Wi-Fi Face-Off: Which Airports Offer the Best Connectivity?

Airport Wi-Fi is an essential tool to help pass the time before a flight or to finish up that last work email, but connection speeds vary widely at different airports.

A new study(Opens in a new window) from Ookla compared connection speeds at some of the busiest airports in the world during Q1, testing two specific aspects: free, airport-provided Wi-Fi and mobile connectivity. Here’s where you’ll get the most bang for your buck on your next journey.

US Airports Have the Fastest Free Wi-Fi

US airports offer the fastest free Wi-Fi, Ookla finds. The top five in terms of download speeds are Fort Lauderdale’s Hollywood International Airport Terminal 3 (157.6Mbps), San Francisco International Airport (156.66Mbps), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (143.42), John F. Kennedy International Airport (136.06), and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (136.02).

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport and SeaTac boast the lowest median multi-server latency, at 6 milliseconds each. “This means your device should see very little delay when relaying information across the web,” says Ookla.

The worst latency can be found at Cancun International Airport, at 60ms. Cancun also has the slowest download and upload speeds, cementing its place at the bottom of the list.

Mobile Wi-Fi speeds at airports around the world
(Credit: Ookla)

Outside the US, Shanghai Pudong International Airport tops the list with a median download speed of 118.67Mbps. The next fastest is Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris (98.82 Mbps), followed by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (82.83), Dubai International Airport (67.21), and Frankfurt Airport (59.10.

Chinese Airports Offer Excellent Mobile Speeds

When it comes to mobile carrier speeds, eight of the top 10 airports are in China. “Get ready to connect to local mobile service or tether your phone to your laptop if you’re traveling through airports in Shanghai and Beijing,” says Ookla. “The mobile speeds at these airports were dramatically faster than the airport Wi-Fi.”

The first is Shanghai Pudong International Airport (308.5Mbps median download speed), followed by Beijing Capital International Airport (304.87), and Beijing Daxing International Airport (300.70). The two non-Chinese airports in the top 10 are both in the US: Salt Lake City International Airport (282.21Mbps) and Logan International Airport (155.29).

“While latency on mobile was generally higher than that on Wi-Fi, these same three Chinese airports also showed the lowest median multi-server latency on mobile during Q1 2023, indicating that your internet experience at these airports will have the least lag,” says Ookla.

Mobile speeds at airports around the world
(Credit: Ookla)

Airport Wi-Fi or Mobile: Which One to Use?

This decision may come down to cost, as using cellular data, especially while abroad, will set you back a few bucks. But sometimes connecting to free Wi-Fi just isn’t worth it, for speed (or security) reasons. The graph below recommends the fastest option for each airport surveyed.

(Credit: Ookla)

Disclosure: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.