When traveling by air it might seem like you have to pay for every little thing: checked bags, seats with leg room, among other things. But passengers on JetBlue will now be getting one thing free: WiFi. [More]
connectivity
Study: Half Of Internet TVs Aren't Getting Online
By 2.21.12
More TVs on the market have the capability to connect online to access apps that stream video and music, as well as hook up to browsers and social networks. Consumers, though, aren’t necessarily taking advantage of the feature. According to research firm NPD In-Stat, half of the TV owners aren’t putting the devices online. [More]
Boost Your WiFi Signal With A Beer Can
By 8.5.11
Stressed out because your WiFi is too slow to get your work done? Crack open a cold one. Then dry it, slice it, and mount it on your router’s antennae. That’s right, you can boost your wifi just by doing some simple surgery on a beer can. [More]
Test If Your ISP Is Shaping Your Download Speed
By 11.17.10
Ever have one of those days where you’re browsing along, everything is cool, but then it seems like whenever you try to watch YouTube or download, your speed suddenly plummets? Your ISP could be “shaping” your traffic, intentionally throttling your rates for certain kind of media. To test it out, you can try running this Glasnost test. [More]
Apple Set To Launch Xbox Live-Like Video Game Service
By 9.2.10
Not only did Apple announce a marauding horde of new iPods and an adorable micro AppleTV yesterday, it also revealed that an Xbox Live-ish service called Game Center is coming out next week along with the system update for iPhones and iPod Touches. [More]
Starbucks Offers Free Slow WiFi
By 7.8.10
Now that every Tom Dick and Harry knows about it and has jumped on, the free wifi at Starbucks has now, not particularly surprisingly, become the free slow wifi at Starbucks. [More]
Which Hotels Have Decent Wi-Fi?
By 5.3.10
If you want to pay out the nose for Wi-Fi, stay in a W hotel, says HotelChatter. The site has released its 6th annual report on Wi-Fi in U.S. hotels, and the W Hotel chain is named as the worst with no free lobby access and $15/day room rates. Other hotels that suck when it comes to wireless: DoubleTree, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Mandarin Oriental. [More]
Get Ready For More AT&T Data Slowdowns
By 7.22.09
Oh jeez, AT&T, don’t you have enough on your plate? You can’t handle your iPhone customers as it is. TechCrunch says some customers’ voicemails go missing for days or even weeks, you can’t enable MMS because there’s no room for it on your system, and the “faster” 3GS isn’t any faster at all on your network. Now comes word that you’ll be the one providing so-called “connectitivty” for Barnes & Noble’s new ebook reader coming out next year. The result: more congestion for every AT&T customer.
Congress Asks FCC To Accurately Count U.S. Broadband Homes
By 10.16.07
Congress has added its voice to the growing number of critics who have noted that the FCC is misreporting broadband penetration in the U.S. According to eWeek, last Wednesday a House subcommittee “approved legislation to change the Federal Communications Commission’s methodology for determining deployment.” The FCC currently counts a single home in a zip code as representative of the full zip code—so one home having broadband access is considered the same as every home in that area having broadband access. By doing this, they inflate the number of homes with broadband access and present a picture of increased “natural” competition in the market, which is then used by telecoms and lobbyists to argue against policy decisions that don’t favor existing corporations.
OECD Says US Broadband Network Is Flailing; Telecoms Respond, "You Mean Superior!"
By 7.25.07
According to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in a ranking of broadband penetration among 30 member nations, the US has slipped from 4th place (2001), to 12th place (2006), to 15th place this year. Corporations, lobbyists and politicians have skewered the report, but this follow-up piece from Free Press provides a point-by-point rebuttal and confirms that yes, by pretty much every account, the United States enjoys craptastic Internet access.
Verizon Takes 6 Months To Install FiOS
By 4.4.07
RFJason documented the 6-month ordeal it took to get Verizon FiOS installed.
Airplanes To Become WiFi Hotspots
By 4.3.07
Airlines will start turning their airplanes into WiFi hotspots beginning early next year, WSJ reports.
L.A. Vlog Slags TWC Outages
By 10.24.06
Fed up with the outages caused by the transition between Comcast and Time Warner Cable after the latter bought the former, Orange County resident brainforest recorded a gripe.
Blue Horseshoe Really Does Not Love Adelphia
By 8.28.06
Yet another reason to not sign up with Adelphia…
TWC Tells Customer To Shove ‘A Pack Of Matches’ Under Broken Router
By 8.24.06
Short version: Mark got high-speed wireless with Time Warner Cable. They gave him a dirty, fidgety router that if you touch the power supply, it resets. When he got a tech to come back, the tech told him to shove a pack of matches and a bottle cap under the router to keep it from moving.
Even TWC’s Customer Service System Is Broken
By 8.22.06
Beth writes in that her Time Warner cable connection isn’t working and they have her account info so bungled that the system won’t even let her connect to a (most likely, incompetent) operator.
Lifehacker Suffers Trifecta of Crappy Cable Companies
By 8.2.06
Adam Pash, Lifehacker associate editor, moved into a new apartment and signed up for Adelphia internet connection, which promptly had mad troubs. Which is understandable. Adelphia is bankrupt.
