Air to Ground 3G Inflight Internet: Gogo Inflight (America)

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Gogo provides in-flight broadband Internet service, streaming video and other connectivity services for commercial and business aircraft. In June 2011, the company formally changed its name from Aircell to Gogo as part of a rebranding effort. Prior to the rebrand, Gogo's commercial air service was known as "Gogo Inflight Internet." Aircell remains the name of the company's business aviation division.

Gogo allows airline passengers to connect to the Internet through a system of cell towers on the ground. Their Air to Ground (ATG) system is a 3G wireless technology that utilizes EV-DO Rev. A.

Gogo owns more than 100 towers, which together form a network over the continental U.S. and parts of Alaska. The towers are cellphone towers that have been outfitted to point their signals at the sky rather than along the ground. The aircraft picks up the signal through a receiver installed on its underside. When it reaches the aircraft, the data signal is distributed throughout the cabin via a Wi-Fi system. Customers are required to enter their e-mail address and complete a CAPTCHA before using the service.

The company announced that in 2012 they will launch a next generation Air to Ground service called ATG-4. Gogo claims its ATG-4 service will significantly enhance the existing ATG network and improve per aircraft capacity by approximately four times current performance through the addition of Directional Antenna, Dual Modem and EV-DO Rev.B technologies.

Gogo service began on American Airlines in July 2008. The first routes served were JFK to San Francisco, JFK to LAX, and JFK to Miami. They are currently expanding to include Gogo service on the full American Airlines domestic fleet.

On August 5, 2008, Delta Air Lines announced it would install Gogo on all its domestic aircraft, which has since been completed. Recently, Delta announced that Gogo service would be expanded to include its full fleet of Delta regional jets. but a 2009 merger with Northwest Airlines added to the fleet. By early April 2010, 437 of 540 aircraft in the combined domestic fleet offered Wi-Fi, with remaining installations expected by summer 2010.

Virgin America became the first airline with fleetwide in-flight Internet access, in March 2009.
On July 14, 2009, AirTran Airways completed installation of Gogo on 136 of its aircraft.

October 2, 2009 saw the launch of Gogo on United Airlines' p.s. flight 23 from New York to Los Angeles. The company plans to have Gogo installed on its entire p.s. fleet by November 6, 2009.

On November 20, 2009 Gogo announced that Air Canada has begun trials of the Gogo system on select Toronto-Los Angeles and Montreal-Los Angeles flights which occur in large part over the continental US.
On February 24, 2010, Alaska Airlines announced that it will offer Gogo on its full fleet. The full fleet installation was completed in the fall of 2011.

On March 29, 2010, US Airways announced that all its Airbus A321 fleet would offer Gogo by June 1, 2011. The full fleet installation was completed in the fall of 2011.

On February 5, 2012 Frontier Airlines announced that it had equipped all of its Embraer E190 aircraft with Gogo to begin service on February 6, 2012.

Website: http://www.gogoair.com


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