Great news! Free Wi-Fi finally arrives at HNL! A feature that should be more necessity than nice-to-have at any modern airport, in my opinion.
Hawaii’s airports are, let’s be honest, behind the times. Riddled with tons of deferred maintenance, it’s often a challenge to keep these facilities running. So, it’s no surprise, then, that Hawaii’s airports also lack many basic, modern amenities. But, that’s beginning to change ever so slowly.
Free Wi-Fi at HNL
On December 14, the State of Hawaii quietly launched free Wi-Fi at HNL in partnership with Boingo Wireless. However, the service isn’t and won’t be available airport-wide. Currently, free Wi-Fi is available in Overseas Terminal and Central Concourse on floors one and two between the ticket lobbies four to eight, gates 12 to 25, and baggage claims E to H. And currently, Boingo is working to expand its coverage to include the Diamond Head and Ewa Concourses, as well as the Interisland Terminal. Work on these additional areas should wrap up in early 2018.
Beyond Honolulu, the State of Hawaii plans to install Wi-Fi at all major airports in the state. This includes Kahului International Airport, Hilo International Airport, Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, and the Lihue International Airport. Those projects are also slated for completion in 2018, but in what part of the year remains a mystery.
And as I said before, Boingo Wi-Fi is free at HNL. However, for-purchase plans will also be available. These plans include faster speeds, though pricing has not been made available online.
Free Wi-Fi Finally Arrives at HNL, Final Thoughts
It’s great to see Wi-Fi finally arriving at HNL. Heck, it’s great to see ANY modern amenity arrive at HNL. I’m hoping, though, that they’ll one day have full coverage of the airport, and that they’ll have enough bandwidth to handle thousands of users to stream all at once. But, I’m not holding my breath. What I can tell you, though, is I was at HNL. I didn’t know there’s Wi-Fi, though, so I didn’t bother looking at all.