Starbucks likes Google's caffeinated Wi-Fi

Shara Tibken of CNET News has the story of how within the corporate coffee shop empire of "Starbucks, AT&T is out and Google is in for Wi-Fi."

"Starbucks customers will soon have much faster Wi-Fi speeds, thanks to the company's new partnership with Google," reports CNET. "Starbucks said that Google, in conjunction with Level 3 Communications, will now be providing Wi-Fi service in Starbucks' U.S. locations that's up to 10 times faster than the current service powered by AT&T."

See Also:  802.11ac Gigabit wireless: The great WiFi hope

The faster service will first appear in new Starbucks stores over the next month, to be shortly rolled out to its 7,000 other U.S. locations, starting with the busiest sites where Wi-Fi usage is highest. The company expects to complete the transition in about 18 months. Along with providing faster Wi-Fi, Starbucks and Google also will be working to upgrade the Starbucks Digital Network, the page where users are directed when accessing Wi-Fi in the coffee shops.

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Comcast profits surge 30% on broadband growth

A blog by Brian Stelter on nytimes.com explains how while "Comcast has been losing TV subscribers to DirecTV and Verizon FiOS for years...its revenue gain on the broadband side [in Q2 of this year] was 8 percent." The blog reports on how "[it] is broadband, not cable television, that is generally bolstering cable companies’ results these days, because nearly nine out of 10 American households already subscribe to some sort of TV, but only two-thirds subscribe to broadband."

Bloomberg News also notes how Comcast's "Cable subscriber metrics [have] exceeded [analyst] estimates in all three services."

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