Since airplane Wi-Fi is considerably slow, Elon Musk assured people that SpaceX Starlink satellite internet will deliver faster services even during flight.
In fact, the richest man in the world claimed that people can also stream videos and play online games in-flight!
Will Starlink Internet Work on Airplanes?
According to Business Insider, airplane Wi-Fi is frequently slow and pricey. While it costs much more, it does not mean passengers will get to experience fast internet.
Despite that, several individuals are still willing to pay a huge amount of money to share images of their flight or even finish some works during mid-flight.
Moreover, in-flight Wi-Fi is estimated to have a value of $130 billion by 2035.
Business Insider also shared two options that these planes, which are flying at hundreds of miles per hour at 36,000 feet, use to obtain Wi-Fi during flight. The said options are ground-based towers and space-based satellites.
In relation to this, the consultant and long-time mobile analyst and tech guru Benedict Evans tweeted that "airplane wifi is god's way of showing the youngs what dial-up was like."
Surprising the internet community, Elon Musk directly replied to Evans's tweet agreeing to his statement and advising him to ask the airline for Starlink.
🤣🤣 True. Ask your airline for Starlink! https://t.co/R9GL2bKOAT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2021
On the other hand, Musk bragged about SpaceX's proposal to deploy Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi last October, per CNBC.
SpaceX's vice president of Starlink and commercial sales Jonathan Hofeller told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit that they are in conversations with several airline companies.
"We have our own aviation product in development... we've already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future," Hofeller furthered on the Summit, per The Verge.
As Musk's space firm pushes to establish the internet network commercially later this year, it is anticipated to expand Starlink beyond rural households and aboard planes.
In addition to the Starlink internet, the South-African-born business mogul explained that people could also stream video and play online games during flight.
With Starlink, you could stream video & play online games
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021
How Will the Starlink Internet Work on Airplanes?
For those who are curious to know how the Starlink internet will work on airplanes, Hofeller explained that the architecture of SpaceX's airline antennas would have similarity to that of its consumer terminals, but "with obvious enhancements for aviation connectivity."
To interact with Starlink satellites, the airborne antennas may connect to base stations.
An inter-satellite link will be required for Starlink to give connection to planes flying over isolated portions of the ocean far from base stations.
Inter-satellite links allows satellites communicate with each other using laser links without first bouncing signals off ground stations.
"The next generation of our constellation, which is in work, will have this inter-satellite connectivity," Hoffer furthered on The Verge.
SpaceX is currently on the Starlink beta phase that offers download speeds of up to 100Mbps and upload rates of up to 20Mbps. Under that beta, most people are paying $99 per month for internet and are utilizing a $499 Starlink dish and Wi-Fi router combination.
