STARLINK may soon provide Wi-Fi on commercial flights as it pushes forward with testing the technology.
Elon Musk’s satellite-internet business Starlink wants to rectify a major nuisance travelers face while flying: no internet.
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In an attempt to solve this problem, Starlink reportedly tested its internet capabilities on at least one major carrier, Delta Air Lines, according to Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian.
While both Starlink and Delta have been tight-lipped on the specifics surrounding the exploratory testing, Musk has long been vocal about his vision to bring internet to space, remote countries, and airplanes.
Last year, Musk confirmed in several tweets to fans that he was working on bringing Starlink internet to airlines.
“We are talking to airlines about installing Starlink. Please let them know if you want it on your airliner,” he said to one Twitter user.
“Low latency ~half gigabit connectivity in the air,” he added.
The Tesla CEO also specified that Starlink was focusing its internet efforts on “[Boeing] 737 and A320, as those serve the most number of people.”
At the moment, most airliners offer Wi-Fi, but few offer it free of charge – and fewer still provide reliable service.
This issue has not only exasperated the frustrations of travelers over the years, but airliners too, analysts say.
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“A lot of airlines want to offer streaming-quality services” to their customers, Dave Bijur, Intelsat’s senior vice president for commercial aviation, told The Wall Street Journal.
Experts also predict that that the demand for Wi-Fi is only going to grow in the coming years.
Should Starlink fill the demand, it could prove to be a lucrative business opportunity for the company, who has brought internet to 25 countries.
Over the past few years, Starlink has also sent more than 1,800 low-orbit satellites into space, and another 40,000 are planned to launch.
Down here, on Earth, Starlink offers satellite internet service to individuals, ranging from $100 to $500 depending on the customers needs.
Its premium service provides a large high-performance antenna and speeds of between 150 and 500Mbps (with a 20 to 40ms latency).
Starlink Premium also offers enhanced upload speeds of 20 to 40Mbps, which is nearly double what Starlink’s Standard offers.
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