Technologies

AT&T Expands 5G Home Internet With New ‘Internet Air’ Offering in 16 Markets

After taking a slower approach than its rivals, AT&T is finally using 5G to compete with home broadband.

AT&T is finally expanding its use of 5G for home internet. On Tuesday, the wireless carrier announced that it is expanding its fixed wireless offering to 16 new markets, offering home broadband over 5G for $55 per month.

Called «Internet Air,» the new markets include «areas of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Phoenix (Prescott), Chicago, Detroit, Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan; Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Seattle-Tacoma and Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), Florida.»

In a blog post, Erin Scarborough, president of AT&T’s broadband and connectivity initiatives, said the carrier determined its 5G home broadband locations by looking for areas in its network that had «enough wireless coverage and capacity to deliver not only a great in-home experience, but also maintain a top-notch wireless service for our existing mobile users.»

Those who also have AT&T wireless service and sign up for automatic payments will be able to lower the bill to $35 per month. Similar to offerings from T-Mobile or Verizon, AT&T’s 5G home internet does not have overage fees, equipment charges or annual contracts. AT&T also says that it won’t increase the price «at 12 months.»

The carrier previously was experimenting with the Internet Air product in parts of Los Angeles and Philadelphia, pitching the product in some locations as an upgrade to its older, DSL home broadband service, particularly in areas where its fiber-based internet isn’t available. The carrier tells CNET that it expects download speeds over 5G to be between 40Mbps and 140Mbps and that upload speeds will be between 5Mbps and 25Mbps. While not as fast as fiber or cable, this would mark a noticeable speed boost from the «generally 6Mbps or lower» speeds it says its DSL users experience.

AT&T says it currently has around 6 million nonfiber broadband customers.

Read more: What is 5G Home Internet?

For reference, Netflix says it needs speeds of at least 15Mbps for 4K streaming, while Zoom says it requires download speeds of 3.8Mbps and upload speeds of 3Mbps for HD group video calls. It was not immediately clear what kind of upload speeds or latency AT&T’s Internet Air product might offer.

Setting up AT&T’s Internet Air also appears to be similar to how its rivals’ deliver their respective home internet offerings, with the carrier shipping users a modem/Wi-Fi router combo device and guiding setup, installation and management through an accompanying app. If you decide to cancel the service, you will simply need to return the device to AT&T.

Those with larger homes can get Wi-Fi extenders that connect to the router for an additional $10 per month, per extender (with a max of five extenders). Users can also connect their existing Wi-Fi routers to the AT&T device’s ethernet port if they would prefer to use their own setups. AT&T says its app can also guide users on ideal extender placement and that it will be able to send notifications to let users know that moving the router or extender could be useful to optimize the network.

While 5G hasn’t lived up to its significant hype in a number of areas, it has delivered some much-needed competition for consumers in home broadband as wireless carriers looked to compete with big cable companies such as Comcast, Charter and Optimum (plus in the case of T-Mobile, even wired offerings from Verizon and AT&T).

AT&T’s home internet news comes only a few days after the carrier confirmed that it was giving its 5G network an earlier-than-expected speed boost. Scarborough told CNET that the earlier clearance of C-band spectrum «did not play into our decision» to expand into these markets and that it has been planning this move for «several months.»

«We’ve been very thoughtful in how we’ve modeled this and where we believe we can provide the best in class customer experience.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, July 17

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 17.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I breezed through today’s Mini Crossword. There’s a little something for everyone. Birders will appreciate 3-Down while musicians will immediately know the answer to 6-Down. Read on for an assist with today’s Mini Crossword. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Workout facilities
Answer: GYMS

5A clue: Pipe dream? Just the opposite!
Answer: LEAK

6A clue: In good spirits
Answer: JOLLY

7A clue: Up to the task
Answer: ABLE

8A clue: Headache-inducing situation
Answer: MESS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Boston newspaper
Answer: GLOBE

2D clue: TALKS LIKE THIS
Answer: YELLS

3D clue: Mallard ducks with green heads, e.g.
Answer: MALES

4D clue: Drone’s zone
Answer: SKY

6D clue: Rock out
Answer: JAM

Technologies

WeTransfer Backtracks on AI File Training After Backlash: What You Need to Know

The company has updated the changes to its policies after some users objected to new terms.

WeTransfer, the service that allows users to send large files to others, is explaining itself to clients and updating its terms of service after a backlash related to training AI models.

The company published a blog post, «WeTransfer Terms of Service — What’s Really Changing,» that details more updates the company made to its policies, after users noticed that recent changes seemed to suggest WeTransfer was training AI models on the files users are transferring.

In the blog post, the company says: «First things first. Your content is always your content.»

The post goes on to say, «We don’t use machine learning or any form of AI to process content shared via WeTransfer.» WeTransfer explains that its use of AI would be to improve content moderation and enhance its ability to prevent the distribution of harmful content across its platform.

The company adds that those AI tools aren’t being used and haven’t been built yet. «To avoid confusion,» it says, «we’ve removed this reference.»

A representative for WeTransfer did not immediately return an email seeking further comment.

The backlash over the terms prompted users such as political correspondent Ava Santina to write on X, «Time to stop using WeTransfer who from 8th August have decided they’ll own anything you transfer to power AI.»

What this means for users

Anxieties are high about what information users share or store in services such as social media accounts is accessed by companies to train AI models. WeTransfer may be used for highly sensitive file transfers, raising fears that private information might be accessed by AI. According to the company, this isn’t the case.

To further explain, the company said in its post:

«YES — Your content is always your content. In fact, section 6.2 of our Terms of Service clearly states that you ‘own and retain all right, title, and interest, including all intellectual property rights, in and to the Content’.»
«YES — You’re granting us permission to ensure we can run and improve the WeTransfer service properly.»
«YES — Our terms are compliant with applicable privacy laws, including the GDPR.»
«NO — We are not using your content to train AI models.»
«NO — We do not sell your content to third parties.»

When the Terms of Service change

While eagle-eyed experts understood the potential implications of what WeTransfer’s new terms could mean for people using the service, it’s unlikely that most people would be able to spot such changes.

«Expecting users to fully understand Terms of Service is unrealistic. These documents are often too complex to navigate,» says Haibing Lu, associate professor at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

Lu told CNET that companies would do well to clearly highlight any changes they make to AI-related terms and explain them clearly to give people a real choice. «That’s what true transparency looks like,» Lu says. «Companies are increasingly risking backlash when they update Terms of Service to include AI, especially when users’ data is involved.»

Companies including Adobe, Slack and Zoom have had similar issues with terms changes related to AI, but it’s not just AI that’s the problem, Lu says — rather, it’s the lack of transparent communication.

In the case of WeTransfer, Lu says the company’s response, including revising the terms and blogging about them, «was a smart move and helped rebuild trust. It showed they were listening and willing to act fast.»

WeTransfer could include more understandable language in its terms, or communicate the changes better or sooner, Lu says, adding: «Transparency shouldn’t start after a backlash.»