Starlink WiFi in the Air is a Game Changer

United Airlines is installing Starlink WiFi on its fleet. Today, my flight from Indianapolis to Houston has Starlink. It is an absolute game changer. I had download speeds in excess of 250 Mbps, and upload speeds of nearly 30 Mbps.

When I have a flight, I deliberately schedule activities that do not require accessing the internet, as connectivity may be slow or non-existent. But now with Starlink, I can do anything in the air that I could do on the ground. Indeed, it should be possible to listen to Zoom calls, aided by closed captioning.

Comments

[Flight-ER-Doc]

Installing Starlink on my next airplane will also be significantly less expensive than installing the provider I had on my last airplane: Monthly costs will also be significantly less, and performance considerably improved.

[Gasman]

Just how long is one on a flight, with laptop open, and seat mate not jostling things, that one is productively doing things that only internet connectivity allows. Three hours tops maybe?
Still preparing for the meeting/conference to come; better not cut things that close under most circumstances.
Longer international flight eastbound, sleep is essential to wake with a circadian rhythm matching the destination. Westbound international, it's going to be a 30+ hour day and how productive can one be when one's circadian rhythm is late into one's biologic day.
I hear books are thing. Don't have to turn them off during takeoff or landing either.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Maybe people are different.

[Roger S]

Regulations might prohibit zoom calls.