The 2026 World Cup is almost here, and Ookla just released a report examining connectivity at venues across North America that are set to host games.
To start things off, Ookla notes that fans in and around U.S. stadiums can generally expect faster download speeds than those in both Canada and Mexico, with the latter expecting to receive the slowest speeds of the two.
Image Credit: Ookla
Ookla says that the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the MLS’s Atlanta United, will have the fastest speeds of any stadium by a large margin, with a median download speed of 413.74Mbps. Lincoln Financial Field in Pennsylvania, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, is the second-fastest stadium with 329.31Mbps download speeds. MetLife Stadium, which is hosting the World Cup finals, is in the middle of the pack, with 282.53Mbps.
Among Canadian stadiums, BC Place has the fastest speeds of the two, at 140.61 Mbps. BMO Field is not far behind, however, with 140.61 Mbps.
Ookla also notes that roaming services will be a necessity for travelling. According to its report, travellers from Brazil who use Claro may experience much faster 5G speeds in the US than fellow Brazilian travellers who use TIM or Vivo. It is a similar story for those travelling to Mexico, as Claro customers in both Guatemala and Brazil should expect to see the most 5G connectivity while in the country.
Image Credit: Ookla
According to the report, most World Cup fans travelling to Mexico should expect to spend most of their time on Telcel’s 4G LTE network. However, two Canadian telecom providers (Telus and Rogers) showed meaningful 5G usage, while Bell was entirely on LTE.
