[Starlink] Re: Podcast on in-flight Wi-Fi (Candela Technologies)

[Ulrich Speidel <u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz>]

Aircraft-to-ground is fraught with problems: For one, the range here is 
at best a couple of hundred miles and this means much of the planet is 
out of range here even with ground infrastructure on land. It's also 
essentially using cellphone technology, and not in the way it was 
intended (spectrum sharing by localising communication).

On-board Wi-Fi is generally using Ka-band backhaul. Since planes in 
cruise are above the weather, rain fade isn't an issue here and you 
don't need the big antennas for reserve gain that you'd find on Ka-band 
ground stations.

Starlink is attractive for backhaul due to the fact that it covers the 
whole globe, unlike geostationary sats, which drop below the horizon in 
polar areas. That's not an issue for about 99% of the world's commercial 
traffic, but it is an issue for flights from Japan and Korea to Europe, 
which used to go via Russia but now trek up to Alaska and the Beaufort 
Sea and Arctic Ocean to fly into Europe via northern Greenland. GEO 
coverage drops out at about 72N shortly after you enter the airspace 
over the Beaufort see and doesn't return until you've almost passed 
Greenland. This is of course the most boring part of the 14 hour flight 
where connectivity would be welcome ;-) Japan Airlines actually warn you 
about this effect on their seat pocket Wi-Fi instruction card.

And yes, capacity is very limited. Air New Zealand offer free Wi-Fi (Ka 
via GEO) on most of their fleet and normally it's OK. A while ago I 
found myself on one of their overnight flights from Narita to Auckland 
and found the cabin almost empty when I boarded. Faint hope for a 
lie-down though as soon after, I was joined by several Japanese school 
classes in their young teens who occupied almost all of the remaining 
seats. A cheeky crew member walked up to me asking whether I was in 
charge of the lot (aaargh no!) but then proceeded to rescue me to an 
empty row for myself. Of course, the kids worked out the Wi-Fi in no 
time and it was essentially unusable for most of the flight.

On 12/01/2026 8:17 pm, Frantisek Borsik via Starlink wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEX_OqhZKHE
>
> All the best,
>
> Frank
>
> Frantisek (Frank) Borsik
>
>
> *In loving memory of Dave Täht: *1965-2025
>
> https://libreqos.io/2025/04/01/in-loving-memory-of-dave/
>
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantisekborsik
>
> Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp: +421919416714
>
> iMessage, mobile: +420775230885
>
> Skype: casioa5302ca
>
> frantisek.borsik@gmail.com
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-- 
****************************************************************
Dr. Ulrich Speidel

School of Computer Science

Room 303S.594 (City Campus)

The University of Auckland
u.speidel@auckland.ac.nz
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/
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