Beyond long lines and TSA pat-downs, a major headache for passengers at many U.S. airports is spotty cell phone service. Now, a new report from mobile industry research firm RootMetrics aims to quantify that headache.
Wireless operators face a number of challenges in beaming their signals to airports. For one thing, airports often span vast areas, and cell phone towers can't be built on their property. Couple that with thick building materials, large crowds and underground construction and you've got a recipe for poor service.
The report measures data speeds for the four major U.S. carriers -- AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) -- at the country's 50 busiest airports.
Verizon was the clear winner, taking top honors at 30 of the 50 airports. Verizon also had the fastest median download speed at a single airport: a swift 77.8 megabits per second at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
T-Mobile leapfrogged AT&T for second, while Sprint brought up the rear.
In ranking the airports, RootMetrics also took into account other factors like call performance, text performance, upload speeds and network reliability in addition to download speed. Here's the full list of the best-performing airports along with the median download speeds for each of the four carriers:
Related: The 5 best -- and worst -- airports for cell phone service
1.) Fort Myers, FL (RSW) -- Southwest Florida International Airport
Verizon: 38.5 Mbps, Sprint: 13.0, AT&T: 9.7, T-Mobile: 8.6
2.) Chicago, IL (ORD) -- Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Verizon: 55.6, Sprint: 30.4, AT&T: 8.2, T-Mobile: 7.0
3.) Orange County, CA (SNA) -- John Wayne Airport
Verizon: 22.4, T-Mobile: 18.5, Sprint: 15.2, AT&T: 7.1
4.) Memphis, TN (MEM) -- Memphis International Airport
T-Mobile: 16.7, AT&T: 14.4, Verizon: 14.1, Sprint: 2.4
5.) Milwaukee, WI (MKE) -- General Mitchell International Airport
Verizon: 23.1, AT&T: 13.4, T-Mobile: 5.6, Sprint, 2.7
6.) Indianapolis, IN (IND) -- Indianapolis International Airport
AT&T: 30.6, Verizon, 24.5, T-Mobile: 3.2, Sprint: 2.1
7.) Washington, DC (DCA) -- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
T-Mobile: 16.2, AT&T: 14.4, Verizon: 6.5, Sprint: 0.8
8.) Las Vegas, NV (LAS) -- McCarran International Airport
Verizon: 21.5, AT&T: 17.0, T-Mobile: 6.9, Sprint: 1.6
9.) Columbus, OH (CMH) -- Port Columbus International Airport
Verizon: 25.7, T-Mobile: 22.7, Sprint: 5.6, AT&T: 3.8
10.) Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) Pittsburgh International Airport
Verizon: 14.7, AT&T: 12.4, T-Mobile: 10.1, Sprint: 4.0
Related: Can Sprint do anything but suck?
11.) Atlanta, GA (ATL) -- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Verizon: 77.8, AT&T: 33.9, T-Mobile: 27.3, Sprint: 0.4
12.) Chicago, IL (MDW) -- Chicago Midway International Airport
Verizon: 71.3, T-Mobile: 13.3, AT&T: 5.5, Sprint: 2.5
13.) Baltimore, MD (BWI) -- Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
Verizon: 43.0, AT&T: 12.7, Sprint: 3.4, T-Mobile: 3.2
14.) Raleigh, NC (RDU) -- Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Verizon: 20.2, AT&T: 11.0, T-Mobile: 5.4, Sprint: 2.7
15.) Miami, FL (FLL) -- Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport
Verizon: 15.5, Sprint: 10.6, AT&T: 4.8, T-Mobile: 4.3
16.) Sacramento, CA (SMF) -- Sacramento International Airport
T-Mobile: 23.5, AT&T: 17.5, Verizon: 13.7, Sprint: 0.3
17.) Seattle, WA (SEA) -- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
T-Mobile: 15.0, Verizon: 11.1, AT&T: 8.0, Sprint: 1.6
18.) Washington, DC (IAD) -- Washington Dulles International Airport
AT&T: 14.7, Verizon: 13.5, T-Mobile: 4.2, Sprint: 2.7
19.) Kansas City, MO (MCI) -- Kansas City International Airport
T-Mobile: 13.5, Verizon: 10.2, AT&T: 9.5, Sprint: 1.1
20.) New York City (LGA) -- LaGuardia Airport
Verizon: 21.1, AT&T: 13.8, T-Mobile: 4.7, Sprint: 3.8
Related: FCC calls Verizon plan to throttle speeds 'disturbing'
21.) Cleveland, OH (CLE) -- Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
T-Mobile: 24.7, Verizon: 15.1, AT&T: 7.6, Sprint: 0.5
22.) Orlando, FL (MCO) -- Orlando International Airport
T-Mobile: 22.2, Verizon: 14.2, AT&T: 9.5, Sprint: 1.2
23.) Portland, OR (PDX) -- Portland International Airport
T-Mobile: 15.0, AT&T: 6.5, Sprint: 5.0, Verizon: 4.5
24.) Charlotte, NC (CLT) -- Charlotte Douglas International Airport
AT&T: 9.1, Verizon: 7.9, T-Mobile: 4.4, Sprint: 1.1
25.) Tampa, FL (TPA) -- Tampa International Airport
T-Mobile: 16.1, Sprint: 14.1, Verizon: 9.9, AT&T: 5.3
26.) Dallas, TX (DFW) -- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
T-Mobile: 14.8, Verizon: 10.3, AT&T: 10.0, Sprint: 0.6
27.) Boston, MA (BOS) -- General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport
AT&T: 11.7, T-Mobile: 9.6, Verizon: 6.2, Sprint: 1.0
28.) San Jose, CA (SJC) -- Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport
Verizon: 17.5, T-Mobile: 7.4, Sprint: 3.6, AT&T: 2.7
29.) Miami, FL (MIA) -- Miami International Airport
Verizon: 22.2, T-Mobile: 5.0. AT&T: 4.0, Sprint: 4.0
30.) Detroit, MI (DTW) -- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
AT&T: 22.4, Verizon: 13.1, T-Mobile: 4.4, Sprint: 0.5
Related: Netflix and AT&T strike deal to boost streaming speeds
31.) Los Angeles, CA (LAX) -- Los Angeles International Airport
Verizon: 18.2, Sprint: 15.1, AT&T: 3.0, T-Mobile: 0.7
32.) Austin, TX (AUS) -- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
AT&T: 29.0, Verizon: 28.5, T-Mobile: 5.1, Sprint: 0.5
33.) Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) -- Salt Lake City International Airport
Verizon: 15.8, AT&T: 4.0, Sprint: 3.2, T-Mobile: 2.8
34.) Honolulu, HI (HNL) -- Honolulu International Airport
Verizon: 15.0, T-Mobile: 10.9, AT&T: 5.1, Sprint: 0.5
35.) Houston, TX (HOU) -- William P. Hobby Airport
Verizon: 11.1, T-Mobile: 3.6, AT&T: 2.7, Sprint: 2.1
36.) Denver, CO (DEN) -- Denver International Airport
T-Mobile: 12.7, Verizon: 11.8, AT&T: 8.1, Sprint: 0.3
37.) Oakland, CA (OAK) -- Metropolitan Oakland International Airport
T-Mobile: 22.5, Verizon: 16.0, AT&T: 6.0, Sprint: 0.4
38.) Houston, TX (IAH) -- George Bush Intercontinental Airport
T-Mobile: 23.8, Verizon: 10.9, AT&T: 10.2, Sprint: 0.4
39.) Phoenix, AZ (PHX) -- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
T-Mobile: 13.3, AT&T: 7.6, Verizon: 1.8, Sprint: 0.6
40.) Dallas, TX (DAL) -- Dallas Love Field
AT&T: 37.4, Verizon: 34.6, T-Mobile: 5.1, Sprint: 0.2
Related: Netflix partner says Verizon slows traffic
41.) New York, NY (JFK) -- John F. Kennedy International Airport
AT&T: 21.0, T-Mobile: 9.8, Verizon: 4.6, Sprint: 1.2
42.) San Francisco, CA (SFO) -- San Francisco International Airport
Verizon: 12.0, AT&T: 2.8, T-Mobile: 2.5, Sprint: 0.7
43.) San Antonio, TX (SAT) -- San Antonio International Airport
T-Mobile: 11.7, Verizon: 11.6, AT&T: 4.5, Sprint: 0.3
44.) St. Louis, MO (STL) -- Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
T-Mobile: 17.3, Sprint: 8.2, Verizon: 3.6, AT&T: 2.2
45.) Nashville, TN (BNA) -- Nashville International Airport
T-Mobile: 9.5, AT&T: 4.6, Sprint: 2.3, Verizon: 1.9
46.) New Orleans, LA (MSY) -- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
Verizon: 7.7, AT&T: 6.3, T-Mobile: 1.4, Sprint: 0.3
47.) Philadelphia, PA (PHL) -- Philadelphia International Airport
AT&T: 7.5, T-Mobile: 5.9, Verizon: 0.8, Sprint: 0.5
48.) Newark, NJ (EWR) -- Newark Liberty International Airport
T-Mobile: 13.4, Sprint: 9.6, AT&T, 9.3, Verizon: 4.5
49.) Minneapolis, MN (MSP) -- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
T-Mobile: 16.7, AT&T: 10.0, Verizon: 1.4, Sprint: 0.3
50.) San Diego, CA (SAN) -- San Diego International Airport
Verizon: 3.2, AT&T: 2.7, T-Mobile: 2.6, Sprint: 0.3
