Now I am Mobile
posted 13 Nov ’07, 12.01pm MST PST on flickr
I am using a new wireless broadband thingie I got which now allows me to access the net where-ever I go (as long as I get a digital signal from my mobile provider, Alltel).
The Franklin wireless CDU-550 USB is one of the few cards that work on Mac OSX (someone tell those providers that Apple has 15% of the laptop market and growing), which was a cinch to set up (excellent instructions from EVDOInfo).
Here in Phoenix I am getting about 600 kb/s download, and now I have a backup when the home/office connection from Qwest goes south.
I almost feel modern 😉
Photo taken as well with my new Razr phone, uploaded directly to flickr.
This will save me bucks and hassle at airports lacking free wifi, hotels and their rip-off charges, and kludgy conferences that don’t provide wireless. Or I can be online in a taxi, woo-hoo 😉
Yes, I could ave gotten all this in a handheld, a Crackberry or similar device, or even a sexy $300 phone (the new phone comes out of my own pocket, and we have a pile of Motorola cords and charge cables in the home already) and I might soon (that iPhone feels oh so close, whispering to the gods).
I can pull up by the curb
I can make it on the road
Goin’ mobile
I can stop in any street
And chat with people that we tweet
Goin’ mobile
So how much does that bad boy run you per month?
That’s sweet. I want to try it out with the new $400 Asus Eee PC (Xmas present hopefully). I’m just waiting for the $59.99 price point all the providers are charging to go down. Come on $50. I could do that. $60 is steep though, and the 2 year contract hurts big time.
$60/month unlimited acess
Ouch. even so, I may have to bite the bullet and get it. How’s your coverage and speed?
Oh now, that’s definitely not fair! If only I could have access to something as cool and as efficient. That modem looks pretty smart – haven’t seen anything like that in OZ yet. As for uploading to flickr etc – I will need a new plan, new phone, maybe new job! …….grrrr….. because I’m stuck with work-issued equipment that just doesn’t cut it!! Anyway, glad you posted…so I can dream 🙂
I’ve only had it a day, so cannot give a sense of the coverage. It is a nation-wide EVDO (3G) network, billed as “average speeds of 400-700 Kbps with bursts up to 2.4 Mbps.”
I’ve done a few speedtests via http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ and gotten as high as 600 Kbps download, but more common around 300-400 here in Phoenix, where connectivity is good. It is not the broadband one gets on the wire, but the fact you can get it in most major cities, where you go… yum- higheer speeds are available in the blue areas of:
http://content.alltel.com/business/images/map_mobilelink_national.gif
Off of the digital grid, it looks like best you can expect is about 10% of that rate, will be checking this weekend up in the mountains.
Judy, uploading via flickr is just sending as multimedia text message from my phone to the flickr post by email address (it is something you enable in your flickr account), nuttin fancy.
I just got it too – last week. I did the math – and the lost of productivity was more than what it is costing me. IT is soooo nice to have to have fork over $10 in airports, rely on crappy hotel wifi, and be able to get online.
I did not do the type of testing you did here … and did not make up some lyrics …
The Who – greatest rock n roll band in the world, Goin’ Mobile a truly essential song http://lyricsmusic.name/who-lyrics/-/goin-mobile.html , this track was ahead of it’s time