A TOP airline reveals it has fitted a plane with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet – with dozens more to follow.
The Starlink Wi-Fi – which is beamed down to Earth from satellites – will make in-flight internet 50 times faster than normal.
Starlink is being fitted to the United Airlines fleet[/caption]
United Airlines plans to add Starlink to dozens of airplanes each month[/caption]
Starlink is the creation of Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX[/caption]
United Airlines says it has kitted out one of its regional aircraft.
And it’s promised to fit Starlink tech to more than 40 aircraft each month starting in May – right through to the end of 2025.
United reckons it takes about eight hours to take out the old Wi-Fi and fit Starlink. That’s 10 times faster than installing regular internet on board, according to the airline.
And the benefit for passengers will be the startlingly fast speeds.
The American air giant says travellers will be able to get speeds of up to 250Mbps (megabits per second).
In the UK, the average broadband speed is 69.4Mbps, according to Ofcom.
And Speedtest reports that the USA‘s median internet speed is 242.38Mbps.
United is hoping to fit its entire two-cabin regional fleet with Starlink by the end of the year.
And it then plans to upgrade its entire fleet too.
“Our ability to roll-out this innovative service with unprecedented speed and scale is a direct result of the advanced equipment, technology and team of experts at United,” said United tech bossGrant Milstead.
“Starlink has been a terrific partner – our combined spirit of innovation and collaboration will enable us to hit our goal of more than 300 regional aircraft installations before the end of this year.”
Although the removal and installation takes eight hours, each plane needs to be out of service for four days.
That gives United enough time to run tests on the new equipment.
Speeds on board United Airlines could be far faster than your home broadband[/caption]
The planes are fitted with about 85lbs of gear (versus the 300lbs of regular inflight internet).
That includes an external antenna that lets the airplane communicate with the Starlink satellites.
And coverage should be uninterrupted, so you won’t have to wait for your Netflix shows to load.
“Weather on the ground doesn’t hinder connectivity thanks to a weather-proofed inter-satellite laser link technology that allows satellites to communicate to each other and the ground reliably,” United Airlines explained.
STARLINK REVEALS WI-FI ADVANTAGE
SpaceX explains one of Starlink’s biggest perks…
“Most satellite internet services come from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km,” SpaceX said.
“As a result, the round trip data time between the user and satellite – also known as latency – is high.
“Making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls or other high data rate activities.
“Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550km, and cover the entire globe.
“Because Starlink satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower—around 25 ms vs 600+ ms.”
Picture Credit: Starlink
“Starlink-equipped aircraft will constantly switch between Starlink’s world’s largest, low-earth orbit constellation of satellites to ensure the best coverage and most reliable Wi-Fi onboard.”
The good news is that Starlink internet will be free for anyone flying with a MileagePlus account.
You don’t need to pay for MileagePlus – you can just sign up ahead of the flight.
Starlink is part of Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX.
Starlink terminals need an unobstructed view of the sky to connect to the satellites[/caption]
Eventually United Airlines plans to fit Starlink internet to its entire fleet of aircraft[/caption]
It works by linking up on-the-ground equipment with a constellation of satellites orbiting Earth.
There are currently more than 7,000 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, with plans for 12,000.
Because Starlink beams internet down from space, you don’t need much on-the-ground infrastructure.
That means Starlink is excellent at delivering internet in hard-to-reach places, where building out regular internet services might be difficult.
Although it’s coming from space, Starlink internet should just feel like regular Wi-Fi to phone users[/caption]
The only catch is that you need an unobstructed view of the sky for Starlink to work – but that’s not an issue for airplanes.
