Ookla Reveals Mobile Broadband and WiFi Speeds at Key UK Airports

New data from broadband connection testing firm Ookla, which operates the popular online Speedtest.net service for internet users, has revealed the mobile data (4G, 5G) and WiFi performance results from some of the world’s busiest airports, including London Gatwick (LGW) and London Heathrow (LHR) in the UK.

The study found that the fastest airport for median average download speeds over Wi-Fi was San Francisco International Airport in the USA (173.55Mbps down, 233.29Mbps upload and 7.81ms latency), while the fastest for mobile broadband speeds was Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar (442.49Mbps down, 33.54Mbps upload and 34.43ms latency).

Network latency times (a lower figure is faster) on mobile were also found to be generally higher than on Wi-Fi, with some 46 airports showing a Wi-Fi latency lower than the lowest latency on mobile. Upload speeds were often also faster on WiFi than on mobile, while download performance tended to be much more variable. As for the only two UK airports included in the test..

Results for LGW and LHR in the UK

Heathrow Airport (WiFi)
Download: 58.44Mbps
Upload: 68.06Mbps
Latency: 6.43ms (milliseconds)

Heathrow Airport (Mobile)
Download: 38.12Mbps
Upload: 7.02Mbps
Latency: 50.1ms (milliseconds)

Gatwick Airport (WiFi)
Download: 49.46Mbps
Upload: 49.84Mbps
Latency: 11.71ms (milliseconds)

Gatwick Airport (Mobile)
Download: 86.82Mbps
Upload: 9.83Mbps
Latency: 43.49ms (milliseconds)

Sadly, Ookla’s full study wasn’t able to provide a simple results table, so it’s a bit tricky to show everything side-by-side.

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