A Northwestern Professor Is Figuring Out Why Inflight WiFi Is So Terrible

Fabián Bustamante, a professor at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, studies the interaction between flights and Internet connection, and his team of researchers recently developed an app called WiFly. Passengers put their flight number in the app once they’ve purchased inflight WiFi, and the app will show connectivity speed across the duration of the trip, plus contribute data to research that could improve the speed of WiFi on planes.

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Understanding Inflight WiFi’s Poor Performance

Within just a couple of years, inflight WiFi has moved from a luxury to a near commodity for most continental flights. Prices for the service range as widely as their apparent performance. In one extreme, JetBlue recently announced it will make WiFi available for free. With other airlines, a monthly access plan can set you back as much as $50.

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A peek inside the Internet’s favorite file-sharing network

More than a quarter of all Internet traffic belongs to BitTorrent, a file-sharing system that allows users to swap everything from music to movies. Now, for the first time, researchers have revealed a link between a country’s economy and the type of files its residents download from BitTorrent. The findings are shedding new light on online behavior and could help law enforcement track down Internet pirates.

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Como otimizar o DNS para a internet ficar mais rápida Fonte: Como otimizar o DNS para a internet ficar mais rápida

A internet é parecida com uma série de tubulações, mas de uma forma complexa onde pacotes de dados precisam viajar por diversas rotas para chegar até você. É por isso que o acesso a sites de outros países são normalmente mais lentos do que o acesso a sites que estejam hospedados aqui no Brasil. Imagine a rota que os dados têm que dar para que as informações que estejam em um servidor do Japão, cheguem até você!

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A faster Internet for your smartphones

Most of us spend a significant portion of our time on our phones. So when the Internet connection slows or stalls, it can interrupt our lives to a maddening degree. We complain about the network, shut down apps, and double-check our bars to troubleshoot the problem. But a Northwestern research team recently found that an unexpected culprit lurking in the background might be what’s to blame.

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