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Uh-oh, no mo' dough to 'slow-mo' GoGo: American Airlines aims ammo at Wi-Fi pros

Even US giants have trouble with their broadband ISPs

American Airlines has gone to court to ditch its in-flight Wi-Fi provider GoGo and find a better service elsewhere.

The US airline has sued GoGo in Texas to trigger a termination clause in its contract with the air-to-ground broadband network. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, which covers American's home hub of Dallas, the airline's executives hope to pick up ViaSat's faster services.

"After carefully evaluating the new technology and services in the marketplace, American has decided to exercise its rights under the [GoGo] agreement and recently notified Gogo that ViaSat offers an in-flight connectivity system that materially improves on Gogo’s air-to-ground system," the airline was quoted as saying in its suit.

The suit goes on to note that a number of American's competitors, including United, JetBlue and Virgin America, all enjoy better internet service than America's passengers, thanks to their ViaSat connections.

The Star Telegram notes that GoGo does have the right to offer American Airlines a new deal with an improved internet speeds in hopes of keeping the contract.

The news, not surprisingly, turned investors off of Gogo. On Tuesday, the company's stock price was down 27 per cent on closing.

This is not the first time GoGo's in-flight service has come under scrutiny. Last year, the company was accused of using rogue SSL certificates to prevent users from accessing streaming services. ®

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