PHL ranks low in phone network speed

If you use your phone while waiting to board a plane or pick up baggage, you may have noticed that it works a lot better at some airports than others.

And travelers at Philadelphia International Airport encounter some of the slowest network speeds among the country's major airports.

A new report from Washington state-based RootMetrics ranks mobile network performance at the nation's 50 busiest airports. While many airports, including Philadelphia International, offer free WiFi to travelers, passengers often turn to cellular networks if WiFi service is spotty.

The report, which evaluated upload and download speeds as well as reliability and performance for other data-based tasks like e-mail, ranked Philadelphia 46th of 50 airports.

The five best airports, according to the study, were:

(1) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.

(2) Cleveland-Hopkins International.

(3) Southwest Florida International, Fort Myers.

(4) San Jose International.

(5) Dallas Love Field.

The RootMetrics ranking of network speeds at major airports found Verizon typically fared the best, while Sprint's service was the worst. In Philadelphia, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all performed equally well for speed and reliability combined, with Sprint lagging.

As an example, the report said a 45-minute high-definition video would take just two minutes to download at Hartsfield-Jackson, while the same video could take up to 38 minutes to download at Los Angeles International, where network speeds measured were similar to Philadelphia's.

The report noted that Atlanta's performance was "all the more impressive given how many passengers place demands on the mobile networks each year" at the busy hub.

Passenger flow, dense building materials, and restrictions on tower and antenna placement can all pose difficulties for mobile network performance at airports, RootMetrics said.

A Philadelphia airport spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. But in a Twitter post responding to the report, the airport touted its upgraded WiFi system: "We believe it is now one of the fastest, most robust of any airport in the country!"

Also, in another airport ranking this week, Cheapflights.com gave Philadelphia International high marks for affordable airfares among 101 U.S. airports.

Cheapflights looked at average airfares that travelers found on its site in June to domestic and international cities. Philadelphia came in sixth among airports with an average $267 airfare in June, compared to an average airfare of $386 in June 2014.