Satellite Communications Progress

A number of announcements related to satellite communications have popped up recently.

United Airlines is implementing Starlink for free in-flight internet. This will replace the Viasat system which is in use today. Interestingly J.P. Morgan downgraded Viasat following the news. The key difference between the two systems is latency - Viasat is geostationary (~800ms) while Starlink is low-earth orbit (LEO), which translates to roughly 40ms. We don't know how many Starlink antennas / terminals will be installed on an aircraft, so potentially Starlink may achieve better throughput (per single antenna both systems are similar).

Overall I'm not a big fan of in-flight Internet nor the entertainment systems in general. I prefer to watch the clouds through the window :) Also my go-to entertainment for flights is YouTube premium, which allows me to download videos for offline viewing. I almost never have time for watching videos, so I collect them in the "Watch Later" playlist (which downloads for offline automatically) and watch them when flying. Sometimes I use text messaging (which is free on most airlines), but I guess I could easily live without the Internet while flying. But most people shut the window blinds and hook on to the Internet immediately after boarding. So yes - I'm a weirdo again :D

iOS 18 allows for sending text messages via satellite (requires iPhone 14 or later). And although this is just text (no multimedia attachments) it is actually quite useful. We've been using the Garmin inReach (and then the Mini) for almost ten years and it has been working great. It is robust and works many days on batteries even when logging track points every couple of minutes. But it can always happen that a device is lost or stops working so it is good to have backup - and iPhone can be such backup. Would I go for a multi-day hike with just an iPhone? Probably not, as chances of losing / breaking one on a trek are pretty high.

And finally - speaking of Garmin - there is the new inReach Messenger Plus, which - tadam tadam - supports photos and voice messaging. Yay! Clearly Garmin wanted to stay ahead of the pack, so when Apple offered texting, Garmin decided to offer multimedia over satellite. And again I have mixed feelings about this one. On remote treks it is important to be able to communicate and also leaving a live track for the family to follow is a nice thing. Photos can wait until you're back to civilization. And als the Plus REQUIRES a phone to send messages. Making the phone again a single point of failure. I guess I will stay with the Mini. It's been doing the job brilliantly.