How to Get Faster, Steadier Internet on a Plane
In-flight Wi-Fi speed depends on the airline, the plane and the internet system it uses, but on every flight, all the passengers share one satellite or air-to-ground internet connection (antennas on the ground that send internet up to the plane). The more people online, the slower it gets for each of you.
Speedify combines the plane’s Wi-Fi with your phone’s 4G/5G cellular data at the gate and while taxiing, whenever your airline allows phone use and the plane’s Wi-Fi is already on (on many flights it starts only after takeoff), for faster uploads and downloads. In the air, plane Wi-Fi is usually your only internet connection, so Speedify can’t make it faster there, but Speedify encrypts all your traffic on the shared passenger network.
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Speedify offers three commercial paths. They're not exclusive — most enterprise customers combine two or more.
01
Speedify Teams
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02
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03
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Why In-Flight Internet Is Slow and Unreliable
In-flight internet has improved a lot in the past decade, but it’s still one of the slowest and least reliable places you’ll try to get online. The causes come with how planes get internet:
- Everyone on board shares the plane’s single satellite or air-to-ground internet connection. Speeds for each passenger drop sharply as more people connect and use it.
- When the plane’s system switches from one satellite or ground antenna to the next, the internet drops for a moment. Video calls disconnect, file transfers stop and VPN connections drop.
- Some ocean and polar routes have gaps with no internet at all for part of the flight.
- No two airlines are the same. Speed varies with the plane, the airline and the internet provider, so you can get very different Wi-Fi on flights in the same week.
Can you work on a long flight over the ocean on plane Wi-Fi? Email, chat and documents usually work. Video calls depend on how many passengers are online and on coverage along the route, so plan for gaps. For crews and business travelers who need to work in the air, these limits cost real time. For airlines running apps for cabin crew and flight operations, unreliable in-flight internet is a risk to daily work.
What Speedify Can and Can’t Do for In-Flight Wi-Fi
Speedify’s technology for combining internet connections uses the plane’s Wi-Fi together with any other internet connection on your device.
On the ground, at the gate and while taxiing, whenever your airline allows phone use and the plane’s Wi-Fi is on, a device with cellular data can use 4G/5G cellular and plane Wi-Fi together for faster combined uploads and downloads.
For calls and video meetings at the gate, Speedify’s Redundant Mode sends the same data over plane Wi-Fi and cellular at the same time, so the call keeps going on plane Wi-Fi when you switch cellular off for takeoff, on airlines that allow calls over their Wi-Fi.
In the air, beyond cellular range and phone rules, plane Wi-Fi is your only internet connection, and Speedify sends everything over it. With one internet connection, Speedify can’t add speed or stop the drops. What Speedify still does in the air is encrypt all your traffic, which matters because plane Wi-Fi is a public network shared with every other passenger.
Speedify vs Multi-Connection Router Boxes, Compared for Aviation Teams
| Feature | Router boxes that combine connections (Peplink, Teltonika and similar brands) | Speedify |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A router box for every site or vehicle | A software subscription per user, running on devices you already have |
| Typical entry cost | From roughly $500 for an entry-level cellular router to several thousand for a unit with several SIM slots, plus a subscription to the maker’s cloud service | $89.99 a year per user, billed yearly |
| Internet connections combined | Ethernet, Wi-Fi and cellular, limited by how many SIM slots the model has | Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular and Starlink, up to 31 connections |
| Top combined speed | Around 200 Mbps through the maker’s cloud service on common models | 300 Mbps on shared servers, up to 1 Gbps on a Dedicated Server |
| Fixed (static) IP address and port forwarding | A paid add-on to the maker’s cloud service | A Dedicated Server or Self-Hosted Server add-on, from $75 a month |
| Managing many devices | The maker’s own dashboard | The Speedify Teams dashboard, with usage for each device and an API for managing accounts |
| Moving between sites or vehicles | Ship or reinstall the router box | Sign in on another device |
| If you do want hardware | Required | Optional: a Router License on a compatible OpenWrt router, or the Miri X510 |
In-Flight Internet Setups with Speedify
- Plane Wi-Fi plus 4G/5G cellular on the ground. At the gate and while taxiing, when phone use is allowed, connect your device to the plane’s Wi-Fi and keep your 4G/5G cellular data on. Speedify uses both for the most combined speed, and moves everything to plane Wi-Fi once you turn cellular off.
- Plane Wi-Fi only, with Speedify encryption. On a device with only plane Wi-Fi, Speedify can’t add speed, but it encrypts all your traffic on the shared passenger network.
- Speedify on cabin crew devices. Airlines with connected devices for cabin crew can put Speedify on those devices, to combine the plane’s Wi-Fi with cellular during ground time for a more reliable internet connection for work apps.
- Business aircraft with two internet systems. If your plane has two separate in-flight internet systems, Speedify on a router connected to both can use them at the same time, so one keeps you online when the other drops. Any router installed on an aircraft has to be approved for that aircraft first.
How to Set Up Speedify for In-Flight Wi-Fi
- Install the Speedify app on your laptop, phone or tablet before your flight. Speedify runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
- At the gate, connect to the plane’s Wi-Fi and finish its sign-in or payment page in your browser while your 4G/5G cellular data is still on, if your airline allows it. Then open Speedify. Speedify finds both internet connections and starts using them together.
- Speedify spreads your traffic across both internet connections. When you turn off cellular for takeoff, Speedify moves all traffic to plane Wi-Fi automatically. You don’t need to change any settings.
- Speedify’s encryption stays on for the whole flight and protects your data on the shared passenger network.
- If you manage devices for a team of business travelers, set up a Speedify Teams account to put Speedify on every device and see how each one’s internet is doing.
Who Gets the Most from Speedify on Flights and at Airports
- Business travelers. Get the most speed at the gate from plane Wi-Fi and cellular together, keep a call going when you switch cellular off (where the airline allows calls), and keep your traffic encrypted on plane Wi-Fi.
- Airline cabin crew and operations teams. Airlines with tablet and device programs for cabin crew get a more reliable internet connection for work apps during ground time, when crews use those apps the most.
- Remote workers and frequent flyers. Speedify encrypts your traffic on any in-flight Wi-Fi it can connect through, whichever airline you fly.
- Aircraft maintenance and ground teams. Teams working in and around airports can use Speedify to combine airport Wi-Fi with 4G/5G cellular, so cloud systems and calls keep working during turnarounds and maintenance.
Speedify Plans for Travelers, Airlines and Aviation Businesses
For individual travelers, a Speedify Individual plan includes combining internet connections, encryption and Redundant Mode. Speedify Individual costs $89.99 a year, or as little as $4.99 a month on a 3-year plan.
For airlines and aviation businesses putting Speedify on crew and work devices, Speedify Teams gives you central management from the Teams Dashboard, usage for each device, and an API for adding accounts automatically. Speedify Teams costs $89.99 per user a year, with a 5-user minimum, and scales to large fleets.
For airlines or aviation operators that must keep traffic on their own servers, Speedify Self-Hosted Servers route all Speedify traffic through the operator’s own servers. For work that needs a fixed (static) IP address, Speedify Dedicated Servers give you a managed private server with up to 1 Gbps.
For airlines and aviation businesses: Speedify can keep crew devices and ground teams online on every internet connection they have. Contact Us to plan the setup.
For travelers: Download Speedify before your next flight to combine plane Wi-Fi and cellular at the gate and encrypt your traffic in the air.
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