Starlink’s Wi-Fi is faster in the air than on the ground
Starlink is almost twice as fast as other in-flight Wi-Fi options. New report from Speed Test site Ookla. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET and Ziff Davis.)
Starlink’s air speed is faster than some Internet provider On the ground. SpaceX’s satellite internet company recorded a median download speed of 152Mbps and an upload speed of 24Mbps.
These download and upload speeds were almost twice as fast as other in-flight internet options, but latency really blew away the competition. Starlink’s flight latency appeared at just 44th. The next cross MTN satellite communication was 667 ms. These types of numbers allow you to play games realistically online or make video calls on flights equipped with StarLink.
How is it possible for a Starlink equipped plane to rap the competition completely? The answer lies in Starlink’s unique fleet 7,000 low-Earth orbital satellites. They operate at approximately 342 miles above ground, compared to over 22,000 miles on geostationary satellites used by providers such as Hughesnet and Viasat.
“It’s just physics, right? If you’re 22,000 miles for 300 miles, then you have a wait of almost a second,” Kerry Baker, author of the Ookla report, told CNET. “What was fun at the time was seeing data and airlines lined up, as you would expect from physics.”
Surprisingly, Starlink’s speed was actually faster in the air than on the ground. According to Ookla speed test results for the first quarter of 2025Starlink users in the US received a median download speed of 105Mbps, an upload speed of 15Mbps, and a delay of 45ms.
Other major satellite internet providers, Hughesnet and ViasatIt also records faster speeds in the air than on the ground, Latest Ookla data These providers are in 2023.
According to an Ookla report, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airlines recorded speed test results on Starlink in the first quarter of 2025. I started installing StarLink It will debut on a plane earlier this year and on May 15th, several planes. Scandinavian Airlines I signed a contract In January 2025, we will equip the entire fleet with Starlink.