Starlink Aviation, SpaceX’s upcoming in-flight Wi-Fi service, will be commercially available in 2023.
SpaceX announced that “from the moment they walk on their plane,” travelers will be able to connect to high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi.
“Since the satellites are moving in low-earth orbit, there are always satellites overhead or nearby to provide a strong signal at high latitudes and in polar regions — unlike with geostationary satellites,” noted the new service provider.
Starlink’s ability to connect to its network of over 3,000 traveling satellites allows internet speeds of up to 350Mbps and latency as low as 20ms.
These numbers easily outperform even the most modern systems from other in-flight providers.
Some current providers have systems that connect to geostationary satellites. Not only are these systems unreliable, they only offer internet speeds ranging from 30Mbps to 100Mbps. Speeds will further decrease based on the total number of users using the system at a given time.
Other, less advanced systems still rely on ground-to-air connectivity. These earth-based connections may only reach up to 10Mbps. This number is further reduced, again, based on the number of connected users. Speeds achieved here may actually be slower than dial-up internet.
Travelers interested in trying SpaceX’s brand-new in-flight Wi-Fi service should do so on Hawaiian Airlines and JSX flights in 2023.
