Starlink's Wi-Fi Is Faster in the Air Than on the Ground
Starlink's speeds in the air are faster than some internet providers on the ground. The satellite internet company from SpaceX clocked median download speeds of 152Mbps and upload speeds of 24Mbps.
Those download and upload speeds were nearly twice as fast as any other in-flight internet option, but latency was where it really blew the competition away. Starlink's in-flight latency came in at just 44ms; the next-closest, MTN Satellite Communications, was at 667ms. With those kinds of numbers, you could realistically game online or make a video call on a Starlink-equipped flight.
How is it possible that Starlink-equipped planes lap the competition so completely? The answer lies with Starlink's unique fleet of 7,000 low-Earth orbit satellites. These operate about 342 miles above the ground, compared with over 22,000 miles for geostationary satellites used by providers like Hughesnet and Viasat.
'That's just physics, right? You're going to have a latency of nearly a second when you're 22,000 miles versus 300 miles,' Kerry Baker, the author of Ookla's report, told CNET. 'What was fun then was to see the data and the airlines line up just as you'd expect from the physics.'
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Ookla
Surprisingly, Starlink's speeds were actually faster in the air than on the ground. According to Ookla's speed test results from the first quarter of 2025, Starlink users in the US received median download speeds of 105Mbps, upload speeds of 15Mbps and latency of 45ms.
The other major satellite internet providers, Hughesnet and Viasat, also recorded faster speeds in the air than on the ground, although the most recent data from Ookla on these providers is from 2023.
According to Ookla's report, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways recorded speed test results with Starlink in the first quarter of 2025. United Airlines also began installing Starlink on its planes earlier this year, debuting it on some planes on May 15. Scandinavian Airlines inked a deal in Jan. 2025 to outfit its entire fleet with Starlink.
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