Why Starlink's In-flight WiFi is a Game Changer

Airplane WiFi has always been slow and expensive. Even with today's technology, it’s extremely difficult to stream videos or play video games during a flight, this is until SpaceX announced their in-flight WiFi service with 500 mbps speeds! This video looks at why airplane WiFi is so bad and how SpaceX could change that with their Starlink service.

Thanks to Grant Norrie, Duke InGreen and Thomas Rogers for their research help.

References:

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Music used in this video:

» Sprightly Pursuit - Cooper Cannell
» Sunset Trails - DJ Williams
» Double You - The Mini Vandals
» In The Atmosphere - Bad Snacks
» Cloud Wheels Castle Builder - Puddle Of Infinity
» Sunrise In Paris - Dan Henig

Credits:

#spacex #starlink #newtechnology

[theAstra_]

In a sea of elon musk spacex clickbait, Primal Space stands out. Thank you for making actual informative and real content where others choose to fake it for the easy way out.

[DEADBF]

I'm surprised companies like Netflix don't come up with an in-flight intranet service where they stuff a JBOD server full of content on each plane then charge to stream content over the plane's intranet. If they used lower-res video they could probably fit most of their entire catalogue onto the server with room to spare. Then maybe throw in the entire offline Wikipedia site (150GB), plus a bunch of others while you're at it.

...Each plane's content cache would be updated automatically via high-speed wifi link whenever the plane is on the ground.

[vidhush]

I'm surprised how underrated this channel, this is a boon for us Space lovers.
If Kurzgesagt had a Space channel, it would be Primal Space.

I really never thought about the safety aspect of having real-time data of the plane through the entire flight.

[jeremymcevoy]

I've gotta say. That was the first explanation of ping that actually made sense. Great video!

[zacharyrautenkranz]

Man the quality of these videos from the script to the visuals keep getting better and better. Keep up the amazing work!

[dr_tails]

It still dumbfounds me that in this day and age not all airplanes "stream" their Geo-location continuously. I mean I get it going over open water would make it an issue but we have had open GPS since access since the 90's and I think decent satellite coverage of the world for 20 years! You would think this is something that would have been mandated by now to prevent "loosing" airplanes!

[Grubse]

My man subtly introduced TCP without mentioning TCP. well done.

[lampple]

I have been on countless of flights and have tried the WiFi of many carriers, which is always indeed terrible. However, Aegean Airlines launched their own WiFi service this year and it’s by far the best one I’ve used. For just 9€ you get an internet speed of 15mbps and you can do everything with no lag what so ever. I was able to watch full HD netflix & youtube and even make facetime video calls! What’s very interesting is that I was with a few friends who bought the WiFi service as well and we would all still get the full 15mbps without affecting each other.

[AaronHuslage]

This is mostly incorrect. GEO sats are not limited on bandwidth because of their power or distance from the earth. Most modern Ka-band satellites have plenty of bandwidth to spread around to airplanes. The problem lies with draconian traffic management both onboard planes and within in the networks. All of the antennas used on airplanes these days are phased arrays as well...that's how they have such a low profile. Even Starlink antennas need to move. Airplanes do send data back in realtime already (using Inmarsat usually)... This video has a million technical issues and I urge you to take it down and work on it more. If you need help editing the script, I'm happy to help out.

[nonstopdude]

i love the "Primal Space" plane model, It could be a name for an airliner one day :D

[darringreen]

Very good video to break down the bandwidth issue in ways the average person can understand. Hats off. But, I did have to laugh though...having been a satellite communications technician for 26+ years, I've never heard anyone refer to our frequency bands as "coo"for KU band, and "caw" for KA band. That sounded so funny I had to rewind and play that part again. We just refer to UHF, VHF, SHF, X, C, KU, KA, etc as is just saying the letters individually.

[louisbeaumesnil]

As a former user of internet satellite en France, I was living in a remote place, i had 1Mo download 150Ko upload with at best 600ms with Nordnet.
Any kind a multiplayer game was not possible but youtube and netflix actually work perfectly, the video that is.
I had to wait 10 to 30 sec for a any page to load but youtube load the video first and the rest of the page later.
Once you take the habit of opening your future page in advance the experience is bearable.
And you learn to love the well designed website, having to navigate through 10 page to find something may take 10 minutes .
As a bonus, a lot of pop-up fail to load in time and die.

[ChristofferETJ]

There is a small, quite interesting, quirk in the effect of an antenna dome on an aeroplane's aerodynamics. It has to do with the area rule and efficiencies of manufacture. In practical terms, a well-placed dome may actually improve aerodynamics.

[GIPvideos]

I'm thankful that you are closing in on 500k subs! Your skill is great and your content is valuable

[caesar]

0:24 British Airways retired this livery in 1997.

[billweberx]

Excellent video with clear descriptions and diagrams. Thumbs up.

[a-bell]

I love the content this channel makes. Keep up the great work!

[markc]

In a video where the key point is bandwidth, messing up the difference between kilobits and kilobytes (kB) is rather embarrassing.

[SpaceflightRocketShorts]

DANGGG, I heard about Starlink on planes a few weeks ago but never actually looked into it. Thanks for the video!