Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Type 750
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Company Policy; Equipment / Tooling
Access to necessary flight planning equipment is non-existent. Could not access any app/function on the iPad which we normally use for planning flights. T-Mobile connection showed 4 bars but nothing would ever load. There is no acceptable wireless connection to use either. This means that I was not able to access WSI weather briefing; Jepp Pro for enroute concerns; no [system] updates; no flight plan download; no way of releasing the flight or certifying fit for duty. Falling back on the multitude of separate and manual procedures is unacceptable and unsafe when we've come to rely upon these everyday tools for planning and decision making. Moreover; our company has now designed our operation to rely upon this iPad and the tools we use in it every day. TIST also lacks any sort of flight planning room/facility. We are expected to flight plan at the check in counter in front of all the passengers.
Air carrier Captain reported he was unable to update his iPad prior to departure from TIST.