In-flight Internet provider Gogo plans to boost access speeds after a legal spat with customer American Airlines over slow service.
Gogo plans to add bandwidth in two stages, first by buying more capacity on geostationary satellites from Intelsat and, some time after 2018, adding links to a future low-earth-orbit satellite system being built by OneWeb.
Unsatisfied with the speed of Gogo's existing service, customer American Airlines recently took the company to court in a dispute over whether their contract allowed American to switch to a different provider. The airline ultimately dropped the suit without prejudice when Gogo offered to submit a new bid, according to media reports.
Gogo's planned service upgrade will give it the technology to make that bid. Over Intelsat's EpicNG satellites, due to enter service this year, Gogo will be able to deliver downlink speeds of up to 250 Mbps per aircraft, to be shared among all passengers, the company said Monday.
OneWeb's planned satellite constellation should offer similar speeds, but with much lower latency because of the satellites' lower altitude, Gogo said.
