While places like Los Angeles and San Francisco are typically more associated with cutting-edge technology and high-speed internet than smaller urban areas, the U.S. airport with the fastest Wi-Fi is one of the last you’d expect. That honor actually goes to John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) in Columbus, Ohio. According to Ookla, CMH has a median Wi-Fi speed of 263.46 megabits per second (Mbps), which puts it far ahead of Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) at 197.10 Mbps and Oakland International (OAK) at 194.23 Mbps.
At the very bottom of the list is George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, Texas, with a speed of just 21.36 Mbps, followed closely by Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, with 21.67 Mbps. The study also compared Wi-Fi to cellular data speeds from the big three providers (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) and found that in the majority of airports, cellular is faster.
To put all this in perspective, the average internet speed in the United States in 2025 was 214 Mbps – faster than any US airport except CMH – and experts recommend at least 100 Mbps for the average home. In many places, airport Wi-Fi is clearly not meeting travelers’ needs, but there are several simple reasons for this, one of the main ones being volume.
Why airport Wi-Fi is so bad
As Cisco engineer Matt Swartz explains to the Houston Chronicle, most passengers in 2026 will arrive at the airport with multiple devices using data, putting enormous strain on Wi-Fi, both departing and arriving. It’s even worse when taking into account long international flights, as messages pile up on devices used during flights, with Swartz saying: “When they get off the plane, all that data is transferred over the network at the same time.”
Another contributing factor is aging Wi-Fi technology at airports and a lack of funds or interest in repairing it. Many airports still use Wi-Fi 5, and even some of those that are upgrading remain behind the current technology curve. IAH just upgraded to Wi-Fi 6, but with Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 becoming more and more interesting to consumers, as well as Wi-Fi 8 on the horizon, even the updated system is going to start showing its age quickly.
However, even though airport Wi-Fi is notoriously slow, there is currently not much incentive to invest in improving it. Airport budgets, funded largely by government subsidies, are under strain due to aging infrastructure and increasing travel demand. These modernization projects to build new terminals, airfields and associated structures are much more urgent, so something like slow Wi-Fi is pretty low on the list. If you’re at the airport, you might be better off sticking to your cellular data. Besides being slower in most places, airport Wi-Fi has hidden dangers that you should be wary of. Between lack of efficiency and security risks, you’ll have to think twice before logging in on your next trip.
