

The IEEE today announced that its Standards Board has ratified the IEEE 802.11n™-2009 amendment, defining mechanisms that provide significantly improved data rates and ranges for wireless local area networks (WLANs). This new amendment to the IEEE 802.11 base standard is designed to help the data communications industry address the escalating demands placed on enterprise, home and public WLANs with the rise of higher-bandwidth file transfers and next-generation multimedia applications. WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 are widely deployed, with more than 1 million units shipping per day.

For further information on IEEE 802.11, visit http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.11.html

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Having in-flight Internet access will probably make flying enjoyable again for many. I haven’t personally experienced in-flight WiFi but look forward comparing EVDO based service by Aircell to satellite based service by Row 44 in the near future.

Aircell’s GoGo Airplane Internet Service

American Airlines, Delta, and Virgin America currently offer the service using Aircell’s GoGo service. Aircell has been authorized by the FAA and FCC to use cellular frequencies for inflight broadband communications. Based on a tech primer by Aircell from March 2007 the network is summarized below.

• 100 or fewer EVDO antennas across the US providing coast-to-coast coverage.
• AirCell broadband uses an EV-DO (Rev. A) air-to-ground link, which provides peak data rates up to 3.1Mbps from the ground to the airplane, and up to 1.8Mbps from the airplane to the ground.
• Usable Internet access but not high speed Internet as expected by users with 30Mbps Internet access at home.

Language from tech primer below acknowledging speed limitations of network architecture and GoGo service.

AirCell broadband will be fast enough to give you complete, unfettered access to the Internet without excessive load times. It will run regular e-mail programs with normal attachments just like you do on the ground. It’s not as fast as a T1 line feeding a large corporation, but in daily operations very few people would notice a difference in download times between the two – and then, only when working with very large files. Participants that have demonstrated prototypes of the system in flight have been extremely happy with their experience.

Row 44’s Airplane Internet Service

Southwest and Alaska Airlines have selected Row 44. Unlike Aircell, who built a wireless network for inflight WiFi Internet, Row 44 purchases bandwidth from HughesNet. Bandwidth can be very high, much higher than the EVDO based network used by Aircell but HughesNet uses geosynchronous satellites (about 42,164 km from Earth) has always suffered from latency issues when used for two-way communications. Additional details from Row 44’s website about the broadband system are below.

• Data rates averaging 30 Mbps in the downlink direction (from the satellite to the aircraft) and 620 Kbps maximum in the uplink direction.
• System will allow full access to the Internet as well as VoIP services, cell phone roaming usage where allowed by government regulation as well as live TV using IPTV.
• The system weighs less than 150 lbs and can be installed in two overnights, with the plane re-entering revenue service between the overnights.
• Second multi-cast 45 Mbps receive-only channel can be provisioned using the same equipment for dedicated transport of IP television. The passenger will gain access to all these services via the airline’s in-flight entertainment system or their own devices through Wi-Fi access points onboard the aircraft.

American Airlines In-Flight WiFi Internet

Aircell’s Gogo will be available to customers as a fee-based service in all cabins. Aircell will charge $12.95 on flights more than three hours, which include American’s Boeing 767-200 flights. Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services are not available.

Gogo turns an American Airlines flight into a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling passengers to surf the Web, check any email, Instant Message, access a corporate VPN, and more. Once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, users can simply turn on their Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, open their browsers and be directed to the Gogo portal page where they sign up and begin surfing. Gogo is powered by the Aircell air-to-ground (ATG) Broadband System, which runs over Aircell’s exclusive nationwide network. [source]

Delta Airlines In-Flight WiFi Internet

Delta is joining with Aircell®, a 17-year leader in airborne communications for business and commercial aviation, to install the company’s Mobile Broadband Network on the carrier’s domestic fleet. The system, Gogo™, will enable Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, to access the Internet, corporate VPNs, corporate and personal e-mail accounts, as well as SMS texting and instant messaging services. Gogo will be available to customers for a flat fee of $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours. [source]

Virgin America In-Flight WiFi Internet

Customized for Virgin America, the system is anticipated to allow guests to connect to the internet with the AirCell Broadband Service, using either their Red™ seatback video screens or their own wifi enabled portable gaming devices, laptops, PDAs or Smartphones. As such, in addition to the many entertainment choices currently offered by Red™ guests will be able to check and send web-email from their seatbacks through Red™’s TALK — the airline’s onboard chat system — using popular instant messaging services such as MSN®, Google® talk, Yahoo! ® Skype, and AIM®. [source]

Southwest Airlines In-Flight WiFi Internet

Southwest Airlines is pleased to announce its partnership with Row 44, and we intend
to deliver the highest bandwidth available to commercial airlines in the United States,” said
Dave Ridley, Southwest Airlines’ Senior Vice President of Marketing. “Southwest’s selection of
satellite technology will offer a more robust experience for more Customers per aircraft versus
other solutions available in the marketplace. [source]

Alaska Airlines In-Flight WiFi Internet

Alaska Airlines today announced it plans to launch inflight wireless Internet service next year based on Row 44’s satellite-based broadband connectivity solution. Alaska made the announcement in Toronto at the 28th Annual World Airline Entertainment Association Conference and Exhibition. The airline will test Row 44’s system on a next-generation Boeing 737 aircraft in spring 2008 and, based on the trial’s outcome, plans to equip its 114-aircraft fleet.

Unlike air-to-ground services, Row 44’s satellite-based system is designed to function over land, water and across international borders, enabling service throughout Alaska’s route system in Alaska, the Lower 48 states, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. [source]

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What Does WiFi Stand For?

Nothing.

“Wi-Fi”, Wi hyphen Fi, is a branding term created by Interbrand so that the WiFi Alliance could use the name and logo as the 80.211 interoperability seal and in marketing efforts. The branding effort has been so successful that the term WiFi is synonymous with 802.11 just like “Kleenex”, another invented word, is synonymous with facial tissue paper. Unlike Kleenex, WiFi has functional meaning since it is used to certify the interoperability of wireless devices.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global trade association with a mission of enabling the growth of Wi-Fi worldwide. The Wi-Fi Alliance created the term Wi-Fi, which has come to represent a cultural phenomenon. Products which successfully pass the Wi-Fi Alliance testing may use the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED brand. The Alliance tests and certifies the interoperability of wireless LAN products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Makes it Wi-Fi

The certification process is so important that it is virtually impossible to purchase consumer grade equipment that is not Wi-Fi certified.

Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance members have certified more than 4,100 Wi-Fi products. Through comprehensive testing, the Wi-Fi Alliance certification program helps to ensure that Wi-Fi products from multiple manufacturers work together.

Wi-Fi Certification assures tested and proven interoperability among Wi-Fi devices. This certification gives users confidence that Wi-Fi products bearing the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo have passed rigorous interoperability certification requirements.

Wi-Fi or WiFi?

If want to use the brand correctly then refer to the official style guide. This style guide describes the usage requirements for the trademarks of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

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Starting this spring Starbucks, in cooperation with AT&T Wi-Fi Service, will offer free WiFi internet at Starbucks locations. A paragraph from the press release is below.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced a new comprehensive communications agreement with AT&T that will enhance the enterprise networking capabilities for Starbucks by streamlining business operations and enhancing the customer experience. With this announcement, AT&T, which has provided Starbucks with network connectivity for point of sale and other store operating systems for more than 10 years, will offer consumer WiFi service in more than 7,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S. beginning in spring of 2008.

Like many $5 latte sipping Starbucks customers, I prefer paying zero dollars for WiFi and even seek out coffee shops/retailers who offer free WiFi. On several occasions, I’ve selected a local Panera Bread or Silver Diner over a Starbucks because they offer free WiFi. I usually spend more than $2 for coffee and pastry at Panera Bread and closer to $15 at Silver Diner for an old time diner style breakfast.

Based on my experience, offering free WiFi at Starbucks 7000 locations will benefit Starbucks the most by eliminating a reason for customers take their business elsewhere. The details of how the offering will work is covered in-depth here and here and info about requiring a Starbucks Card to use the free service is below.

The press release from Starbucks and three conversations I had with them yesterday finally made clear what the free 2-hours access requires. You need a Starbucks Card—not their Visa card, which will also work, but their stored-value card that you can recharge. These are available to buy with a minimum fill of $5.00. Once you have the card, free Wi-Fi service is activated by a single purchase of any amount on the card each month. Earlier reports (and what I thought I’d understood) indicated that either you needed the Starbucks Visa card, or that you simply needed a Starbucks stored-value card without a purchase.

Starbucks and iPhone

Since AT&T is involved in this free WiFi service and AT&T has an exclusive relationship with Apple regarding the iPhone it is possible that some special integration with Starbucks, AT&T, and iPhone is coming. Forbes has a nice article about a new Apple patent related to ordering using a “wireless device”.

In an application with the U.S. Patent Office published on Dec. 20, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and gadget company described a wireless system that would allow customers to place an order at a store using a wireless device such as a media player, a wireless personal digital assistant or a cellphone.

Someone has already designed an interface to make above possible and screen shots of the iPhone screens are shown below.

Someday, you may be able to walk into a Starbucks, order your “non fat half caff tripple grande quarter sweet sugar free vanilla non-fat lactaid extra hot extra foamy caramel macchiato” via your iPhone, sit down and start surfing the web for free, and when the drink is ready you’ll get a message sent to your phone or they may even bring it to your table along with the Starbucks “Eggs Florentine with Baby Spinach and Havarti” breakfast sandwich.

(I don’t have an iPhone…I’m happy with my Palm OS based phone.)

Starbucks Free WiFi and Technical Details

While the business side of the arrangement and how customers will access the free service is explained, the technical details of the WiFi network are not provided. One of the negatives of free WiFi at places like Panera Bread is that Internet speeds can be extremely slow at peak times in morning and during lunch. A few questions I have regarding the performance of the network are below.

• Has any performance and capacity planning been conducted on WiFi architecture per store to determine if additional users can be supported? Streaming videos on laptops and newer WiFi enabled devices like iPhones will require more network resources compared resources required for email and basic web browsing
• Are the access points being replaced/enhanced for this new service? The existing WiFi architecture is most likely not 802.11n or even 802.11a/802.11g, limiting the performance of the network to basic services.
• Will users with subscription service to AT&T Wi-Fi Service have guaranteed performance on network?

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Back in 2005, Team iFiber Redwire “shattered their previous world record of 55.1 miles, and the ground-to-ground amplified record of 82 miles set in Utah. Team iFiber Redwire achieved an unamplified, 124.9-mile, 11-Mbit connection for 3 hours.”

Huge Antennas

One of the biggest myths related to wireless LAN security is that placing an access point in the middle of a building or turning the power down will increase security. The assumption is that the signal will be too weak for anyone outside the building to detect.

This may be true for wireless cards with internal antennas, but any serious attacker will utilize high gain antennas to amplify weak signals. With a large enough antenna, any network is within reach.

Hacker’s Favorite Tool

Most hackers wouldn’t try to access a network that is miles away, but the fact that they could should be a concern. Access from hundreds of yards away is more likely, and is pretty easy with high gain antennas that are very portable and cost less than $50.

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• 400+ mesh routers
• 12 square mile coverage and 25,000 homes
• 15,000 unique users per month
• 300 gigabytes per day (has grown 10% a month since beginning of 2007)
• 100 distinct types of WiFi devices
• 95 percent of the mesh routers being used everyday

While the numbers above are interesting they are not very impressive. A few quick calculations results in below.

Megabytes Per User Per Day
 
Using 300 gigabytes per day x 30 days/month  = 9000 gigabytes per month

(9000 gigabytes/month) / (15,000 users/month) = 600 megabytes/month per user = 20 megabytes per day/user

Kbps Per User Per Day (assume one hour session)

Assuming that the per user usage was completed in a one hour per day (20 megabytes per hour) / (3600 seconds/hour) = 555.55 bytes/second = 44.44 kbps

Now if we had data on the cost of equipment and cost of running the network it would be easy to determine if it makes more sense to give away EVDO/cellular data cards and service for free or to build WiFi municipal networks.

 I wonder if Google has crunched numbers like above and already knows the answer?

Additional data points that would be nice to know are below.

• Other devices in network architecture (e.g. point-to-point links, point-to-multipoint links, switches, routers, firewalls, servers)
• Cost of hardware
• Cost to install hardware
• ISP/bandwidth cost
• Number of full time employees (FTEs) maintaining network
• Types of applications (e.g. HTTP, FTP, email, VoIP)
• Time on network per user per day
• Amount of data per user per day
• Gigabytes of traffic to/from Internet vs. gigabytes of WiFi traffic
• Total network capacity (user, gigabytes per day)

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One not so usual tidbit was the increased trend in using SSIDs for advertising purposes.

One interesting phenomenon is the tendency to use hotspots for subliminal advertising. Every client attempting to connect to a network will look at the list of accessible networks. Using web addresses as hotspot names can serve as an additional means of attracting new clients to the site. The first networks that we saw using this technique were in Warsaw, where they accounted for roughly 3% of all networks. This approach was found in London as well, and although only 1% of WiFi networks used this tactic, it can still be seen as a certain trend.

Most high end and even some SOHO quality access points have the ability to broadcast multiple SSIDs per access point, sometimes called a virtual access point. A WiFi service provider could easily configure their access points to broadcast a SSID advertisement in addition to the WiFi network SSID.

Checkout what I was able to do with my access point in less than 30 seconds!

BTW, you don’t even need a fancy access point to do this. Using Fake AP would work too.

See full report here.

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