Starlink internet on a 12-hour flight surpasses most in-flight Wi-Fi services

Elon Musk's satellite-driven internet service has long been touted as the most trustworthy option for everyday use as well as for situations involving someone either stuck on a remote island or an hours-long flight.

Out of the two, the latter was the case of a PCMag correspondent travelling all way to Doha from Washington DC. The publication disclosed Rob Pegoraro's experience with Starlink internet during a 12-hour flight.

Courtesy of a constellation of thousands of low-Earth-orbit satellites, zipping overhead, for providing him with significantly upticked internet connectivity on a Qatar Airways flight in terms of speed and latency.

Pegoraro claimed that despite nearly all 354 seats of the flight making the most of Startlink Wi-Fi, it stacked up way nicer than the Wi-Fi of countless airports and hotels, remarkably maintaining fast and reliable speeds.

Download and upload speeds with Startlink Wi-Fi 

The download and upload speeds, with their peaks averaging at 108.14Mbps and 29.57Mbps, respectively, of Starlink internet were much less than the 350Mbps claimed by Qatar Airways at the time of the airline's partnership with Starlink in October 2023.

The lowest of the download speed with Startlink was measured at 27.7Mbps, which the tester claimed was about after the breakfast when most of the passengers might have used it most likely.

This examination of Starlink's Wi-Fi indicates that, in flight, it surpasses the Wi-Fi services of most airlines.