Show HN: Will my flight have Starlink?

Post by nradov » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

kdkdkrjrj wrote: post #93

htx80nerd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A few more words: they’re struggling to find a niche where their ungodly expensive product makes more sense than the readily available alternatives pretty obvious you never worked for an ISP and forgot about all the `middle of nowhere` customers who have no high speed internet. even for me, in houston texas, we cant get fiber to the home and were stuck with AT&T DSL which was like $60 per month and ungodly slow. Als…

To be fair: this is an america regulatory capture problem.

Post by TulliusCicero » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

apitman wrote: post #7

I've only had it once, but inflight Starlink is a game changer. I was able to play a ranked AoE2 game over the Pacific Ocean.

Post by rconti » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #101

kdkdkrjrj wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair: this is an america regulatory capture problem.

Regulatory capture is only a secondary reason why many parts of the USA still lack cheap, reliable broadband Internet access. It turns out that running fiber everywhere is expensive, and in some areas the potential customer base doesn't justify the cost.

Post by batshit_beaver » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

TulliusCicero wrote: post #103

apitman wrote: post #7

I've only had it once, but inflight Starlink is a game changer. I was able to play a ranked AoE2 game over the Pacific Ocean.

That sounds somewhat unpleasant even if the connection itself is fine. How much space did you have for a mouse?

Post by ddoolin » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

gpt5 wrote: post #4

One nice thing about Starlink is that they force the airlines to offer it for free. I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this, but it was surprising enough to me that my international WiFi was not only fast, but completely free that I researched it.