Pete Syme/Business Insider
One of the flight attendants I spoke to during the flight said this could reduce their workload, as there would be fewer passengers asking for help connecting or complaining about the spotty connection.
I was flying in the QSuite business class for this media event, but Starlink WiFi is free for passengers in every cabin.
On my flight from London to Qatar with the same airline, I paid $10 for inflight WiFi, which typically had a download speed of around 5 megabits per second. I could watch some YouTube videos in 360p and stream music, but I had to be patient with buffering.
By contrast, the Starlink WiFi was as high as 215 megabits — faster than most home internet speeds. However, I saw it dip as low as 11 Mbps as we flew over the Black Sea before returning to three figures over central Europe.
I managed to catch up with my favorite quiz show, “University Challenge,” watching it in high-definition with no buffering, plus I could stream music without a hitch.
Several influencers and YouTubers were on board Tuesday’s flight, too, and I saw them livestream on Instagram from the air.
Pete Syme/Business Insider
At 36,000 feet above the Persian Gulf, I was able to write and file a story about the event for Business Insider with no problems — something I hadn’t been able to accomplish with poor WiFi on a previous train ride.
It did mean there was nowhere to hide when colleagues and my editor messaged me with work queries, highlighting what may be seen as the negative side of better connectivity.
Thanks to their usually erratic WiFi, planes are perhaps one of the last bunkers to keep away from work, decompress, and forget about the world outside. Consider, for example, this summer’s whimsical TikTok trend of “raw-dogging” flights — flying without any in-flight entertainment.
That’s much less likely if you can easily scroll Twitter or Instagram on your phone — or be invited to join a Zoom meeting.