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Boingo's faster airport WiFi makes you feel more at home

Pay up and Boingo will give you a 20Mbps airport connection you'd genuinely like to use.

Many airports have WiFi, but that doesn't mean it's good WiFi -- just ask anyone who's tried to stream video or upload photos during a layover. However, Boingo thinks it can help. It's launching a tiered system that includes both a free basic tier and a speedier paid tier. The company is hyperbolic when it claims that the 20Mbps offering is "blazing-fast," but it's good enough that you could get some serious work done (or goof off like at home) before your boarding call. And of course, the free tier is a big deal as well -- gone are the days of Boingo-only terminals where you have to fork over a credit card just to check your email.

At the moment, the big catch is simply availability. The faster service is currently available in just a handful of airports serving Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and New York City. Don't count on watching 1080p Netflix movies while you're traveling this holiday, then. Eventually, though, you may not have to suffer with a barely usable connection when you're stuck waiting for hours on end.

[Image credit: Robert Alexander/Getty Images]