The news of the presence of WiFi features on airplanes actually has appeared since last year midterm. Several leading airlines in the world began to compete to bring internet access via WiFi (inflight WiFi) to their service users. They are competing to make the passengers comfortable traveling by airplane and can keep working and being connected to the internet while on the plane. United Airlines is one of the airlines that has implemented Inflight WiFi on several of their aircraft.
On Saturday (06/7) yesterday, one of the number one airlines in Indonesia, namely Garuda Indonesia, did a flight demo or joy flight with the sophisticated Boeing 777-300ER. Joy flight is done by flying a plane from Jakarta to Denpasar. Not only trying out the latest series of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the flight demo also tested Inflight WiFi for Garuda Indonesia’s fleet.
In the test flight, 8 people from the Communication and Information Team took part in testing and checking the Inflight WiFi feature on Garuda aircraft. The team is led directly by Gunarto, Head of the Sub Directorate of Postel Implementation of the Directorate of Standardization and Equipment of the Directorate General of SDPPI. In addition there were also representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and PT Telkom.
During the joy flight from Jakarta – Denpasar, the team conducted physical testing and checking of the device, measuring the signal to the access point and its cellular pico BTS on GSM 1800. All devices tested were functioning properly. At the time of testing, the use of WiFi on board did not cause interference, both interference with the cockpit communication channel and the use of other frequency channels.
Even though the results of the Inflight WiFi test on the Boeing 777-300ER are going well, it does not mean that the use of WiFi is also permitted on other types of aircraft owned by PT Garuda Indonesia, because to bring the Inflight WiFi feature on a fleet or other aircraft, comprehensive testing is still needed.
In the use of the Inflight WiFi feature, telecommunications services in the form of voice are not yet permitted, even when testing can have a telephone conversation. This entirely depends on the decision of the management of PT Garuda Indonesia. Wifi-based services that may be used include internet browsing, social networks, e-mail and instant messaging.
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