Why Gogo's Infuriatingly Expensive, Slow Internet Still Owns the Skies

If you’ve flown for work on a major US airline over the past five years, you’ve probably used Gogo, and “fast and reliable” are probably not how you’d describe it. More like “hell-sent and extortionate." Since pioneering the in-flight Internet business, Gogo has dominated, commanding about 80 percent of the market. And as often happens with near monopolies, Gogo has become a name people love to hate. “So, Gogo is officially a joke at this point, right?” is the title of a well-commented-on thread on the road warrior site FlyerTalk. “They’ve got a monopoly, and they just don’t care,” says pharmaceutical executive and frequent flyer Keith Lockwood. “Once you have it, it’s hard not to have it.”

But for the first time since that famous 2008 Louis CK rant, Gogo has some serious competition. At least two companies -- ViaSat and Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) -- are encroaching on its airspace, winning business by offering faster, cheaper connections that use satellites instead of cell towers. Gogo is launching its own satellite system that should come online by the end of 2015. “We’re going to create a great new future in aviation,” Small says. “And as long as we keep making progress, the customers are going to hang with us.”