Congestion is inevitable because Wi-Fi uses the same unregulated 2.6 gigahertz frequency as microwave ovens, cordless phones and the upcoming Bluetooth networking standard, which lets phones, PCs and vending machines talk to one another.

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Yet despite high costs of entry and regulatory limits on spectrum availability and infrastructure investment, new technologies (LTE, satellite, microwave, and higher-frequency communications) and new competitors continue to enter the market all the time.

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This frequency is crowded since it is used by everything from other tablets to microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, not to mention the neighbors' Wi-Fi networks.

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