eli5 how does wifi work on airplanes?
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The other answers have the technical information correct. You’re just connecting to a wireless access point that’s on the plane. Now, how your connection gets to the wider Internet is the other question. I’m certain that the connection, at least on United flights, is via geostationary satellite. When I run a ping over a “normal” Wi-Fi connection, response times are sub – 100 ms. When I do the same on the United flight, the response times are about 650 ms, which is a dead giveaway for a satellite connection.
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