1279 I'm Off Dial-up!

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Today I went to the museum. The showrooms and gift shop were open, but there was no one upstairs in the offices, so I didn't stay. It would be terribly hot up there, and I didn't want to mess with windows or a/c. I'll have to try again on Tuesday.

We've had thunder and lightening the past four days, which causes a lot of static on the phone lines, which means my dial-up connection wouldn't stay up long enough for me to read one piece of email all the way through, let alone reply to it. So I decided to stop by Office Max and use their free WiFi.

Well, it didn't seem to be up, and no one there seemed to know how to check it.

I got mad.

I've had it.

Cell phones and Blackberries and everything else can get to the internet from anywhere, and by damn I want to too!

I talked to a kid at Office Max about exactly how I go about making that happen. Today was his first day working there, which means he was a lot more helpful than otherwise. Right across the street was a cell phone store, and after explaining to me what I should ask for, he sent me there.

I walked in the door of the cell phone store, pointed to a poster on the wall, and said "I want that!"

One half hour later I was sitting in an Applebee's eating a grilled cheese and surfing happily.

The equipment is a thingy about the size of two end-to-end Zippo lighters, that plugs into a USB port. I can get to the internet from any location that has cell reception. Unlimited use. No "roaming". I don't know what to call it, but it appears to be as fast as WiFi.

I can use it anywhere in my house, everywhere anywhere! Even the bathtub! I can finally watch videos on youtube! I'm very happy.

The cost is about $60 per month, which sounded high at first, until I realized that I can get rid of the second phone line in the house, and cancel the ISP service, thus saving $45 per month, so it's actually an increase of only $15 per month, and I'll happily pay that. The savings in reconnect time and download waiting time alone is worth 50 cents a day.

And I can thumb my nose at hotels that want to charge for internet connection. That alone had cost me about $40 in the month of May. Now I'm bringing my own connection. Nya nya.

So far, I'm happy. I've got 30 days to confirm that, then I'm locked in.
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