Ookla just published its list of airports with the fastest free Wi-Fi in the world during Q1 2022. The analysis focuses on Wi-Fi over mobile connections on free Wi-Fi provided by the individual airports and Wi-Fi at selected airport lounges. Four US airports top the list.
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At a time when many haven’t yet upgraded to Wi-Fi 6, let alone 6e, tech companies are already making plans for Wi-Fi 7…
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While Wi-Fi 6 is starting to make some headway, some are already looking ahead to far faster Wi-Fi 6E speeds. Although theoretically a small advance, Wi-Fi 6E is likely to offer far higher speeds in real-life use …
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A security researcher with a solid track record in discovering Wi-Fi vulnerabilities has discovered new ones, some of which are part of the core security protocols of the Wi-Fi standard, so are present in virtually every device from 1997 onwards.
The flaws could be exploited to steal sensitive data, control smart home devices, and even take over some computers. There are, however, two pieces of good news. First, the real-life risks for ordinary users are very small. Second, it’s easy to protect yourself against even these small risks …
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Future Wi-Fi devices could literally get thousands of antennae to improve signal quality, thanks to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invention…
An AirDrop security flaw can allow anyone with a laptop and scanning software to see your phone number. The same is true when you share a Wi-Fi password from your iPhone.
Doing the same from a Mac reveals its permanent MAC address instead…
Apple and other tech giants are calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make available an extra Wi-Fi band, arguing that it is needed for new technology categories like mobile AR and VR goggles.
The FCC last year provisionally approved the use of the 6GHz band for so-called unlicensed use, which would mean it could join 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in being used for Wi-Fi. But there has been pushback from the cellular industry and others …
Sunday marked an important anniversary for both Apple and for the wider world: it saw the launch of Wi-Fi as a commercial product, in the iBook.
When Steve Jobs returned to the company, he famously drew a four-box grid on a whiteboard to show how he wanted to simplify Apple’s messy product line-up …
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Sharing your Wi-Fi connection with visitors got much easier as of iOS 11, thanks to a pop-up asking you if you’d like to allow a visiting iOS device to join. But a new gadget makes the process even easier, and works for Android phones too …
Barclays is out today with a forecast that iPhone 11 will include support for the newest generation of Wi-Fi. This prediction comes as we’ve been learning more about the triple-camera system that could land with the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 along with improvements to Face ID, new antenna tech, and more.
Checking whether a device supports the latest Wi-Fi standards has always involved remembering some rather obscure letter codes: a, b, g, n and ac. But that’s now all set to change …
Over the last several software updates, Apple has made it harder to disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth completely. Apple keeps the radios running to have things like Apple Watch and AirDrop functionally properly.
A former senior exec at Lucent Technologies has said that while the technical birthplace of Wi-Fi may have been in the Netherlands (a contentious issue in itself), it was at a meeting with Steve Jobs in Cupertino that it was born as a commercial product …
If you’re in the market for a new wireless router, you’d be well advised to look out for models which support a new security standard. After relying on WPA2 for security for more than a decade, the Wi-Fi Alliance has just begun certifying products that use its replacement: WPA3 …
Arguably, one of the more infuriating things with Apple Watch Series 3 is the Wi-Fi functionality when away from iPhone. Previously, Apple Watch would inherit its list of Wi-Fi SSIDs from your iPhone, with no way to see or modify that list.
A new initiative between aircraft manufacturers, airlines and mobile networks could see air passengers enjoying on board Wi-Fi connections whose speeds ‘rival the fastest cable access’ …
Apple ships a little-known utility app that helps you analyze and diagnose your Wi-Fi connection, called Wireless Diagnostics. Open the app by option-clicking on the Wi-Fi indicator in the menu bar and select ‘Open Wireless Diagnostics …’. Although the app contains a lot of useful information, it isn’t intuitively clear what you are supposed to do with it.
Frustrated by bad WiFi on Mac OS X? This guide may help you get better WiFi on your computer.
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Apple may be left needing to find a new supplier of WiFi chips if a Digitimes report is accurate. The report claims that Broadcom is scaling back its WiFi chip production in favor of more profitable products.
As is often the case with Digitimes reports, the report is unclear, the opening stating that Broadcom is ‘looking to phase out its WiFi chip business’ while a quote ascribed to unnamed sources says instead that it plans to ‘significantly reduce resources allocated to its Wi-Fi chip business.’
Either way, though, Apple may need to find additional or replacement suppliers as it relies on the company’s chips across almost its entire product range. It’s reported that competitors MediaTek, Realtek Semiconductor and RDA Microelectronics have all received last-minute orders from Broadcom customers. It’s not known whether this includes Apple.
Photo: Broadcom WiFi Airport Card for Retina MacBook Pro (Aliexpress)
My cheap headphone jack-less iPhone mockup
It’s been widely reported that the iPhone 7 is destined to ditch the dated headphone jack in favor of wireless audio solutions and a Lightning adapter for wired headphones and speakers, and now internal iOS software code seems to all but confirm the rumor. Jailbreaker @kyoufujibaya claims to have discovered a reference to ‘Headphones.have.%sinput.NO.’ within the latest iOS 9.3 beta 1.1 software release, which would appear to be related to the transition from 3.5 mm headphones to alternative solutions on iPhones. The same jailbreaker also has another interesting discovery based on the iPhone’s codebase …
One person who definitely didn’t read our PSA on Wi-Fi Assist last September is San Francisco teenager Ashton Finegold. CBS News says that he is blaming the feature on a mobile phone bill for $2,021.07 as he racked up 144GB of data.
It turns out Ashton Finegold’s bedroom is one such place with a weak [Wi-Fi] signal. So while he thought he was still connected to his home Wi-Fi while surfing the web in his room, his iPhone was eating up more than 144,000 MB of data.
The piece notes that Finegold did receive a text message warning from his carrier, which he ignored …
Wi-Fi Assist is an iOS 9 feature that automatically uses mobile data when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection. By default, it is switched on – leading to a $5M class action suit against Apple. Apple issued a support document explaining exactly how the feature works in October of last year.
Image: TekRevue
If Apple only includes one new standout feature on its second-generation Apple Watch next year, what should it be? We already asked you if you’re still wearing your Apple Watch eight months after the device’s launch, and now we want to know what features will get you to upgrade or purchase Apple’s upcoming next-gen smartwatch.
Apple is already facing one class action lawsuit alleging that customers were unknowingly using up substantial amounts of mobile data, and it now faces a second.
The issue at stake in this new suit is that the iPhone 5/5s could silently switch from Wi-Fi to LTE under some circumstances, resulting in mobile data usage even when the phone was on Wi-Fi. This was fixed for Verizon users back in September 2012, but law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP claims that Apple didn’t fix it for AT&T users until more than two years later.
According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, Apple knew about the defect “almost immediately,” yet failed to fix it for AT&T wireless subscribers for years, and did not even disclose the defect. The defect affected all versions of iOS 6 and 7 and was only resolved with the release of iOS 8.1 in October 2014.
Apple plans to start selling the 12.9-inch iPad Pro on Wednesday, November 11th via both its physical retail and online stores, according to multiple sources. Apple previously only said that the large tablet would become available during the month of November, a couple of months after the introduction in early September. The iPad Pro’s marquee accessories, the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, will also become available for purchase on November 11th. The iPad Pro starts at $799 and comes in both 32GB and 128GB configurations with WiFi only. An LTE-compatible version comes exclusively in the 128GB configuration and costs upwards of $1000. We reported earlier this week that Apple’s support staff is scheduled to complete iPad Pro training by November 6th, less than a week prior to the launch.
