Internet Providers
Comcast Xfinity customers not on an unlimited plan who exceed 1.2 TB of data in a month will have to pay $10 for every 50 GB of data they go over up to a maximum of $100.
Comcast says customers will be notified as they approach their monthly data limit, but the ISP currently doesn’t give its customers a way to independently verify meter readings.
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved a request from Amazon to launch 3,236 communication sattelites into low earth orbit.
The company plans to provide a low-latency, high-speed satellite-based internet connections to United States households with it's Project Kuiper. Amazon has announced that it will invest over $10 billtion into the project and will build a supporting infrastructure on the ground in addition to launching the satellites.
With Project Kuiper Amazon goes into direct competition to the Starlink network by SpaceX that aims towards the same goals.
SpaceX's Starlink network of low-Earth orbit small satellites plans to compete for the rural broadband funding, a $16 billion federal funding auction. To qualify for the auction the FCC requires that participants demonstrate latency under 100 milliseconds until July 15.
On a public notice released on June 11, the FCC stated it had "serious doubts that any low-Earth orbit networks will be able to meet the short-form application requirements for bidding in the low-latency tier".
SpaceX's announces it could have latencies around 20 milliseconds.
SpaceX has launched on Wednesday another 60 internet-beaming satellites, bringing the company's constellation to around 480.
One of the 60 Starlink satellites has a visor system installed to block the sun from reflecting off of its communication antenna surfaces. If the system works, it should greatly reduce sunlight reflected off of the satellite back to Earth, one of the major criticisms from astronomers.
Also, this was the fifth launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, achieving a new record in booster reusability for the company.
School buses in various American cities are being equipped with WiFi to provide free WiFi to communities that are lacking proper internet access. The initiative gets help from companies like Google, AT&T and the Duke Energy Foundation. WiFi school buses are currently deployed in many states, among them North Carolina, Texas and Ohio.
In a statement, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper stated “In many communities, school buses are already delivering meals to students and their families. Now they’re delivering Wi-Fi for online learning".