Norman RichardsI want my two dollarsEVDO Rev. A review- (Found July 15, 2008 ) Ok, so I lied a couple days ago when I said I'd be canceling my EVDO service when I get my iPhone in a couple weeks. I was really just trying to make the point that the expected iPhone service pricing is not out of the ordinary and someone with iPhone service would be paying much less than many of us already pay for mobile access. I planned to keep my EVDO service because I do have mobile data needs that extend beyond web and mail. Unless the iPhone can share it's connection via bluetooth or..http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/EVDO_Rev._A_review.html Escaping the WiFi ghetto- (Found July 15, 2008 ) "WiFi is dead", I said almost exactly one year ago. When I first discovered broadband wireless, I thought I had forever escaped the pains of that WiFi. Things were good for a while, until the MacBook Pro came along. The ExpressCard debacle plunged me back to the dark ages of WiFi, and let me tell you it wasn't pretty. It seemed the state of public WiFi had actually gotten worse while I had been away. Keep in mind that as I say this, I'm in Austin, the third most unwired city in the US. ...http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/Escaping_the_WiFi_g.html Wireless broadband with EVDO - 2 month review- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I've been on EVDO for almost 2 months now. When I signed up, I was fairly certain that wireless broadband would kill public wifi, but in thinking about how disappointed I was with GPRS I knew that it wasn't a given. Fortunately, for me, EVDO has turned out to be everything I thought it would be, and then some. I chose Verizon's BroadbandAccess program. It's $80 a month. ($60 if you have phone service with them) That's not cheap, but it has proven worth every penny to have connectivity...http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/Wireless_broadband_.html WiFi is dead- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I love WiFi. I think wireless is a great technology to replace cables for a homeoffice network, but the concept of a public WiFi hotspot is increasingly less interesting. Over the last year, I've written a lot about the unreliability of wireless access. Assuming your local access point isn't down or mis-configured (a common problem here in Austin), you have to deal with garbage like captive portals, SMTP interception and other types of filtering. Public WiFi really is like a box of...http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/WiFi_is_dead.html Why does domain registration attract such scum- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I made the mistake of using the email address of one of my first ISPs. I've had my jump.net address for 10 years, and have kept it with me long after the ISP died. Well, they didn't die. It was much worse; they sold out to a bigger ISP. Oh, and that ISP got gobbled up by another ISP. Of course that ISP was sold again, and I'm currently paying money to a XO, I think. You'd think that a large provider could take care of things like keeping domain names registered. Apparently not. They...http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/Why_does_domain_reg.html SBC blocks port 25- (Found July 15, 2008 ) SBC blocks port 25 for business users Finding a good ISP is hard. It's always been hard, but it's never been as hard as it is now. The mega-ISPs are, almost without exception, garbage, and it is neaerly impossible to find an ISP who will just give you a good internet connection without messing with your bits on the way out. Most users will accept whatever garbage service their ISP offers, and if most users are happy then we get service that caters to that mass of indiscriminate consumers. ..http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/sbc_blocks_port_25.html roaming with the VPN- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I've discovered an added bonus of always working over the VPN. I do a lot of work that requires long running connections, like ssh. Moving between networks causes a lot of problems because I have to close and re-open the connections. Today when I got in to the office, I went to the iTerm window that had an open ssh connection from earlier in the morning at home and discovered that it was alive. From the perspective of the remote machine, my box hadn't moved. By reconnecting to the VPN, I..http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/roaming_with_the_VPN.html Property owners don't own the airwaves around them.- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I'm very glad to see that the FCC Says Airports Can't Regulate Wi-Fi. (via Jeff Nolan) While the libertarian side of me likes the idea of strong rights for property owners, I think the personal right of people to communicate freely trumps that. By the same reasoning, I think that cell phone jamming technologies should be illegal. Fortunately are, but there are enough people with irrational phone rage that I'm not sure eventually some dimwitted politician will try and make it legal. In...http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/own_the_air.html Antisocial promiscuous networking- (Found July 15, 2008 ) I don't understand why anyone would want to secure a wireless access point. It doesn't make much sense to me. Firewalls and NAT and other devices which promote the fallacy of the secure local network don't make much sense to me either. But trying to secure a wireless network just seems silly to me. I was without wireless access in my new place for a while this weekend. Much to my surprise, I found a wireless network run by a neighbor. It's definitely a good sign when you have such.http://members.capmac.org/~orb/blog.cgi/tech/net/socially_antisocial.html |