The Airports With the Speediest Free Wi-Fi

(Bloomberg) -- If you’re looking for an airport with quick, complimentary wi-fi, head west. Seattle-Tacoma International’s connection took the top place in a new ranking of North American airports by software firm Ookla LLC, which runs the site Speedtest.net.

SeaTac more than doubled its download speed from last year, reaching 103 Mbps. Denver, which topped the list over the past two years, came in second at 78.7 Mbps. The slowest Wi-Fi speeds were in Toronto and Montreal, with download speeds of 7.1 and 6.4 Mbps, respectively, Ookla said. Both Canadian entrants improved on their speeds from 2017.

The data are from tests conducted on Speedtest.net from January-April 2018 by computers logged onto the airports’ Wi-Fi network. The ranking does not include airports that charge for Wi-Fi access.

Three major U.S. hubs—Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit and Miami—saw speed declines ranging from 26 percent to 59 percent over the past year, according to Ookla, with Detroit’s performance declining the most in the surveyed group. Dallas and Miami are hubs for American Airlines Group Inc., while Detroit is a hub for Delta Air Lines Inc.

The world’s busiest airport—and Delta’s largest hub—Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta saw the largest one-year improvement in speed, jumping to 59.6 Mbps from 2.7 Mbps, according to the survey data.

LaGuardia fared the best of the three major New York-area airports, clocking a speed of 28.5 Mbps, good enough for 10th place on the list. 

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Petri at jpetri4@bloomberg.net

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.