Chris Dunphy

About Chris Dunphy

Chris has been a full-time technomad since 2006, and currently splitting time exploring North America by boat and RV with his partner Cherie. A lifelong geek, he was one of the founding editors of 'boot Magazine' (still going strong as 'Maximum PC'), and before hitting the road full time he was the Director of Competitive Analysis for mobile technology pioneers Palm & PalmSource. Keeping up on mobile technology is a passion for him. Chris is one part of Technomadia (view their personal Mobile Internet Setup) and co-founder/host of the Mobile Internet Resource Center.

Wi-Fi Alliance Eliminating 802.11 Alphabet Soup – “Wi-Fi 6” Coming Next Year

  • Posted:
  • / By: Chris Dunphy
  • / In: News Alerts

The term “Wi-Fi” is the friendly name for the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 communication standards for short range wireless networking. It is only by complying with these agreed upon standard that interoperable communications is possible – allowing mixing and matching of wireless gear from various manufacturers without concerns about compatibility. The 802.11 […]

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AT&T Pushes Mobley Firmware Update VM6200V1.0.3 – Removes ‘No Time Out’ Power Save Setting

  • Posted:
  • / By: Chris Dunphy
  • / In: News Alerts
    • / Comments: 10

Bad news, Mobley fans. Yesterday AT&T started to push a mandatory minor firmware update to all Mobley devices. The minor update from VM6200V1.0.1 to VM6200V1.0.3 seems to have only a single change in it – removing the critical ‘No Time Out’ option from the power save settings page. This means that the Mobley will now by default […]

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Looking Ahead: Will 2019 Be The Year of the Smart & Connected RV?

RV manufacturers seem to have at last woken up to the reality that customers are interested in the comforts of home when on the road: Air conditioning, heat, hot water, ample AC power, and yes… perhaps most importantly for many – connectivity! Over the past few weeks we’ve seen an explosion of new RV-centric internet […]

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Apple’s New Flagship iPhone XS Brings Gigabit LTE & Dual-SIM Support

Like clockwork, this time every year Apple announces a new generation of iPhones. And this year there have been some pretty significant jumps when it comes to mobile internet capabilities – with the new models checking off pretty much every item on the cellular connectivity wish list. The flagships iPhone XS & iPhone XS Max in […]

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Verizon Races to be “First On 5G” – Limited Fixed Residential Network Rollout on October 1st

  • Posted:
  • / By: Chris Dunphy
  • / In: News Alerts
    • / Comments: 3

Verizon was one of the first cellular carriers in the world to roll out 4G/LTE technology – and it has been racing to be the undisputed FIRST in the world with 5G as the next era of cellular technology rolls around. It looks like Verizon will indeed win the race – yesterday Verizon announced “5G Is […]

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AT&T and Airstream Rolling Out Unlimited & Unthrottled Mobile Hotspot Plan – With A Catch!

UPDATE (9/20/2018): All Airstreamers Soon Eligible! We have been in touch with Airstream since this article first ran, and indeed there are plans to take this partnership with AT&T well beyond the flagship Airstream Classic. And now AT&T and Airstream have announced that starting later this year “any Airstreamer” will be able to sign up for […]

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CONFIRMED: T-Mobile Eliminating One+ International Plan – The Last Official Unlimited Mobile Hotspot Option!

UPDATE: We have received further confirmation directly from T-Mobile’s Media relations team that the One Plus International add-on is indeed being eliminated, and this is being done to “reduce complexity” based upon customer feedback: The ONE Plus International add-on option will be retired on Friday, Aug 10. Customers who have International will be grandfathered and […]

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DirecTV Now 2.1 Update Fixes HDMI Out – And Now Streams “Data Free” on AT&T

  • Posted:
  • / By: Chris Dunphy
  • / In: News Alerts
    • / Comments: 2

We’ve long recommended using HDMI output from smartphones to allow for big screen streaming using unlimited on device data. This is a clever way to avoid hotspot data usage limits that make using tethered Smart TV devices (Apple TV, Roku, Samsung, Chromecast, etc…) while mobile a recipe for blowing  through your entire monthly hotspot usage […]

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KVH Introduces TracPhone LTE-1 For Improved Offshore Cellular Connectivity

KVH Industries is best known for providing TracVision satellite TV receiver domes for the RV and marine market, as well as for its popular TracPhone global satellite voice and data service that is often found providing connectivity on mega-yachts (with the budgets to match). But now KVH is introducing its first cellular-powered system, for cruisers with […]

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New AT&T Plans Announced: “Unlimited &More” Brings on the Streaming Bundles

UPDATE: The new AT&T plans went live this morning (June 28th) – and we’ve been digging deep into the fine print. A few interesting discoveries: You can only change between the free premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, Pandora, Amazon Music, or VRV) that come with the &More Premium plan once every twelve months. This seems […]

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FCC Repeal Goes Into Effect – Network Neutrality Rules Are Officially Dead

UPDATE: October 1st, 2018 – California Strikes Back As expected, despite being dead at the federal level, the fight for network neutrality has continued at the state level – and last night California signed strong new state level network neutrality rules into law – prohibiting carriers from blocking or throttling lawful internet traffic, charging fees […]

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Urgent FBI Warning: Should You Reboot All The Things?

The internet is abuzz this Memorial Day weekend about an urgent warning put out by the FBI encouraging everyone to reboot their routers to help disrupt an ongoing Russian cyber attack. The warning is pretty straightforward: “The FBI recommends any owner of small office and home office routers reboot the devices to temporarily disrupt the […]

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New Satellite Messaging Options: Garmin inReach Mini, Somewear Global, Globalstar Sat-Fi2, & SPOT X

Every technology enabled nomad dreams of being able to be connected from absolutely anywhere (when they want to be). But unfortunately, things get tricky as you travel to places where Wi-Fi hotspots turn cold and even boosted cellular fails to dial in a single bar of service. Satellite broadband gear is the answer for some […]

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AT&T Promises FirstNet Will Help Double LTE Network Speeds Nationwide

In the aftermath of the attack on September 11th, 2001, some began to call for a unified communications infrastructure that would make it easier for first responders of all types to communicate – even across jurisdictional boundaries, and even when public networks might be overloaded or damaged. To this end – in 2012 Congress authorized […]

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Engaged At Last: Sprint & T-Mobile Announce Plans To Merge

The on-again / off-again flirtation between Sprint & T-Mobile that has been a dramatic thread throughout the cellular world for years has reached a major milestone today with a joint video announcement from T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. They may not be married yet, but the engagement is official. Sprint & […]

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