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

We Love This Ugreen Tracker, and It’s Just $13 Right Now

These handy tags are a great way to keep track of your items without having to fork over the full price of $20 — for a limited time, at least.

Losing keys, having misplaced luggage and other items can be a major inconvenience. It takes time to recuperate your things, and replacing them can cost you money you’d rather spend on other needs. If you’ve got a few things you want to keep a closer eye on, then a tracker might be a great option for you. We’ve spotted this Ugreen FineTrack smart finder for just $13 at Amazon, which saves you $7 after you clip the on-page coupon. Amazon prices tend to fluctuate, so we suggest acting fast if this deal is of interest. Plus, it’s a great chance to save on electronic goods that might increase in cost due to impending tariffs.

This Ugreen FineTrack smart finder is compact, light and easily clips onto your keys, bags and other items. It’s compatible with Apple’s FindMy feature, which makes it a more affordable alternative to AirTags, which have a list price of $30. Once removed from the package, all have to do is use Bluetooth and sync this tracker to your FindMy app on any Apple device. The Ugreen FineTrack requires a battery that can last up to two years.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

Need an extra pair of eyes? You can share the location of your tag with up to five more people. Plus, you can turn on an alarm that makes a loud sound so you can locate misplaced items. You can also set up notifications that can remind you if you’ve left something behind.

To better take advantage of these trackers, take a look at our article about the best places to use your tracker during travels.

Why this deal matters

This Ugreen FineTrack smart finder is down to just $13 for a limited time at Amazon. This saves you $7 over its usual asking price and is much more budget-friendly than other available trackers. Considering the potential for price increases due to tariffs, now is an excellent opportunity to nab this deal.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for April 28, #421

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 421 for April 28.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a very strange, long spangram, but the answers themselves are short and pretty easy to solve. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: My bad!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Uh-oh!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

NUMB, TOLE, POLE, POLES, SPIT, PITS, SOPPY, BREW, TALE, DUMB, DUMBS, ALTER, LETS, BALE, BALES.

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you’ve got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

SLIP, SPILL, FALTER, TOPPLE, BLUNDER, STUMBLE.

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is WHOOPSIEDAISY.To find it, start with the W that’s four letters down on the far right row, and wind across, and then down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 28, #687

Hints and answers for Connections for April 28, #687.

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

As an ’80s girl, I immediately spotted the four words in the yellow category of today’s Connections puzzle. I definitely had at least three of those products in my college apartment, so that was an easy solve. And since I read a lot of Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, the blue category came along pretty easily, too. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Bought at Ulta, maybe.

Green group hint: Not fancy.

Blue group hint: Nancy Drew would spot these.

Purple group hint: Yawn.