Starlink’s Wi-Fi Is Faster in the Air Than on the Ground
Starlink is almost twice as fast as any other flight Wi-Fi option, according to a new report from the Ookla speed test site. (Ookla belongs to the same parent company as Cnet, Ziff Davis.)
Starlink’s speeds in the air are faster than some Internet suppliers in the field. The Internet Company Satellite of SpaceX has timed median download speeds of 152 Mbps and downloads 24 Mbps speeds.
These download and download speeds were almost twice as fast as any other Internet option in flight, but latency was the place where it really exploded the competition. The starlink flight latency arrived at only 44 ms; The closest MTN satellite communications were 667 ms. With these kinds of numbers, you can make online or make a video call on a flight equipped with Starlink.
How is it possible that planes equipped with Starlink are so completely competition? The answer lies in the unique Starlink fleet of 7,000 satellites in low orbit. These operate around 342 miles above the ground, against more than 22,000 miles for the geostationary satellites used by providers like Hughesnet and Viasat.
“It’s just physics, right? You are going to have a latency of almost a second when you have 22,000 miles against 300 miles,” the author of the Ookla report told Cnet Kerry Baker. “What was fun then was to see the data and airlines align as you expect physics.”
Surprisingly, Starlink’s speeds were actually faster in the air than on the ground. According to the results of Ookla speed tests in the first quarter of 2025, Starlink users in the United States received median download speeds from 105 Mbps, 15 Mbps download speeds and 45 ms latency.
The other main providers of the Internet satellite, Hughesnet and Viasat, also recorded faster speeds in the air than in the field, although the most recent data of Ookla on these suppliers come from 2023.
According to Ookla’s report, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways recorded the results of speed tests with Starlink in the first quarter of 2025. United Airlines also started to install Starlink on its planes earlier this year, making it starting on certain planes on May 15.
