Ten U.S. airports have free Wi-Fi available at download speeds exceeding 150 Mbps, according to new research from Ookla, which operates the popular Speedtest app. Unsurprisingly, the fastest is in high-tech San Jose, California.
In comparison, two dozen airports have mobile speeds exceeding 150 Mbps.
The fastest free Wi-Fi download speeds can be found at Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Those airports had median download speeds of 195.89 Mbps, 181.94 Mbps, and 176.29 Mbps, respectively, during the third quarter of 2024.
Rounding out the top 10 fastest airports, in descending order, were:
- John Glenn Columbus International Airport (173.52 Mbps),
- San Francisco International Airport (166.37 Mbps),
- Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (162.18 Mbps in Terminal 3),
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (160.39 Mbps),
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (157.68 Mbps),
- Pittsburgh International Airport (154.02 Mbps), and
- LaGuardia Airport (152.77 Mbps).
On the other end of the speed spectrum were William P. Hobby Airport and George Bush Airport, with median download speeds over Wi-Fi of less than 25 Mbps.
Although some airports are upgrading their Wi-Fi, travelers are better off using mobile service at some U.S. airports.
Fastest Mobile Service
According to the report, mobile service is faster than Wi-Fi at 29 airports, including 24 with download speeds exceeding 150 Mbps and 15 with download speeds exceeding 200 Mbps.
The airports with the best mobile performance were:
- Sacramento International (535 Mbps)
- John Wayne Airport (451.7 Mbps)
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport (356 Mbps)
- Midway International (350.4 Mbps)
- John Glenn Columbus International (348.2 Mbps)
None of the airports studied had mobile download speeds below 25 Mbps.
Joan Engebretson contributed to this report
