Most of the people access to the Internet with their mobile phones these days. Often, we might stumble upon a WiFi hotspot, but chances are that it's slower than our mobile data. According to a study conducted by OpenSignal, mobile data speed aces over that of WiFi hotspots in 33 countries.
The list includes several African, Middle Eastern and Latin American nations. Also, surprisingly the difference in data speed is, sometimes, humongous between a WiFi spot and mobile data. In certain places, the gap of advantage is as high as 10Mbps, say, in Australia, Czech Republic and Oman. In places like Austria, South Africa and Iran, one would get a multi-megabit advantage easily.
Looking at the study, it appears that at present, cellular and WiFi links are giving each other quite a tough fight. WiFi wins in countries where the home broadband is fast, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and US. When you move over to places like Lebanon, LTE gives you speeds that are 25bps faster than what you'll get with a WiFi connection.
However, OpenSignal findings lead to a suggestion that it is about time that users and device-makers rethink the notion that WiFi is the best connection to have. This may have been true when smartphones were in their nascent stage, but now this is far from the truth. While cellular data has improved significantly, WiFi has become saddled with a few problems of its own --- such as overcrowded networks.
So, what should be the final takeaway from the study? Well, WiFi may be good for you in places, where you know beforehand that cellular data speed will take a beating or there is data cap on your usage, otherwise cellular data is the way to go if you want to be connected with the world at all times.
