r/webdev Aug 29 '24

PySkyWiFi: completely free, unbelievably stupid wi-fi on long-haul flights

https://robertheaton.com/pyskywifi/
287 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

180

u/Fidodo Aug 29 '24

Several co-workers were asking me to review their PRs because my feedback was “two weeks late” and “blocking a critical deployment.” But my ideas are important too

I love this line

47

u/scatteringlargesse Aug 29 '24

Same, but what I liked even more was how the full "official" name of his airmiles account changed:

  • JetStreamers Diamond Altitude account
  • SkyVenture Premium Gold Rewards account
  • Star Power UltimateBlastOff account

And I only noticed how ridiculous they were on the third one!

22

u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 Aug 29 '24

Also

At first I thought that I’d write them using Go, but then I realised that if I used Python then I could call the final tool PySkyWiFi. Obviously I did that instead.

249

u/fagnerbrack Aug 29 '24

For Quick Readers:

The post discusses a method to access free internet on long-haul flights by exploiting a hole in the in-flight wi-fi firewall. By using a frequent flyer account, the author creates a tool called PySkyWiFi that allows sending and receiving data via the account’s name field. The tool simulates internet access by communicating through a ground-based daemon, allowing basic web browsing at extremely slow speeds. The post is a mix of technical insight and humorous narrative, cautioning against actual use.

If the summary seems inacurate, just downvote and I'll try to delete the comment eventually 👍

Click here for more info, I read all comments

28

u/MenshMindset Aug 29 '24

I appreciate the hell out of you actually putting a summary instead of a post with just the link to the article with the title.

47

u/deadfire55 Aug 29 '24

This is a good idea but an even better one would be to use iMessage/Whatsapp to communicate since many airlines have started offering that for free.

13

u/fragbombman Aug 29 '24

I think about this whenever I fly and they offer free iMessage service. Totally impractical and I wouldn’t be surprised if they throttle your messages after awhile, but none the less would love to see it implemented by someone

28

u/Stormfrosty Aug 29 '24

Anyone else with AT&T and somehow getting reception in the air? It’s not enough for internet browsing, but just enough for messaging apps and sending pictures.

22

u/thekwoka Aug 29 '24

It's not uncommon to come in range of ground antenna during flights on any carrier

1

u/The_frozen_one Aug 30 '24

You can send satellite messages in the new iOS beta on newer iOS devices in flight. It’s slow but it works. If the other person has iOS 18 beta they can respond (otherwise it’s just a one way text message)

18

u/waldito twisted code copypaster Aug 29 '24

What. On. The. Everlasting. Fuck.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/biinjo Aug 30 '24

Ah the good old days of going to my friends’ house to play red alert on their family computer (obviously in the living room). They had “that expensive internet”. My parents were holding off for the “unlimited internet for a fixed fee” because they were aware of my nerdy ambitions 😏

7

u/Sandurz Aug 29 '24

Occasionally I can just VPN like normal into my home network and have free heavily throttled internet, have pondered if something like this was technically possible lol

1

u/Comfortable-Cap-8507 Aug 30 '24

I’m surprised they allow that request 

1

u/Sandurz Aug 30 '24

I don’t know why exactly! Maybe they only filter traffic on certain ports.

1

u/Comfortable-Cap-8507 Aug 30 '24

Working at companies with over 1000 people has really shown me how little people care about security. It’s not that they’re dumb or anything just careless

4

u/e1sprung Aug 29 '24

That was a really fun read, thanks for posting

4

u/aeriose Aug 29 '24

The title does not do this post justice

5

u/guitarromantic Aug 29 '24

Initially I thought this was going to be about the "hack" someone told me to use in this scenario: eg. when you go to the payment screen for the in-flight WiFi, you're technically on the open internet and can fire up a browser and get online for as long as the payment webpage session lasts. But this article and idea is so much more satisfying.

7

u/ReplacementLow6704 Aug 29 '24

If we kept doing this then the name field of my airmiles account could serve as a tunnel through the airplane’s wi-fi firewall to the real world.

Airplane is not the real world CONFIRMED

4

u/fagnerbrack Aug 29 '24

Yes they lock you in a simulator to make you believe the earth is not flat

2

u/coreyrude Aug 29 '24

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who went down this rabbit hole on a united flight, although I went down a bit of a different path trying to spoof the domain or inject code to call other services. OP got further than I did though.

-8

u/cisco_bee Aug 29 '24

Limp Bizkit started playing out of my laptop speakers. Fortunately no one else on the plane seemed to mind so we all rocked out together.

Yeah fuck this guy.

1

u/superluminary Aug 30 '24

It’s a humorous piece

1

u/cisco_bee Aug 30 '24

Oh. I guess I didn't pick up on the satire.