No Result
View All Result
Eye of the Flyer
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • CardMatch™
    • Eye of the Flyer Recommended Cards
    • Best Welcome Offers
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • Gas Rewards Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Student Credit Cards
    • Visa Credit Cards
    • Mastercards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit or Limited Credit
    • Secured Cards
  • CardMatch™
  • Cruises
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • CardMatch™
    • Eye of the Flyer Recommended Cards
    • Best Welcome Offers
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • Gas Rewards Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Student Credit Cards
    • Visa Credit Cards
    • Mastercards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit or Limited Credit
    • Secured Cards
  • CardMatch™
  • Cruises
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

Can anyone explain this one to me? My Gogo wifi speed is FASTER with my VPN running!

René by René
May 14, 2016
in Travel Related
8

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

gogo speed vs gogo speed with tunnelbear vpn loaded in
Gogo vs Gogo with VPN running

I do a lot of griping about SlowGo, or that is Gogo, wifi speeds on Delta jets. Delta has reps trained to tell us like robots each and every flight:

“Powered by Gogo, Delta operates the largest wifi equipped fleet” and then something about so you can do what you want, yada yada yada, if you can download at our dial-up like speeds (ok maybe they don’t say that last part, but they should) 😉

There are so many times Gogo is reasonably ok but also other times it is so slow it is all but worthless (at least I am not paying for it anymore). I have also recently tested both to, and from, Japan the Gogo satellite performance but will save that for another post (results were very interesting).

However today I have a question I want you to help me with. I have no idea why this happens and it has happened to me on a number of tests and flights recently. Take a look at the speed tests above in the opening of the post. On the left you have “clean” if you will Gogo connection. On the right, I have my Tunnel Bear VPN running. Notice anything different (other than the city the speed tester is attaching to)?

And it is not just the test that to me is the issue. Pages, sometimes, pop up SOOOOO much faster when I am running my VPN vs just connecting to Gogo. But this gets even stranger. I have found that this same thing does NOT seem to impact my laptop in the same way that it impacts my phone. That is, as I have posted before, the VPN either had no impact or slowed down my Gogo on my laptop.

Again, I am in the dark here and would love reader feedback. Why in the world would this happen? Has anyone else used Tunnel Bear VPN or their own VPN on Gogo, either on their laptop or phone, and seen a real improvement in Gogo speed and service? I would love your thoughts this weekend! – René

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Previous Post

Denver to Ireland $538 & 9,636 MQM’s at 5.6CPM Delta Elite Vacation Run / Fare

Next Post

ACT FAST: Lightning giveaway – 2 United Club passes & 2 Delta HOOU coupons!

René

René

René de Lambert is a contributing writer for EyeoftheFlyer.com - He is an avid Delta and SkyTeam flyer who has held Delta’s top Diamond Medallion status for many years and flown millions of miles.

Next Post

ACT FAST: Lightning giveaway - 2 United Club passes & 2 Delta HOOU coupons!

Comments 8

  1. Ron Palmer says:
    9 years ago

    I would imagine that GoGo has a pretty substantial caching proxy server between you and the outside world.

    This server may even be on board and configured to rate limit connections.

    By using a VPN you bypass this entirely.

    What I see as possible also is that GoGo have not put the same cap on VPN connections.

    The logic being -> VPN = business customer connecting to corporate networks = more value, less bandwidth.

    The average joe in coach streaming game of thrones -> capped, minimal value, likely to leach bandwidth.

    There are other possibilities of course

    Reply
  2. Ed C says:
    9 years ago

    Can be various factors but after looking at your speed test characteristics, it looks like the phone can’t handle the encryption overhead fast enough. Did you recently update the android software/use a custom ROM/download an “resource intensive” app? It is also possible that the VPN client could’ve updated the client to encrypt differently and therefore need a more powerful phone.

    Reply
  3. TexasYankee says:
    9 years ago

    I find that gogo is very slow or non-existent on a regular basis. I continue to try to use it hoping for a miracle. When contacting gogo customer assistance I usually get a credit pass but have to go through questions that implies I am not smart enough to connect to the internet. Very frustrating and then we have to see all of the media propaganda about the new faster more wonderful gogo that is coming … whatever. Perhaps it should be named “smokescreen” wifi.

    Reply
  4. jared says:
    9 years ago

    It is traffic shaping/QOS(quality of service)
    I would speculate that GOGO has a piece of hardware that limits the max speed of certain types of internet traffic ..

    THIS is what Net Neutrality is all about

    Reply
  5. Kevin says:
    9 years ago

    I was running Tunnel Bear while in Asia and other travels, but found it was causing issues on my iphone6 when Vpn was not being used. It was a major problem with my phone and I ended up deleting after working with Apple on it. So just an FYI before all jump in or on the TB bandwagon.

    Reply
  6. Jon S says:
    9 years ago

    I recently got to talk to a gogo tech who was at DTW doing some work for Delta. Won’t answer you’re question, but on a related note he told me Delta is putting a lot of money in to upgrading their systems. Apparently some flights will soon have speeds fast enough to stream live tv across the gogo system.

    Reply
  7. Philip says:
    9 years ago

    When you run a speed test through a VPN you are testing the connection between the VPN server and the Internet not your physical connection. So this is in no way indicative of your connection in the air. You should see the same speed on the ground when testing your VPN.

    Reply
  8. Roberto says:
    9 years ago

    Most VPNs have compression built in, the packets getting transmitted are usually patterns or random data, but may still be easily compressed. So “air” speed (which is the bottleneck) increases.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

➤ Search Eye of the Flyer

No Result
View All Result

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our NewsletterJoin our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

GREAT Travel and Cash Back Card Offers for Spring 2025!

Eye of the Flyer may receive a commission from the links below. See our Privacy Policy

See some of the biggest and best offers now!
Capital One Venture X Business: Earn 150,000 bonus miles once you spend $30,000 on eligible purchases within three (3) months of being approved for card membership. Then, earn an additional 200,000 miles after you spend a total of $200,000 within the first six (6) months. That's a total of 350,000 miles. Learn here how to apply.

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card: Earn up to 150,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points. First, earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 in eligible purchases on the card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. Earn additional 50,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in eligible purchases on the card within six (6) months of being approved for card membership. Long story short: Earn 150,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of being approved. (Terms Apply.). Read more and learn here how to apply.

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within three (3) months of being approved for card membership. Learn more here.

 

American Express® Business Gold Card

American Express® Business Gold Card: Earn 100,000 bonus Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first three (3) months of being approved for card membership. Plus, enjoy a 0% introductory APR for the first six (6) months from the date of account opening on purchases eligible for Pay Over Time, then a 18.49% to 27.49% variable APR. (See Rates & Fees) Terms apply.. Learn more here.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 150,000 bonus American Express® Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on the card within the first three (3) months of being approved for card membership. Plus, earn a $500 statement credit after you spend $2,500 on qualifying flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel with your Business Platinum Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. You can earn one or both of these offers. This offer expires on June 30, 2025. Terms apply.. Plus, enjoy select airport lounge access, statement credit opportunities galore, and more! Read here why we love this card.

Eye of the Flyer partner offer!CardMatch™CardMatch™
Offers may not be available to all users.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eye of the Flyer with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our NewsletterJoin our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Resources

  • ✍ Editors Disclaimer
  • 💰 Advertiser Disclosure
  • 🔒 Privacy Policy
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
  • CardMatch™
  • Cruises
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉

Copyright © 2025 Eye of the Flyer. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • CardMatch™
    • Eye of the Flyer Recommended Cards
    • Best Welcome Offers
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • Gas Rewards Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Student Credit Cards
    • Visa Credit Cards
    • Mastercards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit or Limited Credit
    • Secured Cards
  • CardMatch™
  • Cruises
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉

Copyright © 2025 Eye of the Flyer. All Rights Reserved.

Cleantalk Pixel
No Result
View All Result
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • CardMatch™
    • Eye of the Flyer Recommended Cards
    • Best Welcome Offers
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • Gas Rewards Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Student Credit Cards
    • Visa Credit Cards
    • Mastercards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit or Limited Credit
    • Secured Cards
  • CardMatch™
  • Cruises
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉

Copyright © 2025 Eye of the Flyer. All Rights Reserved.