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KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
Surfers enjoyed a South Shore swell just before sunset Monday at Waikiki Beach. Waves ranged between 4 and 5 feet, with good conditions at the surf break known as Publics.
At 1.6 mbps, the Wi-Fi offered on Waikiki Beach is among the fastest at the nation’s top beaches, according to recent data by the company Wefi.
The company, which specializes in mobile intelligence and network analytics, found one of Hawaii’s most famous beaches to have the seventh-fastest Wi-Fi speeds in the U.S., behind No. 1 Clearwater Beach in Florida (2.9 mbps) and other beaches in Florida, New Jersey, California and South Carolina.
“The data was not broken out between free and paid Wi-Fi,” said David Fishman, Wefi chief marketing officer. “If the user had a password and was able to get connected, it was used as a marker for the speed; all of this data was averaged together to generate the final insights,” he said.
ShakaNet has provided free Wi-Fi in Waikiki since 2006 in its Wireless Waikiki initiative. ShakaNet technical support staff confirm the WiFi connectivity it provides in the heavily traveled tourist spot is free.
The study of some 45 million Wi-Fi hotspots conducted between April 1 and June 15, also rated hotels and airports.
Red Roof Inns were found to have the fastest Wi-Fi connectivity, at 4.34 mbps, and Detroit Metropolitan Airport topped the airports rankings with 4.63 mbps.
Honolulu International Airport was not among the top 12 cited by the company.
Online: http://is.gd/wefiWiFi2014
