Buckle up for some free on-board Wi-Fi on Delta Airlines

Now, 55 domestic Delta flights are going to be part of the free Wi-Fi testing this month. The in-flight on-board free Wi-Fi testing will begin next week and will go on till the end of this month. Users can do everything they normally do with a Wi-Fi network, except stream videos. All of this is free of charge.

At present, only JetBlue offers free Wi-Fi in the US for free. Delta says that there will be more phases before the actual rollout hits all Delta flight users, however, this marks as the “first step toward realizing its vision” of free Wi-Fi on-board. The flight operator has said that short, medium, and long distance flight routes will have the new networking feature.

The customers who are going to be part of the testing will be notified with an email or a mobile app prior to their journey. As this service is going to be free, Delta says that it’s going to be slightly complex as the number of people using it will increase. This could further intensify the stress on the plane’s connection.

Behind the Delta Wi-Fi test is Gogo, which had submitted an SEC filing that “12 percent of passengers used in-flight Wi-Fi in 2018.” Free Wi-Fi means more people using the service, which could further mess with the plane’s bandwidth leading to slower network speeds. Gogo is a prime provider of flight Wi-Fi service and its revenue will be channeled to increase the bandwidth to these airlines in the coming days.