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I've set out on a 21st century quest.

The goal: to find the fastest (shared) public wifi. For example, places like Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Barnes & Noble, etc. Of course, the fastest speeds will likely turn up at obscure hours (late night, early morning), and when nobody else is using the network.

So far, the fastest I've been able to find was a local Dunkin' Donuts.

Empty (1 - 2 customers, nobody using wifi): 5.1Mbps x ~700Kbps
Quiet (3 - 5 customers, 1 or 2 using wifi): 3.4Mbps x ~500Kbps
Normal (6 - 10 customers, a few using using wifi): 2.8Mbps x ~500Kbps
Busy (11 - 20 customers, some using wifi): ~670Kbps x ~200Kbps

(Measured in bits, mind you)

Of course, these numbers solely rely on:
-How much of the network is being utilized
-How many people are using the network
-What people are using the network for (ie, if the businessman a few tables over is downloading 50GB of porn at full speed)

Either way, I was fairly impressed with the stability of this particular network.

The challenge

Find a public network with a halfway decent connection (5Mbps+). If the network isn't being proxied, use speedtest.net to measure the speed, and post the provided screenshot if you wish. If the network is proxied (which is usually the case), use a download manager and download something from a good datacenter (Google, etc)

Feel free to join me!

Tip:

Megabits / 8 = Megabytes
Megabytes x 8 = Megabits

EDIT: Please post if you guys think I should make a website out of this experiment. I know there's a ton of automated ones out there, but this could be interesting. I'd provide a more in depth and detailed look into public wifi.

Sounds cool. I don't use public wi-fi really, but I like the idea. 700 kbs is like twice as fast as my internet

Thanks Kryogenik.

Although, residential Comcast customers in America might get 30Mbps x 7Mbps, they're limited to a 250GB bandwidth cap per month (both ways, up and down combined). This project would be beneficial to a lot of people. People with slow internet, people with bandwidth caps, people without wireless connectivity, and people without internet as a whole. I'm considering starting a website. Legally, I should be ok, because public wifi is exactly that - public.

Update: Found a local cafe that topped out at 10Mbps empty. Will post more details if anyone is interested.