Sluggish airline internet might become a thing of the past. For the last 20 years, airline internet has been notoriously unreliable, but Starlink is changing the game with significantly faster speeds. In fact, the latest reports show it's already twice as fast as its in-flight competitors.
Starlink-equipped planes achieve superior internet speeds due to its fleet of almost 8,000 low-Earth orbit satellites, which operate much closer to Earth than the geostationary satellites used by competitors like Hughesnet and Viasat, CNET’s broadband reporter Joe Supan notes.
Travelers like me who've been itching for a better in-flight internet experience are here for it. If your next flight is Starlink-enabled, you can access streaming, gaming and video calls at 30,000 feet -- and sometimes for free.
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More and more airlines are adopting the service, with nine carriers already offering it or in the process of rolling it out -- and two more expected to follow soon.
These are the airlines bringing this game-changing internet service to your next flight and why it's expected to be a superior option.
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What is Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi, and what's special about it?
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet service. It launched in 2019, beginning with a little over 100 satellites. Today, it has a fleet of nearly 8,000 LEO satellites in our skies. Starlink has been a game-changer for many people living in rural areas with limited access to traditional broadband. But some scientists are ringing alarm bells over its environmental concerns, Supan wrote earlier this year.
The draw for air travelers is that Starlink's in-flight Wi-Fi is almost twice as fast as any other in-flight Wi-Fi option, according to speed test site Ookla's latest report. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)
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