As you board your next flight and connect to the inflight Wi-Fi, have you ever wondered – how does this internet connection work miles above the ground? Who is beaming this signal, and why does it sometimes get glitchy and slow? For airlines deciding which tech provider to select, choices boil down to two major players – Starlink and Gogo. This guide will demystify their technologies so you can better understand the inflight internet experience.
Born to Serve Different Markets
Today, Starlink and Gogo compete head-to-head for airline Wi-Fi contracts. But each began by solving distinct connectivity challenges:
Starlink – Conceived in 2015 within Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, this low earth orbit (LEO) satellite network was designed to deliver broadband internet access specifically to remote rural users around the world. After launching over 3,000 satellites since 2019, Starlink can now beam signals to users virtually anywhere on the globe.
Gogo – Formed in 1991, Gogo specialized solely in transport Wi-Fi. Using cellular tower-like ground stations, Gogo‘s air-to-ground (ATG) technology supplies bandwidth to aircraft flying over the continental US and Canada. Over 16 domestic commercial airlines currently use Gogo, serving over 150 million flyers per year.
Yet with inflight Wi-Fi demand booming, Starlink and Gogo now cross paths above the clouds. What key factors should airlines weigh when picking between these two internet providers?
Coverage and Availability
Gogo maintains an advantage in deployment breadth across the North American air travel market. Its ATG ground stations allow fast, low-latency connections unrivaled by satellite capacity – but only work in convenient line-of-sight proximity during take-off and landing.
That‘s why on long-haul continental and international routes, Gogo fills gaps using a mashup of fallback geostationary satellites far-stationed over 22,000 miles above earth. But even these sat systems cause slower speeds and latency lag compared to networks like Starlink‘s nimbler LEO configuration.
Starlink promises eventual global coverage from the Arctic to Antarctic and everywhere between by beaming signals up from its fleet of satellites circulating just ~350 miles overhead. Even over vast oceans where planes stay out of range from ground networks for hours, Starlink‘s LEO birds should maintain lower lag times than archaic sat internet. But true inflight performance remains wholly unproven until its 2023 airline launch.
Gogo currently covers over 95% of all Wi-Fi enabled domestic US flights [1]
Technology Stack Comparison
The specific technology utilized by each provider shapes available speeds, latency figures, and overall consistency inflight. Let‘s explore the pros and cons of each system:
Starlink
- Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Network
- Pros: cutting-edge; global signal; low orbit = faster speeds & low latency; avoids weather disruption
- Cons: extremely complex infrastructure; enormously expensive to deploy; unproven reliability
Gogo
- Air-to-Ground (ATG): Cell-like ground towers targeting signals to aircraft
- Pros: very fast speeds; low latency; no weather/atmospheric signal degradation
- Cons: Only works line-of-sight over land; costly infrastructure only workable over high traffic domestic air routes
Gogo
- Geostationary Satellites: Supplemental legacy satellites parked in far orbit over equator
- Pros: Long proven decently reliable; wide coverage including trans-oceanic routes
- Cons: Poky speeds; higher latency; some weather degradation issues
So while Starlink boasts bleeding-edge LEO satellites and Gogo relies on patchwork hybrid tech, this mishmash allows Gogo to optimize performance by utilizing the ideal infrastructure flavours regionally.
Expected Speeds and Latency
Starlink‘s main advantage – at least theoretically on paper – should be download and upload speeds competitive with physical land-based internet infrastructure, coupled with similarly low lag times (latency). SpaceX‘s compact LEO constellation orbits much closer to earth than conventional satellites, lending less distance for data to travel.
Starlink promises airline partners sustained speeds over 350 Mbps. For perspective, that would allow each passenger on a 100-seat commercial aircraft to stream a 4K high-definition Netflix video simultaneously with dozens of devices connected.
In reality, current satellite internet latency probably averages between 600 – 700 ms – meaning a noticeable 3/4 second delay before data sends or arrives. Starlink again boasts sub-50ms latency rivaling land-based fiber optics thanks to its LEO configuration with satellites geometrically closer. Compare that to the 500+ms times commonly seen on Gogo equipped flights. So Starlink promises to crucially reduce lag for gaming, video calls and other realtime inflight network demands if it lives up to spec claims.
By comparison, Gogo‘s inflight speeds depend greatly on if a flight is over land utilizing its ATG ground stations or relying on its mishmash of satellites soaring thousands of miles farther away. ATG generally outperforms satellite connectivity for planes in its domestic footprint. Current Gogo equipped aircraft see speeds ranging from a sluggish few Mbps on aging legacy satellites to 25+ Mbps on modern Gogo systems. Those rates are expected to multiply as Gogo continues upgrading to 5G and other next-generation communication architectures.
Projecting the Future
Both Starlink and Gogo race toward considerable network upgrades and expanded capacity.
Gogo plans deploying thousands of new 5G cell towers plus spot beam satellites matched with more intelligent network software to seamlessly transition between airlinks. Combined with fleetwide upgrades to latest tech, Gogo stated goal is realizing over 50 Mbps inflight speeds by 2025.
Meanwhile, SpaceX continues growing its Starlink constellation, aiming to operate over 12,000 low orbit satellites by mid-decade. Its long-awaited airline Wi-Fi product launches in early 2023 – first for private jets and smaller regional carriers, then later scaling towards major international airlines as the network balloons.
So while flyers can expect Gogo performance to keep improving as its infrastructure evolves, Starlink remains a wildcard still needing to transfer its landlubbing rural broadband success into the skies. Its smaller LEO fleet today serves over 400,000 terrestrial customers but the network must scale massively to deliver the promised next generation inflight connectivity.
Final Recommendation
For now, Gogo retains its crown as the dominant – albeit imperfect – internet provider soaring with millions of flyers aboard today‘s Wi-Fi enabled planes. Starlink still feels like an untested upstart yet to fully demonstrate if its space-aged ambitions translate into a smooth hassle-free browsing experience. Its watershed aviation service launch promises a lot, but has much left to prove beginning in 2023.
In reality, most average travelers likely just want a dependable connection without frustration or buffering inflight. With network investments climbing into the billions, let‘s hope this clash of inflight internet titans translates into a win for airline balance sheets and flyer sanity alike!
Sources:
[1] Gogo Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript[2] Starlink Aviation One Pager
[3] Satellite Internet Latency Statistics
[4] Inflight WiFi Speeds Overview