Wavelengths

As SmartSky Networks deploys its 4G LTE network across the country, we’ve been fielding a surprising number of questions around the ability of our network to support online gaming – something that requires a low-latency and bi-directional network connection. Most inflight connectivity networks struggle to support a positive gaming experience due to their high latency.

You might not give much thought to your Internet connection's overall speed, but you probably do pay attention to your overall user experience. Most people think speed tests are the key to putting a measurable quantity on user experience – and most only pay attention to the speed to the user, not the speed from the user to the provider. You might be surprised to learn that in addition to latency, upload speed, or speed from the user to the provider, is key to a great Internet experience.

Everyone loves to rate their user experience with connectivity and often have found the inflight connectivity experience of the past to lag behind their user experience on the ground. Unfortunately, this has been generally true on both corporate and commercial air travel. What is it about connecting in the air that can negatively affect our experience on the internet?