Hot on the heels of Qantas switching on its inflight Wi-Fi comes Virgin Australia’s announcement that it, too, has commenced testing of onboard internet for domestic flights – a trial which will take place for the next three months.
Starting today, the Wi-Fi service has been enabled on a single Boeing 737-800 aircraft and, like on Qantas, passengers can access video streaming services Netflix and Stan for free on their devices.
To provide flyers with high-speed internet while in the air, Virgin Australia has teamed up with Aussie telco Optus and inflight internet and entertainment provider Gogo.
Addressing the launch, John Thomas, Group Executive of Virgin Australia said that the airline was “thrilled to commence customer testing of our inflight Wi-Fi today.” “We want to ensure that guests can stay reliably connected in the air while also enjoying the fantastic entertainment and customer service for which Virgin Australia is well known,” he stated.
High flyer
Passengers on the airline’s internet-enabled flight will be informed of the service’s availability and instructions will be provided on how to connect their devices.
Australian Business Traveller was on board the first test flight and clocked up download speeds of up to 20Mbps. In our recent tests with Qantas’ in-flight Wi-Fi, we found speeds hovered around the 12Mbps mark.
Virgin Australia’s first WiFi flights delivering solid 15-20Mbps downloads https://t.co/QM9GnUEo0L @VirginAustralia @Gogo #PaxEx pic.twitter.com/91p92B7rCbApril 20, 2017
Other than Netflix and Stan, customers will also have access to music streaming service Pandora Plus, which will include a free three-month trial. Passengers with existing Netflix or Pandora accounts will reportedly be able to add those three months to their current subscriptions on the streaming services, but Virgin Australia has mentioned that terms and conditions will apply.
Virgin has not announced if access to the inflight Wi-Fi will continue to be free after the three-month trial period, but it has stated that it will “finalise its business model after considering customer feedback and the results of the testing period.”
- For those with their feet planted firmly on the ground, here’s how you can get great Wi-Fi coverage in every room in your home.
