AT&T

Mobile Technology

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I tell everyone I used to hate traveling for work. That is partially true. In the end I dreaded the trips, the waits in the airport, getting lost in po-dunk towns in rental cars, etc. In the beginning I loved traveling. I think I did too much too quick. Also I did this during a period of the worst air traffic delays in the history of US air travel. I also flew out of the most delayed airport in the US. An airport that the FAA said accounted for 25-30% of all delays at the time, Laguardia airport (LGA).

This entry is not about my love or dislike of travel, that I can save for many entries later. What I am thinking about is the cool technology you can use or rely on when traveling.

Studies are coming out now saying more and more people are “cutting the cord” or becoming wireless phone only households. I have been using my cell as my primary (or only) home phone since 1998. Earlier than that I lived at home with my parents and they did have an extra line, even though I never used it.

When traveling you can use the coolest tools that keep you in touch or working. The stuff out now is even better than what I was able to use when I traveled regularly 3 years ago. Wow, it has been 3 years since I did that.

When I was on the road I relied on a laptop (Compaq Presario 1875 or something with an AMD K6-2 180mhz processor, then a number of Micron 15″ TFT laptops, and eventually a Dell latitude CPx). The laptops I have now kick the ass of the ones I had then. My thinkpad T-40 I use for work is literally half the thickness of the micron’s I used and 3-4 times more powerful. The battery lasts like 4 hours. If I got 90 minutes on the micron or 60+ on the Compaq I was happy. Even my tiny Powerbook gets better battery life than the old desktop replacements.

My cell phone back then was several flavors of the Nokia 6160, Motorola Timeport, or later on a Nokia 8890. The service actually was as good as it is now. T-Mobile’s coverage has gotten better, but I used to go everywhere with my AT&T Tri-mode TDMA Nokia’s. The phone was big but worked all over. From Canada, to Portland Oregon, to Portland Maine. The difference is I am paying about half the price I paid back in 1999 for about the same amount of minutes or even more minutes now.

The other difference with cell phones are that my Treo 600 is a handheld and a phone. I also get wireless internet access on it. For me between 1998 and 2001 that was impossible for me. now I can get email on my phone or use another phone with bluetooth to get mail on my laptop. I didn’t even have a blackberry then. I would have killed for a blackberry when I traveled. I take it for granted now.

The WiFi hotspots would be awesome to have had when I traveled. I used to use Laptop Lane at some airports back then, but they weren’t everywhere.

VPN software and Exchange 2003 with RDP over HTTPS would have been awesome. Either would have been awesome. At Datastream we had to use outlook from outside the firewall using AT&T Global net dial up. It was so slow. Now it would be trivial and fast to use, especially with high speed internet in some hotels now. When I went to vegas last winter I plugged my Powerbook (then a 15″ TiPowerbook) into the network jack in the hotel and I was able to VPN back to work. It came in handy when Keith needed something when I was out. That is the coolness I am talking about. Technology that just works when you are on the road.

If I was still traveling I would probably look at the bluetooth GPS receivers they have out now. Connect it to my iPack 1945 and know where I am. It would be killer.

What is also funny is that more and more people are using gadgets on the road. Besides the pain in the ass people on cell phones everywhere (writing this as someone’s phone goes off on the train). I mean laptops PDA’s, and other neat stuff. Around me right now on the train is 4 ladies with huge laptops doing work. One has to be my mom’s age. 4 years ago that wouldn’t be going on. When I am on the train to kingston I always see several people with blackberry’s or Pocket PC’s & Palms of several varieties. Then there are the iPods. They are everywhere. Note to self need new iPod for train trips like this. must replace sold one ASAP.

I just find these observations amusing. Why, because all this stuff that I see I have been doing for years. That is no big deal, but I always used to get made fun of by some of my friends about doing it. Then like clock work 6 months later they would be doing the same thing. I don’t consider myself a trendsetter but some technology stuff I get right away because I think it will work for me. I was that way with the first bluetooth phones. I got it and used it to connect to my PC and use a bluetooth headset. Turns out that it didn’t work very well, but it worked and I used it for months.

Enough of my observations. I am off to stretch my legs on the train for a while and maybe take some pictures with my Treo and post them to my MoBlog!!!

This blog entry was written while listening to Higher from the album “Human Clay” by Creed And Superman from the album “America Town” by Five for Fighting

My Personal Phone Dillema

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It survived a month. I still have (and like) the Treo 270. I totally think having the unlimited data account that actually works in allot of places makes this device good, versus just using it as a cell phone. To tell you the truth I almost never use it as a cell phone. I do when my Verizon phone runs out of batteries or if I have to call a number I don’t have in my Verizon phone’s limited speed dial. other than that I don’t use it that much. I just forward my T-Mobile calls to my Verizon number.

That brings me to another problem I am having. I am too connected. Gus mentioned that I have too many numbers to remember. It is true. I have my primary cell phone. That is Verizon right now. I also have my old AT&T number that I don’t use, but can’t cancel it because the contract is up in December. I then have the T-Mobile number that I use for data. I also have my NYC work number and now I have a Kingston work number. I have trouble routing calls places. Right now I have a message in NYC telling people I am out of the office. My T-Mobile phone is sending call’s to my Verizon phone. And the Kingston voice mail is telling people they can press 1 or 2 and get me at other numbers. I don’t have a solution though. T-Mobile kicks but on the wireless internet so I keep them. Verizon has the best cell coverage, so I keep them. And I need my work numbers. Now in december if/when cell phone number portability happens I will cancel my AT&T contract and take that number and move it to T-Mobile so I can keep the good number. I need to see how I can pull that off.

On top of all that, I have a blackberry pager from work. I hope one day for the Treo to work well enough that I can get rid of the blackberry. I will see what the new Treo 600 can do.

AT&T Wireless Officially Sucks

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Yes they do. So I bought a cheap used unlocked GSM phone on ebay. It is a Ericsson T-28w. I had one years ago. They are ok, but it was dirt cheap and unlocked. That means I can plug any GSM card into it and it will work. So I put my AT&T Wireless card in and the calls sucked just as bad as they did with my top of the line Sony Ericsson T-68i. I put my T-Mobile SIM in and the thing worked fine. It even worked decent at work, where T-Mobile with a T-68 never worked well. I was about to cancel T-Mobile last week and something told me to hold onto it for a while. I have gotten everyone to use the new number for like 3 months now, but I figured I should keep it around. Good thing I did. Now I don’t know if I am going to get rid of T-Mobile or AT&T. One has to go. AT&T, I love my phone number but that is about it. At this stage in my contract I am just thinking of keeping it and putting myself on the $19.95 plan and not use it. That is cheaper than canceling the thing. Then in November, I can keep that number and move it somewhere else. November is when phone number portability comes to cell phones!!! Finally. On the plus side the T-Mobile account is really cheap for allot of minutes. I get like 600 min with unlimited nights and weekends for under $40.00.

I am going to use both for a while, and see what happens. Thankfully I have my verizon phone still. Yes I have 3. I am only supposed to have 2, but I can’t seem to get rid of T-Mobile. I am really a techie.

Busy at work

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I am tired and don’t want to write allot, but I have allot to talk about. So I will be brief.

Went to kingston today. Got there late, and didn’t leave till late. Was very productive with Dan & Joe. We got 2 POTS lines installed and our local Verizon voice T-1 installed.

AT&T had a massive outage out west that caused us all sorts of havoc while I was out. We had issues reaching sites on the west coast. Still no RFO (reason for outage). I am waiting on that.

Also I was just told that we hired 2 more developers that start on monday. I need to order computers and stuff for them. That will be fun since we are doing a late night (overnight) tomorrow.

And lastly the above mentioned overnight tomorrow. I need more sleep and we are doing an overnight install. that will be interesting. Because of the overnight I may not be doing any blog entries for a few days. if I do they may not post right away. It depends on how tired I am thursday and friday. More later…

Scuba try 2

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I believe this weekend is another crash cource in SCUBA training. I am hoping to call today to get in it, but I don’t know how that will pan out. I also need to sit down for an hour and order food from fresh direct. I have been putting both tasks off for about a week. I just have tons to do.

I also need to unlock my T68i or get another unlocked GSM phone. I have another SIM card I want to put in my AT&T phone and I cannot. It pisses me off that I buy something and it is disabled even after I use it for the 1 year it was discounted for. Dam AT&T. I am about ready to sell my AT&T Wireless stock and dump the dam phone. Good cell number be dammed.

On the plus side I sold my old Palm Tungsten T, and shipped it yesterday to the person who won the auction on ebay. Looking around the house to see what can be next. I like cleaning out the house of old stuff and getting extra money to buy new stuff at the same time!!! Way to go ebay.

Mobile Phone Jugleing

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So I got really pissed with AT&T wireless Monday and changed my pricing plan. I cut my costs per month in half. There seems to be a problem near my house. They said they knew about it, but had no ETA on fixing it. I saw no reason for paying $100 a month for unlimited cell phone usage when I only used 400 minutes on it last month. I changed to the $50 plan with 700 minutes.

I also beefed up my verizon wireless plan to 800 min a month. I got a new promotion so I had to sign a contract for another year, but I was probibly going to stay with them anyway. The service is rock solid. I also got a deal on a new phone when I renewed. I got a Motorola T720. People at work have them and like them. As much as I want to keep using AT&T I will use verizon for a while since the service is much better.

i cannot wait until number portability in november. Then I can take my sweet and easy to remember AT&T number and switch it to verizon.

And yes I have 2 cell phone contracts. I had 3, but just canceled my T-Mobile account since I haven’t used it since April. Since I don’t have a home phone I wanted 2 phones. in case I have problems with one (like I am having). I also kept one for work and one for personal, but it is turning out that work calls me however they can if they need me. Enough technology ranting. I am off to bed.

Bluetooth dial-up works, finally!!!

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I actually got my Thinkpad to dial a GPRS connection through my Sony Ericsson T-68i using a bluetooth connection. I found an updated driver package for my Xircom card. It actually works with XP now. AT&T’s connection software still didn’t work. That ticked me off, but I found instructions on their web site to do it with XP’s built in dial up networking. It worked like a champ. Now I have to see if it works out and about. I have problems allot of the time when I try to use it on my powerbook. It is all due to spotty data service.

I am just happy I figured it out without having to buy new hardware. Now I wait until Verizon comes out with a Bluetooth enabled phone and I am all set. Of course having verizon’s data plan come down in price would be nice also. Until then I live with AT&T’s sub par GPRS system.

I like it when technology works the way it is advertised. Lets ignore that it took like 4 software revisions and like 6 1/2 months (with this provider) to get it working on Windows.

Vonage is out

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OK, so Vonage is everything they say it is, and probibly more. I used the service and the phone calls are nice and clear. The call routing is great. The service is just awesome. Just one little show stopper problem that I have. They won’t let you choose a vanity phone number. I got a really crappie number and would pay anything to get a nice easy to remember number from them. The problem is they automated the system and claim that they cannot in any way let you know the number you are getting before you pay the $10 fee to change it. With Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile I talked nice to the rep and was able to select the number that I want. AT&T even stayed on the phone for like 30 minutes with me till we came up with something good. They rock. Vonage is saying no, sorry. I wanted this service for incoming calls, so a crappy number is no good to me. I would rather change cell numbers and let everyone know about it often than keep a shitty number. I am looking into returning my router and getting a refund.

It is a great idea, but doesn’t seem to fit what I want if they are inflexible. I would still recomend them to others.

New and awesome things I can do with my Mac!!!

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I keep finding new and cool things I can do on my powerbook that I cannot do at all on my windows machine(s) or it takes 10 times longer to do compared to my mac. I recently downloaded iSync 1.1. Now I can sync my cell phone with the mac using a USB cable and almost any mainstream cell phone. Worked great on my old Motorola V60i.

If that wasn’t enough I found a site that showed me how to use the same cable and phone to dial onto the internet using Verizon Wireless’s network. It is circuit switched at 14.4kbs but it works and does not cost extra per month to do, just uses your air time minutes.

And even better than dialing out using a USB cable is the ability to use my T68i as a GPRS modem (aka 56k speeds) with AT&T wireless. The dam software AT&T provides for windows doesn’t even work correctly with bluetooth, but the mac does without any special software! And why don’t more people use the mac again???

And have I mentioned how awsome itunes is? Or iPhoto? Winamp was good. I used it for years, but itunes blows it away!!!

VoIP instead of a home phone

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I have not had a home phone for some time. I really haven’t used one since 1999. I may have had one on and off between now and then, but it wasn’t my main phone. I use my Mobile Phone. Unfortunately I like to switch phones and providers allot. I just find something new and switch. My situation always changes. A phone may not work at the office, or my apartment if I move, I need to travel and it doesn’t work where I am going, etc. So I switch allot. Well the people at Vonage have a home phone solution using Voice Over IP (VOIP). I still don’t want a home phone, but I want a phone number that will stay with me. I also want 1 number that I can route to multiple phone numbers. I had this solution in college. AT&T offered a 500 number service that allowed a follow you number. I guess the service never took off so they canceled it. I have been looking ever since for something that will do the same thing. Vonage looks like it will do that. For a flat rate I can route calls to any US phone number, retrieve voice mail from the computer, take the number anywhere, and other cool features. It works by plugging it into my cable modem.

I have known about Vonage for a while. A guy at work loves it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted it or needed it. I decided to give it a try because I am moving and I want to start having 1 number people call no matter where I am. So if I cancel a cell phone, it doesn’t matter people just have the VOIP number and get routed to whatever number I tell them. I also don’t need to keep my cell phone on all the time when I am at home. Another big plus is that I can finally get rid of my second cell phone. I always had a second one for the past 2 years or so because service was always spotty on one phone or another. So hopefully I can save some $$$.

If all works out, I won’t get people asking me what my phone number is ever 6 months when I change it. My family still tries to call me at numbers I haven’t had or used in over a year.

I should get the new Vonage equipment in about a week or so. I will let you know how it works. I just hope I get a decent phone number. I will call and try to change it if I don’t. I don’t care how much it costs, I need an easy to remember phone number. that is one of the reasons I still have crappie AT&T Wireless Mobile phone, I got a great phone number and I don’t want to loose it.