Starlink is almost twice as quick as every other in-flight Wi-Fi possibility, in response to the latest report by the speed test site Ookla. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by the identical father or mother firm as CNET, Ziff Davis.)
The satellite tv for pc web firm from SpaceX clocked median obtain speeds of 152 megabits per second and add speeds of 24Mbps. That signifies that Starlink’s speeds within the air are quicker than some internet providers on the bottom.
These obtain and add speeds had been practically twice as quick as every other in-flight web possibility, however latency was the place it actually blew the competitors away. Starlink’s in-flight latency got here in at simply 44ms; the next-closest, MTN Satellite tv for pc Communications, was at 667ms. With these sorts of numbers, you possibly can realistically recreation on-line or make a video name on a Starlink-equipped flight.
How is it attainable that Starlink-equipped planes lap the competitors so fully? The reply lies with Starlink’s distinctive fleet of 7,000 low-Earth orbit satellites. These function about 342 miles above the bottom, in contrast with over 22,000 miles for geostationary satellites utilized by suppliers like Hughesnet and Viasat.
“That is simply physics, proper? You are going to have a latency of practically a second while you’re 22,000 miles versus 300 miles,” Kerry Baker, the writer of Ookla’s report, informed CNET. “What was enjoyable then was to see the information and the airways line up simply as you’d count on from the physics.”
Surprisingly, Starlink’s speeds had been truly quicker within the air than on the bottom. In keeping with Ookla’s speed test results from the first quarter of 2025 , Starlink customers within the US obtained median obtain speeds of 105Mbps, add speeds of 15Mbps and latency of 45ms.
The opposite main satellite tv for pc web suppliers, Hughesnet and Viasat, additionally recorded quicker speeds within the air than on the bottom, though the most recent data from Ookla on these suppliers is from 2023.
In keeping with Ookla’s report, Hawaiian Airways and Qatar Airways recorded velocity take a look at outcomes with Starlink within the first quarter of 2025. United Airways additionally began installing Starlink on its planes earlier this yr, debuting it on some planes on Could 15. Scandinavian Airways inked a deal in January 2025 to outfit its total fleet with Starlink.
