It's easier to look past a slow internet connection when you can see Narragansett Bay sparkling outside your living room and hear the clink of sailboat rigging in the distance. Maybe that's why some residents of Rhode Island's East Bay and Newport County have put up with broadband infrastructure the state says doesn't stack up to what's available in the more dense areas north and west. And it's not just internet.
In an interesting lawsuit, VoIP-Pal, a patent holding company brought suit against AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Deutsche Telekom for now allow customers an option to use WiFi calling and WiFi texting. Of course, anybody with a smartphone can make a WiFi call across their phone’s data connection, and the lawsuit is really a complaint that the cellular companies are forcing customers to pay for a traditional voice and texting plan when customers only want to buy a bare broadband connection.
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SpaceX has used its position as the world’s primary rocket launcher to push rival satellite operators to share wireless airwaves, showing how the company can flex its power in one area to benefit another part of its business.
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