Watching Thur. from 50,000 feet?

3,428 Views | 30 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by PJYoung
Moto Ag
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AG
Rotten luck for me this weekend. Tip-off Thursday is one hour after I board a 9 hr flight to London.

So..anyone know whether I can use United Airlines wifi in some fashion to find TBS or online cast of
the game?
SunrayAg
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There is a march madness app we watched the game on Sunday while travelling home. If they have wifi, I would assume that should work.
HowdyTAMU
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Streaming video is intentionally turned off on most flights. Apps that track the game will likely be your best option.
Geralt of Rivia
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S
I had to use espn gamecast to keep up with A&M/Bama last fall...that may be your best bet
Seven Costanza
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AG
United has Directv for purchase, although I don't know if it's available on international flights.

Just checked - not available outside continental US.
BattlinB
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Wow,sucks that you gotta go to London.
dmz233
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I pray you're not bringing any pets flying United.
Buck Compton
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No wi-fi is available over international waters (and usually not once you get to a foreign country either) on commercial carriers. Period. So you won't even be able to follow an app.

It's going to be a long flight for you, but I hope you have great news when you land!
EXCELL
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50,000 feet ???

Good luck on that.
akaggie05
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Buck Compton said:

No wi-fi is available over international waters (and usually not once you get to a foreign country either) on commercial carriers. Period. So you won't even be able to follow an app.

It's going to be a long flight for you, but I hope you have great news when you land!


This is not correct. Many airlines now offer satellite-based internet on long-haul flights, including over oceans. I had nonstop internet access on flights from DFW to Madrid late last year. Granted, this was one of the newest planes in AA's fleet (787), but it's out there.

On the "no streaming video" thing, yes, that can be a concern. A good workaround is to connect through a VPN. The internet provider's blacklist then won't be able to tell where your traffic is coming from, other than a single VPN endpoint. They also wont be able to do any deep packet inspection to see that you're running video, since all of your traffic will be encrypted. The key with this approach is to not use a goofball fly by night VPN service (which may be blocked outright). If you have the ability to use a work computer and VPN into your company network, you will likely end up with good results.
Indignitas
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LOL. Yes, and OP's father is 100 or 200 years old.


DCAggie13y
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I was on a United flight for the UNC game. It took 45 minutes to get the Wi-Fi to work at all. It then took about 15 minutes to refresh the score on the ESPN app. None of the entertainment options worked either. So your only option is to skip the flight if you want to see the game.
Buck Compton
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akaggie05 said:

Buck Compton said:

No wi-fi is available over international waters (and usually not once you get to a foreign country either) on commercial carriers. Period. So you won't even be able to follow an app.

It's going to be a long flight for you, but I hope you have great news when you land!


This is not correct. Many airlines now offer satellite-based internet on long-haul flights, including over oceans. I had nonstop internet access on flights from DFW to Madrid late last year. Granted, this was one of the newest planes in AA's fleet (787), but it's out there.

On the "no streaming video" thing, yes, that can be a concern. A good workaround is to connect through a VPN. The internet provider's blacklist then won't be able to tell where your traffic is coming from, other than a single VPN endpoint. They also wont be able to do any deep packet inspection to see that you're running video, since all of your traffic will be encrypted. The key with this approach is to not use a goofball fly by night VPN service (which may be blocked outright). If you have the ability to use a work computer and VPN into your company network, you will likely end up with good results.
I've flown to Europe four times already this year on American and haven't had a single flight with Wi-Fi (and same goes for about 12-13 international trips over the last 3 years).... Never had any issues domestically obviously, but the excuse I have always been told is the international waters. Never heard much different from my colleagues and most of us are 150k miles plus per year thanks to my line of work. Guess I just got a bad luck of the draw on my international flights (which usually aren't on a 787). I'll look into it depending on what plane I am on for the 25th for my next trip, but not hopeful.

And yes, you can VPN to get around blacklists, but from a pure bandwidth perspective, if you are on a flight with any significant number of business travelers or active internet users, good luck getting streaming video to work.

Odds are, this guy isn't going to have a good experience watching the game unless he finds a way to record it or watch a replay.
AgSportsFan
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Watched UNC game coming back from Puerto Vallarta to IAH on United flight using WiFi with CBS March Madness App. No issues.
BigOil
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United has WiFi on that direct flight to London. I didn't use it so not sure how effective it will be to stream.

Get March madness app, a free one week trial for unblock-us, then cross your fingers
Pumpkinhead
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Man, even if streaming was working, I don't know if I could handle trying to watch a 'big' A&M football or basketball game trapped in a plane seat.

I sweat, my hands go cold, I need to be able to pace nervously, get out some good curses and throw something on the floor and stomp it, or jump up in the air when something good happens, frequent short trips outside the house for fresh air during timeouts are crucial to making it through the experience.

But trapped in a plane seat, how the F*** would I possibly be able to survive that?
gougler08
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I flew internationally during a World Series game last year and the wifi works, but not well enough to connect to a stream. Maybe you'll get lucky, but I'd be prepared to be paying for gametracker updates in the end
Knoxville_Ag_08
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Not sure if it's allowed on United, but I stream using Sling.

You can get 7 day free and cancel after the weekend's games.
boxcar
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There is a later United flight to London, departs 9:20
94chem
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Quote:

Watching Thur. from 50,000 feet...
...will get you ready for the Final 4.
igotworms
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AG
If you have an iphone download a 3rd party browser (IE Chrome, Puffin, etc).

Connect to Wifi and Search Reddit for College Basketball Streams.

Find one that works, and enjoy.
ChemEAg08
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AG
Internet is not good enough on the plane to stream the game. Best bet is using apps to track the game (as others have mentioned).
CactusThomas
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Probably better drive instead. Kimble County isn't all that far.
Nebules
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Max cruising altitude of the 777 I'd expect for this route is ~43K feet.
Moto Ag
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Nebules said:

Max cruising altitude of the 777 I'd expect for this route is ~43K feet.
Yeah, I wasn't being literal, just a number for dramatic effect; ha. I can run/file a flight plan from my desk if I want actual flight levels, cruise speeds etc.. it's kinda what I do.

Thanks for all the info everyone; though I may be in more of a panic over it now. I'll be prepared with a combination of app/VPN options and hope for the best. NO WAY I can watch some score tracker for such a big game. If I can't get a good stream, plan B is to wait and somehow watch a replay after I get there. Would normally travel with an Aggie shirt on such a huge day, but don't want someone to see it and shout out a score or result of the game if I'm planning on watching later - that's the absolute worse scenario.
McNasty
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Free 7 day trial of YouTube tv with dvr ftw
The Shank Ag
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Texags game thread if streaming not working. Probably plenty of clips posted to twitter
drewbie08
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The Shank Ag said:

Texags game thread if streaming not working. Probably plenty of clips posted to twitter


I personally would stay away from the TA game thread. Way too pessimistic and one negative play comes across as we are losing by 20 points.
TXCityAggie
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I'm not sure how the flights to Europe work, but I frequently fly to Latin America from Houston on United and we do have Direct TV until the plane leaves the U.S. and gets out over the Gulf. The signal is then lost and we convert to the other United programming.

If you are flying from Texas, you might have a few hours with Direct TV and could see most (if not all) of the game. The WiFi will not be strong enough to support any streaming.
Leander - Ag
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Just took a flight to London on United. You are screwed
dah4439
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What, are you gonna be on the moon?!?!
PJYoung
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TXCityAggie said:

I'm not sure how the flights to Europe work, but I frequently fly to Latin America from Houston on United and we do have Direct TV until the plane leaves the U.S. and gets out over the Gulf. The signal is then lost and we convert to the other United programming.

If you are flying from Texas, you might have a few hours with Direct TV and could see most (if not all) of the game. The WiFi will not be strong enough to support any streaming.

Last January I was watching A&M versus Georgia on our flight to Costa Rica. I suffered thru watching us get down 13 points playing horribly at home when the feed ended with 10 minutes to play.

The comeback started just as the feed ended and we ended up winning by 1 on that weird clock issue where nobody knew the game ended.
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