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Recently I flew on a long-distance (so at least a dozen hours of flight time) low-budget airline that had 60 Mbps download/12 Mbps upload and it specifically ca
by usui 3mo ago
Recently I flew on a long-distance (so at least a dozen hours of flight time) low-budget airline that had 60 Mbps download/12 Mbps upload and it specifically called out SpaceX Starlink for being able to provide this for free. A video call went smoothly. There was connectivity from takeoff to landing with no interruption in between. This was the best airline experience I've had yet.
- consumer451 3mo agoOK, so for this, Starlink is AMAZING! In-flight Starlink is undeniable. The first time I experienced it, I could not believe what was happening. I messaged my nerd friends with screenshots of https://speed.cloudflare.com/ https://speed.cloudflare.com/ Also, their required zero-friction UX is the shiznit. Then, I fell asleep as I finally had theoretical time off.
- basisword 3mo agoAnd this is exactly why we don't need internet on planes.
- ceejayoz 3mo agoYeah, planes are noisy enough without making them into a call center cubicle farm.
- jen20 3mo agoVoice and video calls are both outlawed in the US by the DOT.
- inemesitaffia 3mo agoAnd the FAA, FCC and as part of the Labour agreement with the Flight staff
- sixtyj 3mo agoI’ve read so many posts from both CEOs and programmers about their higher in-flight productivity thanks to be offline.
- brianwawok 3mo agoIt used to be one of the best parts of a cruise, a week without internet! But it’s pretty decent these days
- deaton 3mo agoI flew Delta about 6 months ago and they had something similar, also for free, but they use Viasat. I think most of the big airlines were moving this way anyway to be honest, Starlink just has a good opportunity for advertising.
- usui 3mo agoI believe Viasat internet satellites are placed in geostationary orbit, whereas SpaceX Starlink is not, so the service Viasat provides is already blown out.
- postingawayonhn 3mo agoStarlink speed and bandwidth is way ahead of any of the existing satellite internet providers.
- laughing_man 3mo agoLong latency makes Viasat good for some things and not so good for others.
- matwood 3mo agoGate to gate (if the plane door is closed) wifi has been a thing for most (all?) of the US airlines for awhile. Delta's wifi is ok, but I routinely have issues. It could be a combination of older technology on the plane and worse satellite network, but it's supposedly nowhere near as good as plane with Starlink. I also use Starlink at my house in Italy. I'm in a decent sized town, but there is no fiber available. It has worked great, and more importantly took about 10 minutes to setup.