Hotel wifi really sucks sometimes: it can be expensive, insecure, and slow all at once. When there’s a convention in town, the network’s so overloaded you can’t connect at all. So travelers bring their own mobile hotspots. It’s a win for the consumer, but not for the hotel that suddenly loses the ability to charge you more fees. And that’s the core issue behind a regulatory fight that has hotels and tech firms arguing over what consumers are allowed to do. [More]
wifi
Comcast Customers Sue Cable Giant For Making Their Home Routers Into Wifi Hotspots
By 12.9.14
Of course Comcast customers can connect to Comcast wifi at home. That’s the point. But Comcast wants Comcast customers to be able to connect to Comcast wifi no matter where they are. To that end, they’re building a massive nationwide network of hotspots for their Xfinity customers… by using their other Xfinity customers as a source. The service has been controversial since Comcast first announced it, and now that controversy has turned into legal trouble. [More]
Man Says He Was Gouged After Receiving $1,171 In-Flight WiFi Bill
By 11.14.14
There are a number of reasons why you might choose to purchase in-flight WiFi: to finish a work project or just to pass the time on your five-hour flight. Depending on how long you’re flying high and the nature of your work, the bill for your internet use can add up quickly; just ask a passenger who connected on a Singapore Airlines flight. [More]
AT&T Cancels Plan To Build In-flight Internet Service To Compete With Gogo
By 11.10.14
Just six months after AT&T announced it would soon begin work to build a network to offer high-speed in-flight WiFi, the wireless carrier say it’s abandoning those plans. [More]
Carnival’s New Long-Range WiFi Service Keeps Passengers Connected – For A Hefty Price
By 11.3.14
For the past several years consumers traveling on cruise ships have shared a wealth of information and photos (remember the Poop Cruise?) while on their memorable voyages. Well, sharing their experiences – good and bad – with family, friends and the internet at large just got a bit easier, as long as you’re willing to pay a hefty WiFi charge. [More]
American Airlines Flight Forced To Return To Gate After Passenger Discovers “Al-Quida” WiFi Network
By 10.27.14
While there’s no rule that WiFi networks need to employ good spelling, naming a plane hotspot “Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork” isn’t going to help anyone. And it’s because of that poorly chosen/thick-headed decision that an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London last night had to turn back before it even got started. [More]
Marriott Fined $600K Because It’s Illegal To Block WiFi Hotspots
By 10.3.14
When a major hotel chain makes money by charging a fee for in-room Internet service, it might be tempted to do something that makes it difficult for visitors to use their own WiFi hotspots so that they have little choice but to pay up for the hotel’s Web access. Thing is, that’s against the law. [More]
Watch Everyone Go Totally Freaking Nuts As Steve Jobs Demonstrates The Magic Of WiFi In 1999
By 10.1.14
Prepare yourself to feel old, jaded and immune to the everyday magical workings of technology, people. While these days we don’t bat an eye at carrying lightweight devices that let us basically do anything we want besides teleport, back in 1999 the world of technology was still new, exciting, and totally worth a standing ovation. To wit: Uproarious applause and a general cacophony of excitement when Steve Jobs showed off the iBook’s wireless powers back in 1999. [More]
Coffee Rankings Are Personal, But In Wi-Fi Starbucks Beats McDonald’s And Panera Hands-Down
By 8.7.14
Heading out for some breakfast and a cup of coffee? Excellent. For quality food and drink, your choices are wide, wide open. But if what you really want is some sweet free Wi-Fi, you may want to skip that chocolate chip bagel from Panera and head across the street to Starbucks for a frappuccino instead. [More]
Kittens Accidentally Shipped 130 Miles In A Box Are Ready For You To Adopt Them
By 6.26.14
Because you might as well call this site Catsumerist considering the all-consuming love we have for the furry little felines, we thought our readers should know that Mouse and WiFi, aka the kittens who survived 130 miles packed in a box as newborns, are now up for adoption. Ready, set, awwwwww you’ve got a new cat. [via San Diego Humane Society] [More]
Here’s Why You Should Think Twice About Using AT&T Or Comcast WiFi Hotspots
By 6.23.14
If you’re a customer of AT&T or Comcast, you’re probably very aware of these two companies’ efforts to create massive networks of free WiFi for their subscribers to use when away from home. But a new report shows just how easy it is for an unseemly character to fake one of these hotspots and steal your information. [More]
Is Comcast Considering $6/Month Fee For Out-Of-Home WiFi Access?
By 5.2.14
Comcast recently began a large-scale expansion of its out-of-home WiFi network to give subscribers Internet access via hotspots when they are away from their home network. Right now, the cost for accessing these hotspots is included in a user’s monthly subscription, but does market research recently done in the name of Comcast foretell a fee to come? [More]
You Need A Wi-Fi Egg Tray, Or Maybe Nobody Does
By 12.4.13
Eggs keep for a long time when refrigerated, especially if kept toward the back of the shelf, but how do you keep track of when your eggs are going to expire? Sure, you could look at the packaging and expiration dates printed on the carton. Whatever, Grandma. Why would you want to do that when there’s a wi-fi enabled egg tray? [More]
Southwest Now Offering Gate-To-Gate WiFi Access
By 11.21.13
Until yesterday, Southwest had been the only major airline that hadn’t taken advantage of the FAA’s long-awaited approval for passengers to use portable electronic devices during takeoff and landing. But now Southwest has not only joined that group, but it says it will allow passengers to use the in-plane WiFi from the moment they sit down on a plane until the time they crowd into the aisle to deplane. [More]
iOS App Vulnerability Allows Hackers To Attack Device Via WiFi
By 10.29.13
A group of mobile security researchers say they have discovered a vulnerability in many mobile apps running on iOS that could allow a hacker to hijack the information being provided to a mobile device when used over an unsecured WiFi network. [More]
Coffee Shop Owner: Limiting Laptop Squatters Has Boosted My Sales
By 8.19.13
Ever since the advent of the whole coffee-shop-as-satellite-office thing, some have operated under the notion that java joints should do what they can to cater to and keep customers sitting in seats for hours on end while they toil on their laptops. But one store owner says his business has actually seen an increase in sales after he decided to put limits on the laptop-lugging squatters. [More]
Which Airlines Have The Most WiFi-Enabled Flights?
By 6.25.13
By now, most of us are used to having Internet access wherever we go, but a majority of flights by the major U.S. airlines still don’t offer in-flight WiFi access to passengers. And your likelihood of finding WiFi on a plane all depends on which airline you’re flying on that day. [More]
Are You Okay With Comcast Sharing Your Home Wi-Fi With Everyone?
By 6.18.13
As a child, how were you at sharing your toys with other kids, friends and strangers alike? If you rent Xfinity equipment from Comcast, you’re going to have to share your toys–and by “toys” we mean “wireless router”–with everyone in Kabletown. Understandably, some people do not like this idea. [More]
