Test and Measurement: Ahead of holiday travel, Ookla tests airport connectivity

Should you choose mobile or Wi-Fi to get the fastest airport connectivity? Ookla gives a breakdown on speeds.

If you’re traveling via San Jose’s Norman Mineta International Airport this holiday season, you’re passing through the airport with the fastest free Wi-Fi speeds in the country, per recent analysis of airport connectivity from Ookla.

The San Jose airport topped Ookla’s updated list for free Wi-Fi speeds at more than 195 Mbps, followed by the international airports in Honolulu, Hawaii; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio and San Francisco, California. Of the 50 busiest U.S. airport, 10 of them provided free Wi-Fi airport connectivity with speeds that clocked in at more than 150 Mbps.

In terms of cellular performance in airport connectivity, the news is even better: Mobile network performance at 24 out of 50 airports was faster than 150 Mbps—and at 29 out of the 50, users would have a faster experience on cellular networks than on Wi-Fi. But in places like Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport and San Francisco International Airport, using Wi-Fi for airport connectivity was the faster choice.

The airports with the fastest mobile download speeds during the fourth quarter of 2024 were Sacramento International Airport at 535.02 Mbps and John Wayne Airport at 451.72 Mbps, Ookla reported.

Read the full breakdown from Ookla here.

In other test news:

–Keysight Technologies has expanded the supported range of its FieldFox handheld signal analyzers, pushing it up to 170 GHz for either signal analysis or generation through a collaboration with Virginia Diodes (VDS) for frequency extender modules. Covering the millimeter-wave range up to 170 GHz is important for 5G, 6G, aerospace and defense and automotive radar transmission/receiving tests, Keysight said, and the available solutions have typically not been portable. The test equipment company said that the combination of FieldFox plus the VDI frequency extenders reduces costs by half or more, compared to traditional mmWave signal generation and analysis solutions.

“The aerospace, defense, and commercial sectors lack a portable solution which can provide accurate mmWave measurements. As customers explore innovations they need access to higher frequencies in the radio spectrum, including mmWave,” said Vince Nguyen, VP and GM of Keysight’s Aerospace, Defense, and Government Solution Group. “Working with VDI, we’ve developed a solution that is easy to test signal analysis and generation in the field as well as in the laboratory.”

–Rohde & Schwarz has unveiled a new entry-level oscilloscope, the R&S RTB 2. The test company said that the new oscilloscope is the heir to its RTB2000, which was first introduced in 2017 and featured touchscreen operation and 10-bit vertical resolution. The RTB 2 is a 10-in-1 instrument and includes an integrated arbitrary waveform generator among its features, as well as expanded memory.

–Viavi Solutions said that its Xgig CXL Exerciser has received CXL 2.0 Gold Suite certification from the Computer Express Link (CXL) Consortium. CXL, the company explained, is an interconnect technology that enables high-performance computing applications, including machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“We are pleased that our Xgig CXL Exerciser was accepted in the first round of CXL 2.0 approvals, enabling its use for lab testing and device certification at CXL Gold Suite compliance workshops,” said Tom Fawcett, SVP and GM of Lab and Production at Viavi. “This significant achievement underscores Viavi’s commitment to providing our customers with advanced testing solutions for their latest designs.”

–Tektronix this week announced new isolated current probes for measuring power current across both low- and high-voltage systems. Tek said that its new TICP series IsoVu probes are “the world’s first to utilize RF isolation” for precision and safety. The probes will start shipping this month and Tek’s other new power supply solution, the EA-PSB 20000 Triple output power supply, is in the pre-order stage and expected to start shipping in January.