Gogo the inflight portal is jointly created by ZTE USA, a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation that specialises telecommunications equipment and network solutions, and Qualcomm, a wireless technologies and data solutions developer.

Powered by Aircell, the portal provides commercial passengers with inflight Internet access with wi-fi enabled devices, including laptops, smartphones and PDAs. Users can therefore surf the Web, check e-mails, send and receive instant messages, and access a corporate virtual private network at 35,000 feet.

Aircraft-mounted modems

Aircell's Air-to-Ground (ATG) service relies on ZTE's Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Rev. A base stations and IP switching platform and Qualcomm's aircraft-mounted modems. ZTE's base stations are stationed across the US to support service for Aircell's airline customers.

While en route, subscriber wi-fi traffic is transmitted to ZTE's CDMA EV-DO Rev. A networking equipment via Qualcomm's aircraft-mounted modems. The technology was engineered to accommodate the high speed and high altitude of aircraft connecting with the base station. As a result, the service dramatically improves upon previous in-flight wireless services, which were slow, expensive and complex.