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One nice thing about Starlink is that they force the airlines to offer it for free. I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this, but it was surprising enough to me th
by gpt5 7mo ago
One nice thing about Starlink is that they force the airlines to offer it for free. I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this, but it was surprising enough to me that my international WiFi was not only fast, but completely free that I researched it.
- tonymet 7mo agogive the customers the complete experience and they will subscribe. IF carriers were allowed to charge, they would piecemeal or handicap the service, and passengers would leave with a bad impression.
- bpodgursky 7mo agoNobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals, and Starlink is better enough than any alternative that they can play hardball with airlines.
- light_hue_1 7mo ago> Nobody wants their brand associated with price gouging and half-broken in-flight credit card payment portals The airlines have no problem with this. T-mobile has no problem with it either.
- unsupp0rted 7mo agoNobody had a problem with flip phones that play snake or Blackberry physical keyboards until the iPhone was demonstrated, and then nobody could conceive of ever going back (except in niche cases, e.g. journalists loved those keyboards)
- SR2Z 7mo agoT-Mobile also offers free Wifi on airplanes.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoOnly if the airplane uses much slower ground based Gogo (?). I use it every now and then when taking the 45 minute flight from ATL to my parents home in South GA
- oceanplexian 7mo agoDelta is still stubbornly refusing to adopt Starlink. I've got status with them and have started booking with other airlines b/c it doesn't matter how nice the seats are if you can't get any work done. Most airline revenue comes from business flights, I don't think they realize how important this is to their customer base.
- thinkling 7mo agoDelta uses Viasat and has been rolling out free wi-fi on more and more of their planes. Is it not usable?
- inemesitaffia 7mo agoStarlink failed it's Delta Demo. The article is online.
- ghaff 7mo agoAirplanes are one of the places I feel happily disconnected from being online. Never used in-flight WiFi even when my company would have paid for it.
- scottyah 7mo agoIt's probably what the UA CEO was talking about, trying to get competitors to sign contracts with other providers. Viasat was hot stuff for a long time, wouldn't be surprised if there's a noncompete preventing the change.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoDelta has had high speed internet for years on their flights. I’m Platinum Medallion
- supertrope 7mo agoIt could just be the ESPN/gym membership/AAA business model. $ from every single passenger is more revenue than $$ from just those who click buy.
- bs7280 7mo agoUnited gives you free access only if you are a mileageplus member I think? Regardless, having free high speed internet on a flight will motivate me as a consumer every time.
- theultdev 7mo agoJoining United MileagePlus is completely free, you just sign up. About the same work as filling out a hotel wifi login.
- kevincox 7mo agoCompletely free as in you don't have to give them money. But you need to give personal information which also has value.
- schmookeeg 7mo agoMore personal information than you provide them to purchase the ticket to use the free starlink?
- kevincox 7mo agoProbably, because you are now associating your internet browsing with your personal information. (I don't know if they have the sophistication to actually do this, but it is very possible.)
- theultdev 7mo agoThe people concerned with that hypothetical can use a VPN. At most they could see domains, ip addresses, timestamps, and http-only sites (are there any left?) But the person sitting next to you can see everything.
- LoganDark 7mo ago> But the person sitting next to you can see everything. Privacy filters are a thing.
- SoKamil 7mo ago> I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this One word: marketing.
- nativeit 7mo agoA few more words: they’re struggling to find a niche where their ungodly expensive product makes more sense than the readily available alternatives. In this case, fair play it’s objectively better.
- mediaman 7mo agoIt's not that expensive. The Starlink Mini is around $200, and service is $50/mo for 100gb. I've been somewhat skeptical of the addressable market (doesn't fiber + cell tower network offer good enough coverage?) but I know so many people who have put it on their RV, their boat, or are using it rurally that I've started changing my mind. And the service really is better than cell phone networks, which are far too patchy to provide reliable service at decent speed. And you can put it on standby mode for $5/mo, so you're not even really locked into $50/mo if you're occasionally doing travel where you want to stay connected. And in places like Africa, they've had to tightly rate limit new customers because demand is so high.
- mattmaroon 7mo agoYeah, as an RVer, I can tell you that you would probably be surprised by how much of the country does not have readily available cell service. And even if it does, they might not have it on your network. I was paying more to have SIM cards for all of the big three, and getting much less out of it
- infinitewars 7mo agoRV is a great use case but a tiny market. For fixed broadband the others are cheaper most everywhere in the U.S. that people actually live.
- kotaKat 7mo agoOn the flip side, the "private" aviation customer is 100% forced into the pricey plans privately with (physical) speed enforcement on the terminals. There's even two tiers of aviation speed limting: 300MPH ($250/mo) and 450MPH ($1000/mo). They know who they're targeting at both speed points (the guy flying for fun in a prop VS the guy in a Gulfstream that wants to Get There Now). https://starlink.com/support/article/9839230e-dc08-21e6-a94d-e7c04cacdd1b https://starlink.com/support/article/9839230e-dc08-21e6-a94d...
- ryandrake 7mo agoWhat sucks is that normal "for fun" prop pilots used to be able to use the basic $50 roaming plan, and then Starlink pulled the rug out from under them by taking it away, instead offering the new plan 5X the cost with 1/5 the bandwidth limit. Total scumbags. Even your hated local cable company doesn't have the balls to 5X your monthly bill suddenly out of the blue.
- mandeepj 7mo ago> One nice thing about Starlink is that they force the airlines to offer it for free There are many ways to circumvent that, even while claiming to offer it for free.
- nelox 7mo agoAnd show ads for it on the inflight entertainment
- technothrasher 7mo agoThe built in entertainment systems are so full of ads, that I much prefer the planes with no seat back screens. I've always already got my own devices which I use to entertain myself, whether the airline is providing advertainment or not.
- mh- 7mo agoAnd no one interrupts the movie I fell asleep watching on my iPad in order to push a credit card application at max PA volume.
- ddoolin 7mo agoReally ironic given that they pulled the rug on general aviation usage.
- briandw 7mo agoIt’s too difficult to distinguish between a terminal in small GA aircraft and something with destructive payload. Commercial aircraft are few and controllable.
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- sangel21 7mo agoMost of the airlines I have been on charge per megabyte. Having internet for the whole trip is a huge value add for the airline.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoDelta has had free high speed satellite internet for years. I’m going to start flying Southwest more this year but they also advertise free internet. I don’t know how fast it is.
- jfoster 7mo agoI think this approach gets the whole industry to adopt it. Consider the opposite approach. If they let airlines charge any amount for it, the airlines that installed it would make it expensive. No one would use it. Other airlines would feel no pressure to offer it. By making it free, it gets used, and eventually depended upon. SpaceX are making free wifi the expectation from consumers on flights.
- stingraycharles 7mo agoCorrect, I’ve had Starlink in several long haul flights over the past 6 months and it’s already becoming an expectation, ie makes the flights without it noticeably worse. I’m not sure whether everyone gets it for free, though, it was my understanding that it’s complementary for business class but a paid add on for economy. But once you have it, it’s fast and stable.
- ghaff 7mo agoIt’s available on some ships—not free but pretty reasonably priced. Debated last time I went trans- Atlantic but $20 per day seemed fair.
- altacc 7mo agoFree (for now). Introducing or raising costs for a previously free or cheap service is normal practice for start ups.