Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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As it turns out, I’m a wireless data whore

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Technically, addict is probably a better descriptor than whore. But you know what I mean.

Since I got my USBConnect Mercury modem in order to have internet access during my commute on the train, I’ve been tracking my usage to ensure I don’t go over my plan allotment. I chose the cheapest plan available to me at $32/month after my corporate discount, which includes 50MB of data. Yes, only a measly 50MB. In retrospect, my reasoning that WiFi would be periodically available on the trains so I wouldn’t have to use the modem every single day and that I could limit my usage of the modem enough to avoid incurring overage charges seems quite dubious, at best.

Looking at my daily usage, I saw that in my first few train rides with the modem that I used about 5MB (1/5 of my total monthly allotment) each time! I resolved to use it more sparingly, turning off image downloading in my browser, ensuring that iTunes was closed so automatic downloads of new podcasts wouldn’t start, etc. Alas, this was not enough and when I logged into my AT&T account yesterday morning, I learned that I was already 25MB over my 50MB allotment for the month. On my plan, the overage charge is about $1.00 per MB, so that would be $25 extra on my bill next month if I stopped using the modem immediately for the rest of the billing period. The next highest data plan offers 5GB (how they go from 50MB to 5GB with nothing in between, I don’t know) for just $16 more per month. This made my decision to move up to the next plan much easier, which was done in a quick call to AT&T’s customer service. Fortunately, they made it retroactive as well so I wouldn’t get any overage charges for this month. Phew!
This 5GB/month plan means I could use up to 50MB per day during my commute each month. Much, much better! I still can’t believe how I thought 50MB/month would be sufficient. I am more of a wireless data whore (addict) than I thought. Erk!

Post-CES recovery and Palm Pre thoughts

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I wouldn’t say I’m fully recovered from the sleep deprivation and jet lag from CES last week, but I’m better. I still can’t manage to get out of bed early enough to work out before work, but I hope to get back into my normal schedule next week. I’m the type of girl who needs her sleep, and not being able to sleep in periodically adds up even over short periods of time. We’ve got one of those Tempurpedic beds, so sleeping = snuggly heaven.

CES was crazy – going there as press meant I spent 99% of my time looking at my assigned products (for a sister site covering products I’m less familiar with) on the show floor, taking pictures of them, and then writing about them. I had absolutely no time to wander the show floor for myself, and even if I had, I was too tired to really get excited about anything. The one thing that I did cover for work was the Palm announcement, and that actually was a bit exciting.
At the event, I sat in the second row to see John Rubinstein, Ed Colligan, and the new Pre smartphone in all their glory. There were a few big-time bloggers I recognized in the line beforehand – one who was really loud and quite annoying, and another who felt his fame allowed him to get in and out of the line wherever he pleased at will. Should I ever become web-famous (insert incredulous chortle here), I promise I won’t turn into a jackass. Anyway, the event was not nearly as thrilling as the Macworld keynotes I’ve attended, unsurprisingly. It felt like the audience only warmed up toward the end of the event after most of the details of the Pre had been covered and the webOS demo had concluded, an understandable hesitation given Palm’s lack of innovation in recent years.
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed my Tweet last week describing how the Pre may tempt me away from my iPhone. I know other iPhone fans out there may feel I’m crazy, easily swayed by new shiny objects, or both, but I urge you to watch the event video that’s now up on Palm’s site to see the full demo for yourself. I was telling a co-worker that it feels like the Palm software engineers started with an iPhone and said, “What functionality can we add to this to create a device that’s even better?” It’s got all the iPhone hardware basics – a decently-large touchscreen (capacitive as well, I think), WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth, though the Pre has an edge with the A2DP stereo Bluetooth profile. Software-wise, the webOS seems to offer as slick of an interface as on the iPhone, with the added bonus of multi-tasking and built-in syncing with Google apps and Facebook.
Now, I have to qualify my potential switch to the Pre. A.) I need an unlocked GSM version compatible with AT&T’s 3G network that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. B.) It MUST easily sync with my Mac – iCal, Address Book, my DRM-free iTunes music, the whole kit and kaboodle. C.) The 3rd-party apps must match or exceed what I’ve got on my iPhone already (entertaining games, Twitter client, eBook reader, SplashID or equivalent, MobileMe iDisk access, etc.). To get all of that in the Pre, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to wait a while. Of course, it won’t play the videos I buy or rent from iTunes no matter what, so I’m a little screwed regardless, and I really don’t want to carry another device since I’ve gotten very used to my iPhone as my portable media player as well.
I’ll give a shameless plug here – for a fabulous first impression review of the Pre, check out this one. To see Palm’s press event video, now up on their site, go here. As a co-worker pointed out, do you see the structural similarities of Palm’s site to Apple’s now? Mr. Rubinstein is indeed exerting a lot of influence at Palm from his last job, methinks.
Regarding the Epic Failage I mentioned in my last post about my USB Modem, I tried in vain to use it at the Palm press event (why they didn’t have a WiFi network for the press, I do not know). Frankly, I don’t think it was the modem’s fault at all – I chalk it up to the overload on AT&T’s network (I saw a ton of iPhones to begin with, and I’m guessing the majority of them were locked and on AT&T’s network). I even tried tethering to my iPhone with NetShare – no dice with that either. I do feel bad that the modem I recommended didn’t work out for Chris over at EverythingiCafe.com – sorry, Chris! 🙁

Vaja iVolution Dockable case problems – video

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I ordered the Vaja iVolution Dockable case for my iPhone 3G a little while ago, expecting it to be like the Incase Slider in functionality but with a little more panache. Unfortunately, the case did not fit well at all, putting constant pressure on the volume buttons, rendering my iPhone unusable (or at least unpleasant to use) while in the case. I recorded this video for Vaja’s customer service department to show them what I meant in addition to describing it in my email. I admit I didn’t make this video for macgirl.net, so it lacks the amount of preparation and polish (and I would have done my nails, dammit!) I would have attempted in that case, but I thought I’d put it up here for your viewing pleasure anyway. 😉 For the record, Vaja promptly issued a return authorization, so this case is on its way back to them for a refund…

Roller coaster ride with AT&T customer service

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I should really know better. I have not and should not expect that contact with customer service at any company will go well. Like most people, I’ve been burned far too many times and expect poor service to be the norm at this point. My contact with AT&T seemed to start out well, then dove into the eighth circle of hell, though it ended on a relatively good note much to my surprise.

I first called AT&T customer service last night after getting home from work, using the number I normally dial from my cell phone. I talked to a polite young man who, after hearing my description of what happened, said that I needed to talk to the warranty department and gave me their number. I called this number and spoke to Crystal, who sounded all of 15 years old, and she started the process to authorize a return and get me a new modem. After 15 minutes on the phone with her, she realized that I’m a Premier customer and that I was still within the 30-day return period and said, without much in the way of an apology, that she couldn’t handle this exchange because of my Premier status and because she’d thought that I was past the 30-day return period (despite the fact that I’d mentioned the dates of my order numerous times). She then gave me the number for the Premier warranty department. I called this number to find out that they were closed. Of course.
I called the Premier warranty department first thing this morning and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Davalyn issued a return label via email, which I received while I was still on the phone, placed an order for a replacement modem and realized that it should have been free for me to begin with, not the $29.99 I paid when I ordered it, and arranged a service credit for the 8 days I was unable to use the modem (they start charging you for service the moment you place an order regardless of when you actually receive the device). So, I have a new (refurbished) modem on the way to me for $0, a credit on my account for the past 8 days, and a return label in hand to ship back the non-functional modem I have now, after which I’ll receive a credit back to my credit card. Not bad in the end, eh? All of this took 1 hour to achieve on the phone with the long initial hold time, however, and I do own up to the fact that I didn’t think to call Premier customer service first last night instead of the “regular” customer service number, which could have avoided some of the run-around I got. Oh well. Now I just hope I receive the replacement before my trip to CES (I love my job!) next week.

I spoke too soon…

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Yesterday, I complained in my blog (compblogged? blained?) that the MBTA seemed unlikely to get around to actually wiring the commuter rail cars with Wi-Fi as they’d previously announced. Well, I was wrong. This very morning, 2 cars on my train had been transformed into moving orange billboards for AT&T Wi-Fi. Once on board, I whipped out my MacBook Air and connected to the network and tried to load a page. I waited. And waited some more. And then… the page finally loaded. Having free Wi-Fi is good, but if it’s always this dog-slow, I will still be considering a USB modem for my Mac. I get better speeds tethering my Mac to my iPhone 3G along the same route than what I saw on the train’s Wi-Fi network this morning. WTF?

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