What’s the current wisdom on which is faster and more reliable, wifi or cell service, for the purpose of booking Lightning Lanes? Does the advice differ depending on which particular park or hotel you’re in?
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They both stink!
Hopefully someone will have a better answer.
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This is a good question and I’ve been wondering the same thing.
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it depends very much on whereabouts you are. At least in my experience the park wifi (as well as hotels) varies quite a bit and isn’t always great, sometimes even hardyl working. I think the best would be if you can do a speed test beforehand with both.
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Thank you, but this is not going to happen.
What carrier and phone? I have issues on the resort Wi-Fi with my iPhone 12. It seems to change to a “resort view” at times.
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I have an iPhone XR on Verizon.
I didn’t have cell service in my room at Art of Animation and tried to use the wifi, it looked like it was working and then would time out before I could get any of my selections confirmed. I ended up in the outside stairwell each morning to book on my cell service.
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I’ll be at the Dolphin.
A long time ago (during RotR boarding group times), Len checked the cell vs. wifi connections in HS and discovered that WiFi was faster than cell in general. However, it is dependent on location.
Cell is more reliable. So my advice is to check your number of bars beforehand. If you have low bars, use WiFi. Otherwise, use cell.
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This. I never had any problems with cell signal. But I have had all kinds of issues with WiFi dropping without warning.
Go with cell service.
Exception…if you are in your hotel room, the cell signal might be worse. Hotel WiFi is better than in park, so you should be okay.
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Thanks for the advice, everyone!
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My last trip we stayed at the dolphin, their wifi was a little more reliable. You could always try at 7 but be prepared to switch to cell service for the later drop if you miss out.
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It only takes a minute to speed test. I would consider it.
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I know how to do this on a desktop/laptop; how do you speed test on an iPhone?
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I have the Speedtest app.
Thanks! I just remembered 
I already have a speed-testing app on my phone, CloudCheck. This will do the job, right?
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Yes, just use the faster one and thats the best you can do. I would try about 5 mins to 7am and then anytime you change major location and seconds will matter.
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The practical speed difference between those is not as important as reliability. I would choose which is more reliable over which is faster. But in your case, the difference in speed is really not important since the site you are communicating with (that is, Disney) likely is the more determining factor.
I am not sure how to read that, though. The broadband speed is what should be compared to running the test without WiFi. The WiFi speed is just the speed to communicate with the Broadband modem itself.
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