Image: SpaceX
SpaceX’s high-speed satellite internet service, Starlink, was recently tested aboard a JSX flight by The Points Guy‘s Zach Griff using five different Apple devices (via Tesla North).
Starlink received approval for operation on moving boats, planes, trucks, and more in the U.S. last year, with SpaceX launching “Starlink Aviation” for inflight Wi-Fi in October 2022.
Griff got to experience Starlink on an airplane firsthand. After evaluating connection speeds and more on two MacBooks, two iPhones, and an iPad on his flight, he came out impressed and concluded that the service was “blazing-fast.”
Griff conducted some standard speed tests and also evaluated real-world performance. “Each device measured download speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. Upload speeds, which hovered between five and 20 Mbps, were just as impressive,” he said.
Notably, these results were from simultaneous speed tests on four different devices. “But the real show-stopper was the ping, a measure that generally indicates how much buffering you’ll experience during data-intensive tasks. The ping clocked in between 28 and 150 milliseconds in the four tests — an incredible feat for inflight Wi-Fi.”
As for real-world performance, Griff noted that Zoom calls were smooth in terms of both audio and video, and he was able to send emails, download music, and install apps without a hitch. According to Griff, Starlink was his “fastest inflight internet experience ever.”
Griff also noted that logging in to the inflight Wi-Fi once he had boarded was seamless. Starlink isn’t just easy for users, either — JSX CEO Alex Wilcox told The Points Guy that adding Starlink Wi-Fi only takes eight hours in the hangar for each jet.
