On a 787 right now, but cell service is horrible

[Wolfala]

I was JFK to Oslo and had only Edge service on the ground. Now I'm Oslo to JFK and the same is true. I get 3G outside the aircraft. Can rip or one of the Boeing guys comment on this? Is this thing 1 huge faraday cage? It's a serious pain in the balls trying to work.

[Ripsnort]

Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “JAL”) and Panasonic Avionics Corporation (hereinafter “Panasonic”) have been collaborating on providing in-flight internet service-JAL SKY Wi-Fi on international Boeing 777-300ERs, operated on North America and Europe routes in July 2012. JAL has recently reached an agreement with Panasonic to aggressively install JAL SKY Wi-Fi on its international Boeing 767-300ERs, Boeing 777-200ERs and Boeing 787s operated on its Southeast Asia and other international routes.
…

The expanded service will be onboard in FY2014 (Fiscal Year 2014 is from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015)

Bottom line: Complain to the airliner who installed it. We "don't do" aircraft interiors or creature comforts. We install what the customer orders from a company outside of Boeing.

[icepac]

Bottom line is that Wolfala should have been using WiFi instead of cellular data for his internet service.

Now if he wanted to make a simple phone call..............edge or any other network is fine because a simple phone call can work on most any connection.

[Wolfala]

I should be using wifi, but sitting on the ground on some random hard stand that wasn't going to happen.  Could be the network was saturated but for the same thing to happen in two completely different countries? I do a lot of traveling and this is a first.

[Greebo]

Doesn't the 787 have a composite airframe? Could that be blocking the phone signal more than traditional metal construction?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Doesn't the 787 have a composite airframe? Could that be blocking the phone signal more than traditional metal construction?

AFAIK you're not supposed to have a signal at all while in flight, unless the plane provides its own carrier.

[Wolfala]

Doesn't the 787 have a composite airframe? Could that be blocking the phone signal more than traditional metal construction?

I own a composite aircraft and the nice thing about composite is it is completely transparent to radio signals. However there is a mesh for lightning protection which could act like a faraday cage so I'm not sure if that is what is at work here.

[Greebo]

What made me think of that is that an R/C aircraft with a carbon fibre fuselage has to have its aerial routed outside the fuselage to get a signal. I guess different composites may well behave in a different way.