Top 10 Airports for Cellular Reception

Your plane touches down, you turn your phone on and anxiously wait for your emails to load. But…it…is…taking…forever. Sound familiar? If it does, don’t blame your phone. You are likely flying through one the airports that did not make the top 10 list for cellular service.

Rootmetrics, a cellular research company, visited the 50 busiest airports around the United States. At each airport, Rootmetrics tested internet browsing performance, upload and download speeds, and email. In addition to network provider, the company reports factors such as building infrastructure and materials can  influence cell phone data performance. Rootmetrics reported Memphis International Airport has the fastest cellular service up from number four on the 2013 list.

Top 10 Airports for Cellular Reception

1. MEM- Memphis International  (Memphis, TN)
2. PIT- Pittsburgh International (Pittsburgh, PA)
3. ORD- Chicago International (Chicago, IL)
4. RSW- Southwest Florida International (Fort Myers, FL)
5. DAL- Dallas Love Field (Dallas, TX)
6. CLE- Cleveland-Hopkins International (Cleveland, OH)
7. ATL- Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
8. MKE- General Mitchell International (Milwaukee, WI)
9. IND – Indianapolis International (Indianapolis, IN)
10. SNA- John Wayne- Orange County Airport (Los Angeles, CA)

It is surprising to see that 8 of the top 10 airports are small airports. As important as cellular data is to many travelers, it would be great to see some of the larger airports making an effort to increase data speed at their airports. Given the notorious reputation Chicago O’Hare has for delays and cancellations, it is nice to see travelers can at least enjoy speedy data on their phones and tablets.

Rootmetrics also tested four cellular network providers to determine which provider was the most reliable across the fifty airports.Here is what they found after visiting 50 airports:

1. Verizon- Fastest in 31 airports
2. T-Mobile- Fastest in 17 airports
3. AT&T- Fastest in 10 airports
4. Sprint- Fasted in 1 airports

 Are you wondering where your home airport landed on the list?

Here is the complete list with all 50 airports:

1. MEM- Memphis International  (Memphis, TN)
2. PIT- Pittsburgh International (Pittsburgh, PA)
3. ORD- Chicago International (Chicago, IL)
4. RSW- Southwest Florida International (Fort Myers, FL)
5. DAL- Dallas Love Field (Dallas, TX)
6. CLE- Cleveland-Hopkins International (Cleveland, OH)
7. ATL- Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
8. MKE- General Mitchell International (Milwaukee, WI)
9. IND – Indianapolis International (Indianapolis, IN)
10. SNA- John Wayne- Orange County Airport (Los Angeles, CA)
11. MCO- Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
12. AUS- Austin-Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
13. SEA- Seattle-Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
14. LGA- LaGuardia (New York City,NY)
15. PDX- Portland International (Portland, OR)
16. SMF- Sacramento International (Sacramento, CA)
17. MSP- Minneapolis-St. Paul International /Wold-Chamberlain (Minneapolis, MN)
18. FLL- Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (Miami, FL)
19. CMH- Port Columbus International (Columbus, OH)
20. BWI- Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall (Baltimore, MD)
21. EWR- Newark Liberty International (New York City, NY)
22. MDW- Midway International (Chicago, IL)
23. CLT- Charlotte/Douglas International (Charlottte, NC )
24. SLC- Salt Lake City International (Salt Lake City, UT )
25.  IAH- George Bush Intercontinental (Houston, TX)
26.  LAS- McCarran International (Las Vegas, NV)
27. IAD- Washington Dulles International (Washington, DC)
28. HOU-William P. Hobby (Houston, TX)
29. DCA- Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington, DC)
30. BOS- Logan International (Boston, MA)
31. SJC- San Jose International (San Jose, CA)
32. DTW- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (Detroit, MI)
33. TPA-   Tampa International (Tampa, FL)
34. JFK- John F. Kennedy International (New York City, NY)
35. PHX- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
36. MCI-  Kansas City International (Kansas City, MO)
37. DFW- Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas, TX)
38. OAK- Metropolitan Oakland International (San Francisco, CA)
39. DEN- Denver International (Denver, CO)
40. RDU- Raleigh-Durham International (Raleigh, NC)
41. MSY- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (New Orleans, LA)
42. LAX- Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
43. STL- Lambert-St. Louis International (St. Louis, MO)
44. SAT- San Antonio International (San Antonio, TX)
45. SFO-  San Francisco International (San Francisco, CA)
46. BNA- Nashville International (Nashville, TN)
47. MIA- Miami International (Miami, FL)
48. PHL- Philadelphia International (Philadelphia, PA)
49. HNL- Honolulu International (Honolulu, HI)
50. SAN-San Diego International (San Diego, CA)

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