I'm not really sure how 3G/LTE is better than WiFi, at least in technology terms.
I've had WiFi on one flight in Europe (London to Oslo with Norwegian Airlines), it was free to use for everyone on the flight. It was very slow and unreliable though, and I spent half of the hour long flight just trying to get things to load, unsure if certain ports/sites were blocked or if it was just being slow.
That said, this problem is presumably from the connection between the WiFi access point on the plane and the satellites. I don't really see how using a 3G/LTE on the plane will be any better, if it's still relying on the (presumably small, low powered) equipment on the plane and a satellite connection.
So I'm not convinced that this is an improvement over in flight WiFi, besides a way for carriers to extract more roaming data charges from us. That said, we've also got better laws over roaming data charges within Europe coming in over the next few years too.
Nice-London flight here, it was slow and unreliable too. Instant messaging worked reasonably better than checking websites, but upload speed was rather slow (1 min to share a picture in WhatsApp).
Still, it's an amazing service for free, the one you expect to pay extra for.
It's an improvement in one way: It creates a strong incentive for various companies (or the airlines themselves) to offer deals to the airlines to install suitable equipment in order to get the roaming fees from the passengers cellphone operators.
I've had WiFi on one flight in Europe (London to Oslo with Norwegian Airlines), it was free to use for everyone on the flight. It was very slow and unreliable though, and I spent half of the hour long flight just trying to get things to load, unsure if certain ports/sites were blocked or if it was just being slow.
That said, this problem is presumably from the connection between the WiFi access point on the plane and the satellites. I don't really see how using a 3G/LTE on the plane will be any better, if it's still relying on the (presumably small, low powered) equipment on the plane and a satellite connection.
So I'm not convinced that this is an improvement over in flight WiFi, besides a way for carriers to extract more roaming data charges from us. That said, we've also got better laws over roaming data charges within Europe coming in over the next few years too.