Our website uses cookies to provide your browsing experience and relevant information. Before continuing to use our website, you agree & accept our Cookie Policy & Privacy.
SpaceX wants to show the world that its Starlink satellite system can provide access to Netflix and YouTube at an altitude of 9,000 meters above the ground. To do this, the company conducted a test flight with the aircraft of its first client, the regional airline JSX. Journalists from Bloomberg and other publications took part in the flight.
“I’m excited,” said JSX Chief Executive Officer Alex Wilcox, who was aboard a plane over California trying out web surfing and WhatsApp calls. “It exceeded all my expectations.”
Starlink’s in-flight data rates consistently exceeded 100 Mbps, according to the Ookla app. There were about a dozen people on board who were engaged in testing the speed and quality of communication. Additional devices on board simulated the system load of 20-30 passengers.
For comparison, the data transfer rate on board an American Airlines Airbus with Viasat equipment and more than 100 passengers is about 2.2 Mbps.
The short flight from Burbank to San Jose was Elon Musk’s first attempt to take some of the business away from satellite providers Intelsat and Viasat, which serve thousands of planes.
