The Gogo deals require consumer pricing that is revenue positive too. The airlines that chose their own unbranded satellite can subsidize prices if they want. And, of course, Gogo doesn't work over the ocean or other large water bodies, unpopulated areas, etc.
Though the gogo antennas are simple and way less capital expenditure, faa certification time, and aircraft downtime for installation.
Gogo works over water on their new(ish) 2ku band installations. Two years ago I flew to Hawaii on one of the first Delta flights outfitted and got some pretty good speeds (and oddly enough it was free because of "limited connectivity").
Also pro-tip, if you have T-mobile you can use Gogo for free. There's a small upgrade fee to make it work the entire duration of the flight. It's intended to be mobile only but I'm sure some people here can figure a way around that ;)
>Do they try to enforce "mobile only" solely with a MAC prefix database?
Nope, way simpler than that. Just a simple user agent check. Although recently they've made some changes that make it harder, but just loading up the iphone simulator gets around it.
Now watch someone from Gogo see this and fix the loophole.
Though the gogo antennas are simple and way less capital expenditure, faa certification time, and aircraft downtime for installation.