Windows 8 allows you to connect to 3G and 4G networks without installing any hardware or third-party software. It is able to reconnect within one second after waking up from sleep mode. Windows Update won't download updates if only a connection is available that is paid for by the amount of data transferred. All apps in the Windows Store must be mindful of the amount of data they use when connecting to the network.
Windows 8, as an operating system aimed at tablets, allows you to connect to 3G and 4G wireless phone networks without the need to connect additional hardware or install third-party drivers or applications. Network and Sharing Center remembers which networks you connect to. When you manually disconnect from a network, Windows no longer automatically connects to the network. When you connect to another network, Windows assigns a higher priority to that network and connects to it the next time. When you're connected via 3G and you're within range of a Wi-Fi network, Windows automatically disconnects from 3G and connects to Wi-Fi because Wi-Fi is usually faster and doesn't need to broadcast as strong a signal, which saves battery.
Mobile connection can be described as paid for data transfer. This means that system updates, even critical updates, will not be downloaded over this connection. The only exceptions are those updates that remove worms. The system will notify you before the data limit is reached. To make this happen as late as possible, all apps in the Windows Store accessing the network must implement the new API Windows.Networking.Connectivity.ConnectionCost. This tells the app what kind of connection is available, so it can, for example, download images at a lower resolution to save network flow and time. Given that uploading an app to the Windows Store is accompanied by a number of unit tests, this interface cannot be implemented just for show. In addition, the Task Manager displays the amount of data transferred for each individual application.
The entire area of code that takes care of network connections has undergone architectural changes and has been thoroughly optimized. The result is really worth it. Until now, it has taken quite a long time for Windows to recover and restore the network connection after waking up from sleep mode. Even when connected via Ethernet. Windows 8 no longer suffers from this ailment and can restore the connection in about one second.
Because the tablet can be used quite well on an airplane, Windows 8 supports Airplane mode as well as Windows Phone. It turns off telephone connections, Wi-Fi, FM radio and Bluetooth to avoid interference with navigation systems such as VOR, DME, NDB, TCAS/ACAS or ILS.
I wrote the article for TechNet Blog CZ/SK.