An Eclectic Mind

I’m lucky, but for how long?

Yesterday, after three tries, I was able to download a 958 MB file containing some beta software I needed to write three outlines for future writing projects. What’s interesting about this is that my only connection to the Internet right now is via Bluetooth tethering from my BlackBerry Storm on Verizon.

In all honesty, I didn’t expect to succeed. I figured I’d have to make the 8-mile trip into town and settle down in the library or a coffee shop with my laptop to get the file.

But I tried using tethering anyway.

The first time, I was 82% into the download when my phone’s battery got too low to keep the connection. Entirely my fault; I should have had it plugged in. The second try was more what I expected: the download simply stopped for no apparent reason about 12% into it. The last time I set it up right before going to bed. Not only did the download succeed by 1:30 AM, but the connection wasn’t even lost for an incoming text message last night or phone call this morning, both of which I missed. (I really do need to change my husband’s ring tone to something louder; I slept right through it.)

When I crawled out of bed this morning at the unusually late hour of 7 AM, the phone was still connected to the Internet and had been for 10 hours.

My Data Plan

I chose my first smartphone, a Palm Treo 700p back in 2007, primarily so I’d be able to use tethering to get my laptops on the Internet. After a false start, I got it to work the way I needed it to. This was with Verizon, which I’ve been using since my Motorola flip phone days. Verizon has the best coverage in the weird, off-the-grid places I go. Using Verizon is a no-brainer for me.

Like all the other wireless providers, Verizon offers a number of data plans. I don’t profess to know them all. I do know that I pay for two kinds of Internet connectivity with my phone:

• Nationwide 900 Plus Email covers my phone usage and its regular smartphone features, including e-mail, which I rarely use. (I don’t like getting e-mail on my phone. I get enough on my computer.) This costs me $99 per month. I honestly don’t know if that’s high or low. All I know is that I can use the phone as much as I need to, it works just about everywhere I go, and the mobile-to-mobile and friends & family plans keep me from going over the 900 peak minutes I’m allowed. The bill here shows exactly what I paid for last month and it’s pretty clear that I wasn’t very stingy with my usage.
• Mobile Broadband Connect is what makes tethering possible. It costs me $15 per month. And because I signed up back in 2007 when the unlimited bandwidth plan was available, I don’t have a usage cap.

And that’s the point of this post. Because I signed up three years ago, I managed to get on a plan that gives me unlimited broadband use for only $15/month. If I gave up this plan or tried to buy a MiFi device to make Internet connectivity easier for my laptop, I’d pay $60/month for 5 GB of data.

Now you look at the bill shown above and you see that I only used about 105 MB of data. That’s nothing. But that’s also because I paid a local ISP for an Internet connection where my RV was parked that month. I only used my phone and tethering for Internet connectivity a handful of times.

But yesterday alone, I sucked nearly 2 GB trying (and then succeeding) in getting that monster file. That’s 2/5 of what would be my monthly allowance on a 5 GB plan in just one day.

What if I had to download an update to that file later in my billing period? Or, as I did in June, upload at least 15 GB of QuickTime movie files to an editor’s FTP site? I’d have a huge bill for excess data transferred.

The problem is, too many people are sucking too much data all the time. With an unlimited plan, the majority of people would simply abuse the system. Why not go to that torrent site and download movies? Why not use Netflix and Hulu to watch TV? Why not buy music and video games online? Why not listen to Internet radio? After all, if it costs the same no matter how much you get, why not get as much as you can?

I don’t think that way. I don’t like using my phone as a modem. It’s a pain in the butt. And I don’t see the benefit of sucking data just to suck data. When I download or upload using my phone’s Internet connectivity, it’s because I need to. And if I need to for 105 MB one month and 15 GB the next, I don’t see why I should be penalized for the “excess” usage.

Rollover Data is the Answer

The solution is to have plans with rollover data.

Say, for example, that I’m paying for 5 GB per month. In May, I use 1 GB; in June, I use 105 MB (that’s 0.105 GB); in July, I use 500 MB (that’s 0.5 GB); in August, I use 15 GB. With a rollover plan, I’d bank 4 GB in May, nearly 5 GB in June, and 4.5 GB in July. When August rolls along, I have 14.4 GB in the bank, along with August’s 5 GB for a total of 19.5 GB. So when I use 15 GB in August, I still have 4.4 GB to bank for the future.

Am I the only person who thinks this is a fair way to offer a data plan? I’m not getting any more than I’m entitled to under the plan. I’m simply spreading the usage differently, with some months having more usage than others.

This would curb the appetite of people who suck data, but not to the point where it inconveniences them or penalizes them when they really need it.

If a plan like this were available from Verizon, I’d grab it. I’d even consider dropping my grandfathered-in $15/month unlimited usage plan.

But until that day comes, I’ll continue to rely on my cheap tethering, even if it means I’ll be stuck with my BlackBerry Storm forever.

Call Me a Geek BlackBerry, communication, computers, Internet

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It really isn’t that bad.

When I left the golf course RV park in Quincy last week, I also left behind the incredibly frustrating Internet service I’d been stuck with there. I knew that wherever I camped on or near the orchard belonging to my last client of the season, WiFi access would not be an option. (Heck, I didn’t even know for sure if I’d be able to get an electric or water hookup.)

I’ve had Bluetooth tethering capabilities on my Verizon Wireless service for more than 3 years now. It costs me $15/month extra for unlimited bandwidth. (Don’t look for that plan now, folks; current plans all cap the bandwidth; I’m grandfathered in.)

Tethering, in case you’re not familiar with the term, involves introducing your computer to your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone to pair them wirelessly via Bluetooth. Your computer can then use your phone to “dial into” the cell phone provider’s Internet service. This is referred to as dial-up networking or DUN. Once connected, you can surf the Web, send and receive e-mail, and do just about anything else you could do if you were connected by WiFi. The connection isn’t fast, but it isn’t agonizingly slow, either. The only drawback is that when an incoming call connects, you can’t work online. But when you hang up, you can continue working — a feature I just discovered today.

The image below shows what the right end of my computer’s menu bar looks like when I’m connected. The modem menu shows connection time; in this example, only 12 seconds. The Bluetooth menu shows that I’m connected to a Bluetooth device (my BlackBerry). I keep AirPort turned off because there aren’t any WiFi networks around and keeping it turned off saves a tiny bit of battery life. When I want to disconnect, I choose Disconnect Bluetooth DUN from the Modem menu. After a “disconnecting” message scrolls by a few times, the connection is severed and the timer disappears. To connect, I’d choose Connect Bluetooth DUN from the same menu.

(If you’re interested in how-to information about DUN, check out “Setting Up Your Mac to Use a Smartphone’s Internet Connection,” which I wrote for InformIT a while back. It should still be up-to-date enough to be useful.)

I used tethering for most of my Internet access the first season I was in Washington state. Back then, I’d arranged for Internet service but it was disconnected because an involved party had been beaten with a stupid stick. I fell back to DUN for access and was glad I had it.

Back then, however, my computer and cell phone didn’t talk to each other very well. I had a Treo 700p in those days and maybe that was part of the problem. If an incoming call disconnected me, I’d have to do a battery pull on the phone, restart the computer, and repair to get a new connection set up. It was a pain in the butt so I tended to stay online for very short periods of time, dreading the possibility of an incoming call.

The memory of that has stuck with me. But either my BlackBerry Storm (v1) is more gracious about disconnections or Apple has improved its Bluetooth connection routines in Snow Leopard because I’m not suffering the same symptoms. If I get an incoming call, I tell my computer to disconnect, talk on the phone, and then reconnect easily when done. No battery pulls, no computer restarts.

As a result, I’ve been staying connected for as long as an hour at a time.

Mind you, I’m camped on a construction site across the street from a cherry orchard 8 miles up a canyon from Wenatchee, WA. (The tiny red X on the map marks the approximate spot.) It’s amazing to me that (1) my cell phone works so well up here, usually giving me five [legitimate] bars and (2) I’m able to stay connected to the Internet for so long.

But — and I hate to rub this in for all the iPhone devotees out there — I chose Verizon and skipped the iPhone thing because I often go to places like this and I often need tethering for Internet access. Does AT&T have coverage here? Maybe. Does the iPhone offer tethering without a complex, warranty-voiding jail-break? No.

Yes, it’s a pain in the butt to have to literally dial in every time I want to connect to the Internet. But for $15/month unlimited access, I can live with it — at least until I get home.

Call Me a Geek, Off-the-Grid BlackBerry, camping, communication, Internet, Off-the-Grid, RV, Washington

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Here are links I found interesting on April 8, 2010:

• Calculator Index Page – Excellent calculators of density altitude for pilots.
• Possible New Human Ancestor Discovered – "Two 1.9 million-year-old skeletons found in a South African cave have added a new and intriguing member to the primate family." Read More on Wired.com. Thanks to @mjvalente for sharing the link.
• Spectacular South African Skeletons Reveal New Species from Murky Period of Human Evolution: Scientific American – "The discoverers argue that the nearly two-million-year-old fossils could be ancestral to us–but other scientists are not so sure." Read more on Scientific American. Thanks to @mjvalente for sharing the link.
• Free Reading Apps – Why buy a Kindle when you can put Kindle books on your computer, smartphone or iPad? On Amazon.com.
• File Sharing with an iPad: Ugh! – Ted Landau documents using iWorks apps on an iPad. It isn't pretty. On The Mac Observer.
• Daring Fireball: The iPad – John Gruber reviews the iPad. On Daring Fireball. Thanks to @DonPerreault for the link.

This just in... Amazon, Apple, aviation, BlackBerry, computers, ebooks, evolution, gadgets, history, iPad, iPhone, links, online, opinion, pilots, reading, resources, review, science, software, technology

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Another answer to a frequently asked question.

I’m a devoted Mac user and have been since I got my first Mac back in 1989. I’ve written dozens of books and hundreds of articles about Mac OS and applications that run on Macintosh computers. I currently own six Macs, including two Mac laptops, a 24″ iMac, and a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh. I have four iPods. I even own Apple stock.

But I don’t have an iPhone.

People ask me why I don’t have an iPhone. The answer is very simple: AT&T.

I won’t switch to AT&T. I’ve used them in the past and their service frankly sucks. I don’t like talking to India when I have a billing or technical support problem. I don’t like the fact that if they screw up your bill, you can’t get it fixed and they put a black mark on your credit report. For as little as $26 they claim you owe them.

AT&T’s Voice/Text Coverage

 

Verizon Voice/Text Coverage

And if personal opinions regarding AT&T’s service aren’t enough, then let’s look at its service area. It simply doesn’t cover the areas I need coverage in. Like at my house — AT&T’s coverage is spotty. Or at our place on Howard Mesa — AT&T won’t work there at all. And other places I’ve been to.

Don’t believe me? Look at these two coverage maps, keeping in mind that I live in a small town on the edge of nowhere in Arizona. AT&T’s service in my town is through a “partner” — it doesn’t even have regular service here.

I need a cell phone that works everywhere I go. I go a lot of places in the west and I go a lot of places where there simply aren’t any cities. AT&T is a city cell phone provider.

Apple partnered with AT&T for the iPhone. While I believe this was a mistake, AT&T probably doesn’t think so. Right after the iPhone’s introduction, many users dropped their carriers (no pun intended) to switch to AT&T so they could buy iPhones. If Apple had gone with Verizon, it probably would have killed AT&T’s mobile business. It seems to me that the iPhone is the only reason someone might want to use AT&T.

I invested in a Palm Treo 700p with Verizon a month before the iPhone came out. I knew it was going to AT&T and I knew I couldn’t have one. So I invested in the Palm with a 2-year plan, just so I wouldn’t be tempted to do something stupid. I didn’t regret it at all. Although my Treo didn’t look slick, like an iPhone, it did things that an iPhone couldn’t do — like act as a Bluetooth modem to get my laptops on the Internet when I’m hanging around an off-the-grid cabin on top of an Arizona mesa. Or on a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska. Sure, an iPhone can connect to a WiFi network, but what if no network is available? Can it get a laptop on the ‘Net? My Treo could.

Last month, I stepped up to a Blackberry Storm. The darn thing sure looks a lot like an iPhone. It even works a lot like an iPhone. Yes, I know there aren’t as many apps, but do I really need all that crap on my phone?

And guess what? Even though they told me it wouldn’t work, I can still use the phone’s Bluetooth connection to get my laptops on the ‘Net when there’s no WiFi network around. I can still sync flawlessly with my Mac’s Address Book, iCal Calendar, and other data applications. I have voice dialing, better Bluetooth support, MP3 player capabilities, a built-in GPS that works with the mapping application, and more features than I know what to do with.

So while I admit that I did look longingly at iPhones when I was a Treo user, I no longer feel as if I’m missing out. I have what I need in a cell phone — including the most important thing: coverage — and more to explore in a slick, user-friendly package.

Choosing a cell phone should be a logical decision; not an emotional one. Logic told me to stick with Verizon and choose the Treo and then the Storm.

Please don’t think I’m knocking the iPhone. I’m not. I’m just saying that it isn’t the only solution for an Apple user. Some things are more important than having a cool-looking, popular phone. Service and features are right at the top of my list. AT&T and the iPhone simply won’t deliver the service and features I need.

Call Me a Geek Apple, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mac OS, Macintosh

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