The date is set. The United Airline’s first plane will be hit by Wi-Fi with free Starlink in the sky on May 15th, the carrier announced Thursday.
I have the opportunity to try it and can already prove it – it’s as fast as it’s advertised.
Next week, several relatively ordinary local travelers will be first to experience new internet connections.
First: United Express services from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Detroit Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW) were confirmed next Thursday.
Later that day, the jets in the area connected to Starlink visit Nashville and Charlottesville, Virginia on a route with O’Hare.
And the new technology-equipped jets will give way to other cities in the next day and weeks.
This much-anticipated debut will come in about eight months after United It was first announced Adds a high-speed satellite-driven connection to the fleet.
High-speed internet services are Mileage Plus The royalty number of their names, and travelers on those connected jets, are allowed to connect as many devices as they like.
“This internet is fast. You’ll feel like you’ve never experienced it before in the sky,” said Grant Millstead, United Vice President of Digital Technology. “It’s faster than the internet at my house.”
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What to expect from United’s new StarLink service
I was one of the few media outlets invited to try out the new Starlink service on Thursday on O’Hare, a flight run by United’s local partner SkyWest.
Prelight
Customers receive the email the day before departure, as they received the flight about 24 hours ago, and they will find themselves on a plane connected to Starlink.
Also, like this Embraer 175, you can’t miss the decal next to the boarding door of a plane equipped with new services.
connection
Once on board, the connection was easy. I started by whipping my phone and choosing the Unitedwifi.com network.
When I clicked “Start”, the system immediately jumped to the United Mobile App already installed on my phone, and instantly confirmed that I was a MileagePlus member. Click on “Connect” and see a short ad, then I was in business.
Logging on other devices was easy. The QR code for my iPad (and laptop) has pop up. I scanned it on my phone and those devices were also online.
“We want you to start the experience as soon as you sit down, and when you’re ready to stand up, the experience ends at your destination. You won’t wait for that dyn at 10,000 feet,” explained Milstead at the preflight briefing.
How fast is it?
United certainly doesn’t exaggerate the speed of service. At the same time, I was able to see a live news feed on one device about the selection of a new pope, and stream live major league baseball games on another device.
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Shawn Gadahi/Point Guy
I ran a speed test, clocked Wi-Fi at 217 Mbps download speed and recorded an upload speed of 26.8 Mbps.
This special media flight even allowed me to successfully zoom meetings with my colleagues, faceted at Clint Henderson in TPG from 30,000 feet.
To be clear, it is not permitted on real life United flights.
As part of the StarLink login process, United reminds customers of some rules that do not involve phone calls or video calls.
“You’ll expect customers to use headphones when they’re listening to content,” added Milstead. “And we’re going to ask them to see the right content.”
An ambitious rollout is planned
As I saw the TPG Zach Griff in person Earlier this year, United will be able to quickly retrofit planes with a new internet service. Once they ramp up, United officials told me, they can add it with overnight maintenance.
Starlink starts with the United Express Jets regional fleet, and the airline expects that by the end of this year all planes in the two-cabin region will have free Wi-Fi.
At least one mainline United plane will be serviced before 2025 ends, executives said Thursday.
Growing industry trends
United continued The footsteps of rival Delta Air Lines The Chicago-based carrier believes StarLink services are great in the eyes of customers when launching free Wi-Fi quickly across their fleet.
And it definitely helped solidify the industry’s trend towards free connectivity that helped fuel American Airlines’ recent decisions We will shift Wi-Fi services to free by next year.
“There’s a lot of free space. There’s a lot of speed in the aviation industry,” MileagePlus CEO Richard Nun said Thursday of United’s services. “But this is on a different level.”
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