Technologies

Airports With the Best Free Wi-Fi in the US, According to Ookla

Airport Wi-Fi is often a drag, but a few locations stand above the rest.

Free airport Wi-Fi can be frustrating when you’re trying to download episodes of Netflix’s Old Enough before a six-hour flight. Luckily, the folks over at Ookla, who run the internet speed testing website Speedtest.net, have a new report detailing the best free airport Wi-Fi in the US.

The fastest free airport Wi-Fi in the US isn’t at San Francisco’s SFO, a major hub for tech giants such as Salesforce and Uber. Nor is it at New York’s JFK, the sixth busiest airport in the US. The fastest free Wi-Fi, according to Ookla’s speed tests across airports in the US, comes from San Jose International, which has a median download speed of 203 Mbps. San Jose International’s top placement makes sense as there aremany leading tech companies situated nearby, such as Google, Apple, Meta and Adobe.

Ookla gathered this data from people who use either the Speedtest app or its website to test download speeds.

The second-fastest free airport Wi-Fi is at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, with a median download speed of 177.16 Mbps. In third place is SFO, at 162.38 Mbps, with Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu in fourth with a speed of 158.05 Mbps. Oakland International Airport rounds out the top five with a speed of 154.62 Mbps.

With the popularity of YouTube, TikTok, Netflix and Disney Plus, demand for streaming video content is the highest it’s ever been. This demand has forced Netflix to reduce streaming quality in parts of the world as internet service providers don’t have the systems in place to serve the needs of all customers. Airports, too, have been upgrading systems to help meet consumer bandwidth consumption. To illustrate how quickly things have changed, back in 2014, Bush Intercontinental in Houston ranked as having some of the fastest airport Wi-Fi in the world. Now it ranks near the bottom in the US.

The slowest-performing free Wi-Fi is at Pittsburgh International, Ookla said, with a median download speed of 5.23 Mbps. Houston’s major airports, George Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby, have speeds of 8.79 and 8.90 Mbps, respectively. Southwest Florida is the fourth slowest free airport Wi-Fi, but sees a significant jump over Houston, at 18.51 Mbps. And Logan International in Boston isn’t significantly faster, at 18.87 Mbps.

Ookla did find that some airport lounges have faster speeds than the general airport area. But gaining access usually requires some special form of membership. Using paid options at airports from companies such as Boingo, Passpoint and Skyfi also showed faster speeds, but varied between airports.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Oct. 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 26.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought 4-Down was a bit tricky, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Rubber ducky’s «habitat»
Answer: BATH

5A clue: Coin in Cannes
Answer: EURO

6A clue: Go «Grrrr …»
Answer: GROWL

8A clue: «The other thing I wanted to say …»
Answer: ALSO

9A clue: Street sign in a school zone
Answer: SLOW

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Plead
Answer: BEG

2D clue: Vibes, in Gen Z speak
Answer: AURAS

3D clue: Social media menace
Answer: TROLL

4D clue: «Oh, yeah? Explain that to me»
Answer: HOWSO

7D clue: Like a phone battery under 20%
Answer: LOW

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 26, #398

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 26, No. 398.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one. That purple category — oof, it’s a typical Connections brain-buster. If you’re struggling but still want to solve the puzzle, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Bunch of players.

Green group hint: College division.

Blue group hint: Knock it out of the park.

Purple group hint: You’ll find a hidden word in these four team names.