Wi-Fi on planes could be faster than it is at home
(Picture: Steve Parsons/PA)The Wi-Fi connectivity aboard planes could be set for a massive speed boost, with plans to bring Elon Musk’s Starlink to the skies.
Starlink is a satellite-broadband service designed to boost broadband speeds for people who aren’t within reach of high-speed fibre internet.
The company is now planning to bring the service to the aviation industry, potentially providing a huge hike in speed compared to the patchy Wi-Fi access on today’s planes. Indeed, it could be even faster than the Wi-Fi on the ground at Heathrow, and in some areas of the UK.
The new service, dubbed Starlink Aviation, will “deliver up to 350Mbits/sec to each plane, enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time,” the company claims.
It’s not only speed that Starlink will increase, but latency – the amount of time it takes packets of data to be sent and received over the internet. Starlink claims it can get this down to 20ms, making it possible to play online games in the skies for the first time, as well as other low-latency tasks, such as videoconferencing.
Musk tweeted that “internet in airplanes will feel [sic] same as if you were accessing internet at home!”
All around the world
Starlink is able to offer global coverage thanks to the thousands of satellites it has already deployed in low Earth orbit.
The kicker for airlines and customers is likely to be the cost. Installation of the Starlink hardware in each plane will cost a cool $150,000, on top of the monthly service fees of up to $25,000. That means the superfast broadband in the sky will likely either be restricted to business and first-class passengers, or there will be a hefty premium to pay for access to the service.
Two airlines are reported to have already ordered Starlink Aviation kit, although the certification is currently restricted to regional or business jet models. The service will go live next year.
