Avionics News October 2014 - 58

GOGO BUSINESS AVIATION
Continued from page 57

AIRBORNE CELL SERVICE...

Much	more	common	is	the	need	to	
actually	speak	to	someone	in	the	corporate	office,	or	exchange	texts	with	a	
spouse	regarding	the	family	schedule,	
or	with	an	associate	about	the	flight's	
arrival	time.	All	of	this	needs	to	be	
accomplished	with	the	passenger's	
device	instead	of	an	unfamiliar	handset	
on	the	forward	cabin	bulkhead,	with	its	
own	number	to	be	garbled	or	ignored.	
In	other	words,	we	need	airborne	connectivity	for	our	smartphones	much	
more	often	than	we	need	it	for	streaming	the	latest	Miley	Cyrus	video.	It	
should	be	priced	and	sized	not	just	for	
the	Gulfstreams	and	Globals,	but	for	
the	Learjets	and	King	Airs,	as	well.	
Oh,	and	it	would	be	nice	if	it	were	

relatively	seamless	to	the	user.
An	ideal	solution	for	the	majority	of	
passengers	would	be	to	simply	make	
their	smartphone	work	in	the	flight	levels	between	Wichita	and	Washington.	
The	relatively	low	bandwidth	requirements	of	a	smartphone's	voice	and	SMS	
texting	capabilities	are	easily	available	
on	the	ground	-	why	can't	the	same	
service	be	provided	in	the	air?	In	other	
words,	why	can't	an	airborne	passenger	
use	the	same	phone	they	always	use	-	
with	its	contacts	and	other	personal	data	
-	the	same	way	they	do	on	the	ground?
That's	the	premise	behind	Gogo	
Business	Aviation's	Text	&	Talk	service,	
according	to	Tom	Myers,	Gogo's	director	of	marketing.	He	said	his	company's	
"longest-running	request"	has	been,	
"Can	I	use	my	own	phone?"	The	service	
is	a	software-only	upgrade	option	on	the	
company's	Gogo	Biz	airborne	Internet	
and	voice	service.	Gogo	Biz	isn't	

new;	it's	been	around	since	2008,	under	
Aircell's	familiar	brand.	That's	gone	
away	as	of	early	September,	when	the	
company	announced	rebranding	as	Gogo	
Business	Aviation.	Its	Inmarsat-based	
Swift	Broadband	high-bandwidth	services	
and	various	products	available	to	airline	
passengers	on	Gogo-equipped	airliners	
also	remain.
The	Text	&	Talk	option	is	relatively	
new,	having	been	introduced	in	late	2013.	
In	response	to	all	those	long-running	
requests,	Gogo	Text	&	Talk	allows	you	to	
use	your	own	smartphone	to	call	and	text	
in	flight	-	just	like	on	the	ground.	Your	
own	phone	number	and	contacts	are	used	
to	make	calls,	along	with	the	texts	you	
send	and	receive.	In	other	words,	while	
cruising	at	FL350,	you	can	make	and	
receive	calls	with	your	own	phone/phone	
number;	send	and	receive	text	messages,	
also	with	your	own	phone	number;	use	
your	smartphone's	own	contacts	and	even	
check	your	voicemail.

...ALONGSIDE AIRBORNE INTERNET

Gogo	Business	Aviation's	Text	&	Talk	
service	is	only	available	with	Gogo	Biz,	a	
voice	and/or	data	hardware	and	broadband	
service	based	on	cellular	technology.	In	
fact,	it's	"a	modified	version	of	the	same	
technology	cellphone	carriers	use	to	provide	nationwide	mobile	coverage,"	according	to	the	company.	As	such,	it's	terrestrial	
and	doesn't	use	satellites,	which	helps	hold	
down	costs	for	things	like	antennas	and	the	
data	itself.
Since	the	company	went	"live"	six	
years	ago,	both	Gogo's	satellite-	and	
terrestrial-based	services	have	been	
modernized,	with	advancing	technology	allowing	bandwidth	improvements.	
Early	Gogo	products	were	limited	by	the	
available	technology,	resulting	in	paltry	
64K-throughput	rates.	Newer	cell-based	
technologies	offered	by	Gogo	Biz	easily	
can	exceed	3	megabits	per	second	bandwidths,	according	to	users.	Today,	Gogo's	
products	and	services	are	aboard	more	
than	2,000	commercial	aircraft	operated	by	
Continued on page 60

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Avionics News October 2014

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