The key to complete online independence is through crowdsourced VPNs

Geolocation is a key pillar of how the internet functions. Previously founded on the egalitarian principle of complete transparency and total openness is now routinely altered by geolocation services. Simply put, this means that users can access various sets of websites based on where they are surfing the web from. This results in online information silos, which have negative consequences such as restricting knowledge sharing, limiting cultural interchange, and allowing political discourse...

14 September 2021 | Consumers

Apple’s new iPhones could feature emergency satellite communications

Apple is reportedly developing at least two features that will enable users to communicate using satellites in a rural emergency.

If you’re high up a mountain, or in the middle of the ocean or dense forest, the likelihood is you don’t have a cellular signal. However, there’s a good chance you’ll be in the range of several satellites—especially if 1,000+ launches per year becomes the new norm.

Cupertino has been exploring the use of satellite technology since at...

31 August 2021 | Devices

OneWeb sends a further 34 broadband satellites into orbit

OneWeb continues to gain momentum after sending a further 34 of its broadband satellites into orbit.

Arianespace launched the satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 21 August at 23:13 BST. The satellites were dispensed in nine batches over a period of three hours 45 minutes and successful contact was made with all satellites.

Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb, commented:

“Following the successful completion of our ‘Five to 50’ mission, we are building on...

23 August 2021 | Industry

Vodafone’s latest IoT solution aims to end water industry stagnation

Vodafone has launched a new IoT solution that aims to “accelerate change” in the water industry.

While many industries are embracing digital transformation – enabled by Industry 4.0 technologies – the water industry has largely remained stubbornly stagnant.

Anne Sheehan, Business Director at Vodafone UK, said:

“There is growing demand on the UK water companies to increase efficiency and reduce wastage. We’ve worked closely with the water industry to...

18 August 2021 | Europe

AT&T delays 500,000 FTTP builds due to fibre supply issues

AT&T has been forced to delay 500,000 of its FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) builds due to an industry-wide fibre shortage.

Fibre is in high demand following a year when people were forced to appreciate the need for fast and robust connectivity. Unfortunately, the pandemic also played havoc with supply chains.

During a virtual conference, AT&T Senior Executive BP and CFO Pascal Desroches said:

"Through the second quarter, we hadn't really experienced any...

13 August 2021 | Consumers

Nokia achieves the world’s first 5G SA carrier aggregation

Nokia can boast of another world-first as it successfully completes a carrier aggregation in a 5G standalone (SA) network environment.

The vendor partnered with Taiwan Mobile to combine spectrum in the 700MHz (n28) and 3500MHz (n78) bands in a New Radio Carrier Aggregation (NR CA) trial.

Tom Koh, SVP and CTO of the Technology Group at Taiwan Mobile, said:

“This trial is an important milestone as we execute our 5G strategy and deliver best-in-class 5G services...

3 August 2021 | Industry

Virgin Media will upgrade its entire UK network to full-fibre by 2028

Virgin Media has committed to upgrading its entire UK broadband network to full-fibre by 2028.

The operator’s network currently predominantly uses Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) technology but also some Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) via Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG). The network is currently being upgraded to support the DOCSIS 3.1 standard which is due to complete by the end of this year and should handle a peak theoretical download speed of up to 10Gbps and uploads of around...

29 July 2021 | Europe

Ookla reveals the world’s capitals with the fastest and slowest 5G speeds

Ookla has published a new report that reveals which of the world’s capitals are enjoying the fastest 5G download speeds, or suffering the slowest.

As the owners of the industry-standard Speedtest service, Ookla has a huge amount of real-world data of the speeds that users are receiving across both mobile and broadband networks.

Oslo, Norway boasts the fastest 5G of any world capital, clocking a median download speed of 526.74 Mbps. Seoul, South Korea had the second...

28 July 2021 | Africa

Broadband outages triple as almost 15M Brits suffer in the past year

Nearly 15 million Brits suffered a major broadband outage during a year when reliable connectivity has never proved to be so vital.

Video meetings, checking in with loved ones, purchasing essentials, awkward virtual quizzes, getting help when needed, and keeping updated on the latest advice and developments all required a dependable internet connection.

However, research from Uswitch found that broadband outages have tripled in the last year.

Ernest Doku,...

27 July 2021 | Consumers

Juniper Research: Users of 5G roaming services will surpass 200M by 2026

According to a study by Juniper Research, the number of 5G roamers is set to surpass 200 million by 2026.

While much of life slowed to a crawl during the pandemic, the 5G rollout continued at pace. With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us, operators are now ramping up their deployments even further.

Juniper’s analysts predict an increase in the global number of 5G roamers from 4.5 million in 2021 to 210 million in 2026. As international travel cautiously...

26 July 2021 | Consumers