I met a old colleague and friend this morning at Starbucks before work today. Now that he’s off to his job, I can start mine. At least, that’s what I thought. Since I’m still on the fence about keeping a dedicated EVDO plan, I’ve been leaving the USB adapter at home. I usually use the Boingo Wi-Fi network, which is a much less expensive $10 a month. For some reason, the Boingo client isn’t recognizing the Wi-Fi network at this location. My Wi-Fi adapter can see the attwifi network, but Boingo can’t. I’m sure it’s a one-time glitch, as the Boingo software is usually quite reliable. But when you need connectivity and can’t get it, that one-time glitch can be painful.
Since I do have both my iPhone 3GS and my Palm Pre, I already have two 3G devices with me. Seems a shame that we seem to need different 3G devices for specific purposes, but that’s the way of the cellular world these days. At this point, I’m online using the non-supported iPhone Internet Tethering feature of the 3GS. I enabled it as a backup plan, and I’m so glad I did. It’s perfect in this particular case. I was listening to music over Bluetooth with my iPhone, so switched that function over to the Pre. This way, I have wireless tunes to go with my wireless Internet. ;)
A quick speed test of the Internet Tethering over Bluetooth yielded very usable results. I’m seeing downloads of 1.65MBps and uploads of 310kbps, which is perfectly fine for my web work. I didn’t even need to bring a USB cable with me, either. Personally, I can’t wait for AT&T to nail down its pricing plan for the feature. While I’d love for it to be free, I am willing to pay for a value-add service. The experience has me really reconsidering the entire 3G space, though. Is there really a need to have 3G in multiple devices when the connection can simply be shared or used for another purpose? I’m getting tired of multiple 3G data plans and devices…
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