The onset of summer means more traveling – for business and leisure. One of the more frustrating experiences about traveling is finding a secure, solid Wi-Fi connection – especially for those trying to get work accomplished before a flight.
Ookla, which provides network testing and diagnostic tools, shared its findings on the most connected airports in the U.S. and globally.
The airports with the best Wi-Fi had several things in common. Their Wi-Fi networks had speedy download rates, of 100 Mbps and up. Most of them were configured with multiple SSIDs to cover different terminals or to segment the network into the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.
Additionally, many of the top-rated airport Wi-Fi networks are using the Wi-Fi 6 standard. According to Ookla, Wi-Fi 6 offers increased throughput and performance with its Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology -- an advantage when setting up a Wi-Fi network in a public space.
Best Airport Wi-Fi In The U.S.
The airport with the best Wi-Fi as measured by download speed, is in California, according to Ookla's report.
San Francisco International Airport's Wi-Fi clocked a download speed of 173.55 Mbps, ranking it the speediest among U.S. airports.
Next on the list is New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport with a download speed of 166.51 Mbps.
The other fastest U.S. airport networks are: ]
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (151.59 Mbps),
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (151.28 Mbps),
- Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (137.31 Mbps),
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (119.92 Mbps), and
- Harry Reid International Airport (107.84 Mbps).
Best International Airport Wi-Fi
Ookla also looked at Wi-Fi networks in airports across the globe. It found Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France and China's Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport had robust Wi-Fi with median download speeds of 107.13 Mbps and 101.01 Mbps, respectively.
Airports With Mobile Speeds Faster Than Wi-Fi
Eleven airports had mobile speeds that edged out Wi-Fi, according to Ookla. These 11 airports offer mobile speeds over 200 Mbps:
- Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (341.19 Mbps),
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (295.94 Mbps),
- Shanghai Pudong International Airport (264.71 Mbps),
- Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (258.42 Mbps), and
- Istanbul Airport (255.51 Mbps).
Ookla also reported airports with the slowest Wi-Fi speeds tested. These networks had median Wi-Fi download speeds of less than 25 Mbps:
- Mexico City International Airport in Mexico (5.11 Mbps)
- Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Vietnam (7.07 Mbps),
- Beijing Capital International Airport in China (9.45 Mbps),
- Cairo International Airport in Egypt (10.62 Mbps), and
- Tokyo Haneda Airport in Japan (11.37 Mbps).
