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.

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

Verizon isn’t the only carrier tacking additional superlatives onto its “unlimited” plans. Today AT&T is announcing that as of June 26th the AT&T “Unlimited Enhanced” plans will be retired, replaced with the new AT&T “Unlimited &More” and “Unlimited &More Premium” plans. Here is what AT&T has to say about these new plans: “We were the […]

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

Despite some last minute congressional wrangling to slam on the brakes, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s “Restoring Internet Freedom Order” proposed in December (read our in-depth coverage at the time) went  into effect on Monday. This brings an official end to the FCC’s Network Neutrality rules, which were rolled out in 2015. But what does this […]

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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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Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 DNS Service Promises Increased Surfing Speed & Privacy

On April Fool’s Day earlier this week, internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare announced a new free public DNS service designed to improve the internet for everybody: “Cloudflare’s mission is to help build a better Internet. We’re excited today to take another step toward that mission with the launch of 1.1.1.1 — the Internet’s fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS […]

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New Cellular Boosters from SureCall: Fusion2Go 3.0 & FusionTrek

Cellular booster manufacturer SureCall has been around for a long time (since 2001), and has built up a solid reputation for providing boosting primarily intended for larger commercial buildings. SureCall also produces home and mobile boosters, but the past few SureCall mobile boosters have left us a bit underwhelmed. SureCall’s original line of mobile TriFlex LTE boosters […]

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BREAKING: AT&T Unlimited “Enhanced” Plans Dropping Support For Mobile Hotspots!

UPDATE (March 1st, 2018): Details Confirmed As expected, AT&T updated its website this morning with the new “Unlimited Enhanced” plans – and all the leaked details we reported on earlier this week have indeed come to pass. The major reported downside is indeed real – there are NO MOBILE HOTSPOTS allowed on AT&T’s new “Enhanced” […]

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Now Shipping: Winegard ConnecT 2.0 Roof-Mounted Wi-Fi & Cellular Router

Winegard has a great reputation as the leading provider of both satellite and over-the-air TV antennas designed for RV use. But despite some initial excitement, we ended up being underwhelmed by Winegard’s 2016 entry into the RV internet gear market. The original Winegard ConnecT was expensive, the cellular version was tied to a very limited […]

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SpaceX Launching First Two “Starlink” Broadband Internet Satellites – This Weekend!

UPDATE (March 30th, 2018) – FCC Approval Granted, With A Catch! As expected, the FCC this week approved SpaceX’s request for a license to move forward with it proposed Starlink satellite constellation, granting SpaceX permission to: “Construct, deploy, and operate a proposed non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system comprising 4,425 satellites for the provision of fixed-satellite […]

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Verizon To Begin Locking Phones, Starts Down Slippery Slope

One of our favorite things about Verizon: unlocked phones. Unlike with most other carriers, all Verizon LTE devices are sold unlocked – and without jumping through any hoops you can swap SIM cards to use these devices internationally, or on any other compatible domestic carrier. But according to Verizon – this trait has made Verizon […]

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Helikite Hotspot Takes Cellular Reception To New Heights

Nothing improves cellular reception more than having a direct line of sight between you and the cell tower – and nothing improves line of sight better than altitude, getting your cellular antenna up above all potential obstructions. We’ve actually joked for years about putting a cellular antenna way up in a tethered balloon for better […]

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FCC Abandons Network Neutrality Rules – What Does It Mean?

UPDATE: February 22nd, 2018 The upcoming changes to the network neutrality rules were officially published in the Federal Register today, opening the door to a wave of pending lawsuits to be filed to block the changes from going into effect. Ars Technica has two stories detailing the latest legal fights: We still don’t know when […]

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Long Awaited Pepwave MAX BR1 MK2 at Last Released!

Last week Wednesday evening just before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday, Pepwave at made the long-awaited next generation MAX BR1 MK2 cellular-integrated router official, updating its public website with final details. This product update is LONG overdue – we had been initially told to expect a next generation BR1 last November, then February, then […]

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