United beta WiFi charging by the hour

I was on a B737-900 from United today that WiFi, Direct TV and at-seat power. The Trifecta for United.

It was interesting to note that the new system comes in two formats – full browsing at $2 per hour and reduced service (email and mobile apps only) at $1 per hour. You can buy your connection in one hour blocks to ensure you don’t spend more than you need.

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Free access to the united.com web site is available, as well as access to the moving map.

Perhaps United is getting better!

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Comments

  1. way cheaper than the highway robbery that Gogo asks for on DL and US flights.

    and i just tested the free streaming movie via wifi this weekend … very usable. watched 2 movies without any stuttering.

  2. I recently used the United WiFi on my flight from Mexico City to San Francisco. Fantastic speed up to 10 Mbit all the way over Mexico. Was really happy with it. Plane was just half full and few computers open so I had the full bandwidth to myself.

  3. Sounds like a good price from United! Gogo could learn a thing or two from this, they don’t seem to offer great value for a mobile pass for a short flight. I’ve had to buy 1 hour blocks twice for say a 1:30 flight on US with Gogo.

    I do like with Gogo that it stores all your information in their app and in your Gogo account, so there is minimal typing needed to get a session going.

    Both JetBlue & Southwest (unless your an A List Preferred member) require typing of demographic information every time you sign on. If you have the airline app, there should be an intigration so you don’t have to type in any data except maybe a password or in the future a fingerprint swipe to signin.

  4. I just used the service 2 weeks ago. You can pre-purchase multiple hour blocks so you don’t have to reenter the CC information. If you do buy by the hour, then yes.

    Although, since part of my route went into Canada (EWR-SEA), service was spotty at times. But when it’s on, it’s great.

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