C|Net

The question of just how fast your home internet service is seems pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, how the broadband industry gets at the answer is messy and complicated, and over the last few weeks, that's caused controversy. The stakes are high.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai worries a patchwork of local and state regulations on internet technologies could hurt the  competitiveness of the US in the tech sector. He made the case for harmonizing regulation among federal and state and local governments.

Of the more than 56 million people in the US who have a disability, many haven't been able to afford service or have lacked the digital training to access the internet. The result is that Americans with disabilities are three times more likely than those without a disability to say they never go online. When compared with those who don't have a disability, disabled adults are roughly 20 percentage points less likely to say they subscribe to home broadband and own a traditional computer, a smartphone or a tablet.

Promising a "new Wi-Fi era," the nonprofit Wi-Fi Alliance industry group launched the Wi-Fi Certified 6 program. The program aims to hold devices that use next-gen 802.11ax Wi-Fi radios to an established set of standards. Manufacturers that participate get to put a little certification badge on their packaging. That badge is important because it lets you know that the device supports Wi-Fi 6 (the consumer-friendly synonym for 802.11ax) and all of the speedy new bells and whistles that come with it.