Thoughts on Singapore Airlines’ In-Flight Wi-Fi, written while using Singapore Airlines’ In-Flight Wi-Fi
Everything below this introduction was written entirely on my iPhone, while I was sat in an economy class seat on a Singapore Airlines flight back in March. I was originally going to expand on these points in a more comprehensive piece, but I couldn’t resist the title of this post, which itself was also written on that flight. So, here are my thoughts from the moment, unedited:
- In-flight Wi-Fi, regardless of implementation particulars, still feels like a dream come true
- I was already connected to the Internet just 12 minutes after takeoff
- Not really designed for streaming media. Could not quantify speed via fast.com — it is just good enough to load some SD streams in UHF, albeit with buffering, but most streams did not load. YouTube does not work at all. In that regard, it pales in comparison to Starlink on other airlines.
- General purpose web browsing is fine. Receiving flight information in Flighty was great — map tiles loaded fairly quickly, and position, airspeed and altitude data were provided without issue. (The entire system being designed to work solely through APNS if needed makes it perfect for this kind of situation.)
- ChatGPT via Apple Intelligence was slower than normal, but still worked …. If you have a need to use AI in the sky
- Unrelated, but SIA’s IFE is pretty good. Fluid, responsive, has live TV and a great selection of films. I remember being able to bookmark films and shows to watch in advance through their iOS app back in 2018, but that functionality (while still referenced online today) seems to have disappeared over the years. Not a fan of the USB port being a type A port instead of USB-C (iOS says it’s a slow charger), but the AC outlet being integrated into the back of the seat in front of you — always keeping it in your line of sight, vs. having to fish around in a blind spot at the front of your seat — is such a smart and useful idea.
- Last of its kind: this is probably the last review anyone will ever write of SIA’s current implementation of in-flight Wi-Fi, as they are switching to LEO Internet (likely Starlink?) soon. This version is a vestige of a bygone era; the best of the best at the time.