Mobile Users Rejoice! Wi-Fi Improvements On the Way

I caught a couple stories over the past few weeks that should make mobile device users (and that's all of us, right?) very happy.

First, Samsung says the company has found a way to boost Wi-Fi speeds, and not be just a little. They're talking fivefold. Here's the details:

Samsung says its Wi-Fi technology will open up the door to data transmission speeds of up to 4.6 gigabits per second (Gbps), or 575 megabytes (MB) per second. This would be about five times faster than the current ceiling for Wi-Fi speeds for consumer electronics devices...So, for example, a 1 gigabyte (GB) movie could be transferred between devices in fewer than three seconds, and uncompressed high-definition videos can be streamed from mobile devices to TVs in real time.

It sounds like this could begin rolling out sometime next year.

Sure Wi-Fi is great, but what if you're in the middle of nowhere, miles from a Wi-Fi signal? What then? Perhaps the Karma Go can help:

With Karma, users pay for data as they need it ($14 for 1GB), and the data bought can be used any time, with any Karma device, and any smartphone tablet or phablet – anywhere in the U.S. Using 4G LTE cellular data connection to create a personal WiFi signal, users connect to Karma Go like they would to their home or office WiFi.

You'll still need access to a 3G or 4G signal, but this still sounds like a nice innovation. The company says the pocket-sized Karma Go devices start at $149 and are available for pre-order now.