Still downloading shows over airport Wi-Fi before your flight? Here’s where you should consider your mobile provider
Many passengers’ pre-boarding ritual remains that of jumping on the free airport Wi-Fi to download the latest shows from Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video for guilt-free binging during the flight. This is despite the improving performance of in-flight Wi-Fi and airlines hosting oodles of content — movies, games, shopping – accessible by fingertip through the screens on the back of the seat inches from one’s eyeballs.
If you are still logging into the airport Wi-Fi to download season 21 of One Piece (197 episodes) or have been saving the season 5 four-episode drop of Stranger Things for your flight home for the holidays (before three more episodes on December 25th), using your mobile service provider might be the faster option if you’re about to board your plane.
Key Takeaways
- Mobile providers had a faster median download speed than Wi-Fi in most airports and more than twice as fast on average (219.24 Mbps, 101.39 Mbps).
- Verizon was fastest in the most airports comparing among all mobile providers and airport Wi-Fi including ties, and even with T-Mobile considering outright results.
- Among only mobile providers in airports, Verizon also led the airports count of outright fastest results.
- Airport Wi-Fi was faster than mobile providers in just over one-third of head-to-head comparisons (including ties), and faster than all mobile providers in five airports.
- Older Wi-Fi technologies may be holding back internet speed in airports with 72.9% of Speedtest samples on Wi-Fi 5 and older generation versus 46.0% in the U.S. overall.
Approach
In the past year, Ookla reported on airport Wi-Fi and mobile service together. However, mobile service together, in aggregate, does not represent the actual choice the most mobile consumers have before them. That is, the options for online connectivity are Wi-Fi and my mobile service provider.
Across the top 50 U.S. airports by passengers, we examined Speedtest user data for median download speed across the airport Wi-Fi (based on SSID; two airports’ network management policy excludes our tests) and by each of the big three mobile providers – AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon – in the first half of 2025. Download speed is understandable to the individual, especially for our cherished Speedtest users, and directly appropriate to the use case of downloading content. And, more significantly, it is a representation of network capacity for everyone. That said, network design requirements and performance objectives of the Wi-Fi and mobile providers may not be to maximize throughput speeds, versus handling more connected devices or optimizing connection stability, for example.
Altitude: Highest and Lowest Five Airports for Mobile and Wi-Fi Download Speeds
All of the airport results are available in the map above, and here are the fastest and slowest five airport median download speeds (in Mbps) for each mobile provider and Wi-Fi.
Arrivals
The mobile providers held an edge overall and individually compared with Wi-Fi in terms of the number of airports with the fastest median download speed. Verizon had the most with 34 where it was faster than Wi-Fi, including two airports that were tied with Wi-Fi. T-Mobile was faster than Wi-Fi in 32 airports, and AT&T faster in 28 airports, including one tie.
Comparing just the mobile providers (i.e., Wi-Fi excluded), Verizon had the fastest median download speed in 26 airports (including two ties), T-Mobile was fastest in 16 airports (including one tie), and AT&T was fastest in 8 airports (including one tie).
Wi-Fi was faster than any mobile provider in these five airports:
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
- San Francisco International
- Orlando International
- Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International
- Baltimore/Washington International (tie)
Mobile and Wi-Fi Median Download Speeds at U.S. Airports
Speedtest Intelligence® | 1H 2025
Observation Deck
Houston’s problem
Appearing in AT&T’s, Verizon’s and Wi-Fi’s bottom five, the two airports serving the Houston metropolitan area had slow median download speeds for their airport Wi-Fi as well.
|
Airport |
AT&T |
T-Mobile |
Verizon |
Airport Wi-Fi |
|
George Bush Intercontinental |
4.77 |
242.29 |
15.79 |
21.36 |
|
William P. Hobby |
19.97 |
108.65 |
43.74 |
21.67 |
Wi-Fi is better by the Bay
As shown in Wi-Fi’s fastest five airports, Oakland International and Norman Y. Mineta San José International made that list. Rounding out the Bay Area airportstrio, the Wi-Fi speed in San Francisco International comfortably topped the mobile providers.
|
Airport |
AT&T |
T-Mobile |
Verizon |
Airport Wi-Fi |
|
Oakland International |
229.70 |
28.58 |
103.90 |
194.23 |
|
Norman Y. Mineta San José International |
103.83 |
211.40 |
251.06 |
176.59 |
|
San Francisco International |
67.07 |
92.91 |
100.56 |
169.51 |
If you’re going to San Francisco, SFO was the only airport in our analysis with Speedtest samples using the 6 GHz band. This was on Wi-Fi 6E – too soon to expect Wi-Fi 7 in airports – with a median download speed of 364.74 Mbps (also remarkable were the median upload speed of 426.04 Mbps and an 8 ms multi-server latency).
Wi-Fi generations
Wi-Fi 6E is part of the Wi-Fi 6 standard (802.11ax) that has “extended” (hence the E) to include the 6 GHz band along with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Examining the mix of Speedtest samples across Wi-Fi generations, an astonishing share (70.1%) were on Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), which was introduced in 2013. Wi-Fi 6, introduced in 2019, offers numerous benefits:
Speed and capacity
- Higher theoretical maximum speeds
- Sends data to multiple devices simultaneously in a single transmission (versus one device at a time)
- Handles more connected devices
Performance and latency
- Manages traffic more efficiently for lower latency
- More effective interference mitigation for better performance in crowded environments
- Improved uplink technology means faster uploads
These are many good reasons for an airport to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6. However, the cost and effort needed for upgrading an airport is undoubtedly magnitudes beyond that of swapping out the home router. Most homes don’t have capital budget planning cycles for upgrading technology infrastructure, but judging by the overall U.S. Wi-Fi 6 at 44.2% (versus 26.2% in airports), more passengers are carrying devices capable of using the upgrade.
Boingo-es faster
Boingo, a connectivity solutions company, frequently appears in this research as the airport’s Wi-Fi service provider – 29 times in this analysis. Boingo-served airports averaged download speeds of 110.30 Mbps compared to non-Boingo airports at 88.38 Mbps. This difference in speed suggests that Boingo’s know-how is scalable and portable.
Baggage Claim
For the millions of passengers traveling through U.S. airports, this analysis offers a clear strategy: don’t assume the free Wi-Fi is your best option. This isn’t to denigrate Wi-Fi’s performance, which in most airports is more than satisfactory, and again, free (well, ad supported, frequently). It’s a great value.
For mobile-first travelers, already paying for unlimited data, the sunk cost economics of downloading over cellular is also free. But also this isn’t a false-choice fallacy – both options are waiting for you to use. Run a Speedtest to see which to select. Luffy and Nancy Wheeler will be glad you did.
Recent Ookla analysis and reporting on airports:
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