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!

Dots Gloves arrived and USBConnect Mercury first thoughts

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My Dots Gloves finally arrived! Remember these? I ordered them back in October, IIRC, waited a month or two, had my order canceled and refunded (their choice, not mine) and then re-ordered them earlier this month when they were back in stock. They arrived while I was at CES and I’ve been wearing them during my commute. The good news: they work with my iPhone! The bad news: their medium size for women is too big for me. I’ll start working on my review of these gloves shortly…

I’ve been using my USBConnect Mercury modem with my MacBook Air during my commute this week and it’s working out pretty well. It’s far faster than I expected when I have a good signal, definitely better than the on-train WiFi when it’s available and faster than tethering with my iPhone 3G. Oddly, it consistently shows fewer 3G signal bars than my iPhone does at any point – either my iPhone is lying to me or the Mercury is. I’m guessing it’s my iPhone if what I’ve read about how it shows signal strength is correct. I’ve had one minor, yet annoying, problem with it so far though it could be my Mac more than the Mercury. I do lose my 3G signal along my train route (AT&T’s coverage here isn’t complete) and I have to disconnect and reconnect to the network using the HSPA modem menu in my task bar before Safari will recognize the network connection after the connection drops and returns. I’ll have to do a little more research to figure that one out.

USB modem arrived in time for CES!

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The evening before I left for CES was a little crazy with the packing and preparation I needed to do to get ready for an early flight last Tuesday morning. My last errand that day was getting to the library to get a book (instead of reading eBooks solely on my iPhone that would be a drain on the battery on flights without power outlets), during which my husband called me. I contemplated asking him if a package had arrived for me, but decided that I wanted to put off the disappointment if there wasn’t one waiting for me until I got home, so I didn’t ask. As I pulled into the driveway, I *thought* I spied a package on the front porch, but thought I could be hallucinating optimistically. When I checked, it was an indeed a package containing my replacement USB modem. Yay!


Amidst folding laundry and watching an episode of Heroes (we had far more episodes to watch from the 3rd season than I’d thought and our initial marathon petered out after 4 straight episodes), I tried the modem out. Again, I’d chosen the USBConnect Mercury modem, selecting it over the Quicksilver model since the Mercury has a built-in microSD card slot to make it a USB thumb drive as well (the 8GB card I bought on eBay has not yet arrived, however). If you read about the debacle that resulted with my first modem (I blogged about it a couple of weeks ago), you can understand that I was a little anxious to get this replacement working. I did, but it took a little more effort than expected.


With the first Mercury I’d received, there was no instruction card in the box asking me to call an 800-number to activate it first, and it worked for 10 seconds, pooped out, and then tech support mayhem ensued. I had confirmed with AT&T support that I didn’t need to activate it first, so I was sure I didn’t miss a step in the troubleshooting. The replacement Mercury, however, did come with an instruction card asking me to activate it. I ignored it at first, thinking it was just thrown in the box out of habit and didn’t apply since the first one hadn’t needed it. Due to my arrogance, the gods of tech deemed that I was to be wrong.


After trying to get the modem to work to no avail, I went back to the stupid activation card and followed the instructions on a whim. After that, it worked like a charm. To boot, because I’m running the latest version of Leopard, 10.5.6., I didn’t need the Connection Manager software and only needed to install a driver that prompts a signal meter to appear in my task bar when the modem is connected, through which I can connect, disconnect, or turn the modem off. Quite nifty, and it’s nice to not have to install another application on my Mac.


So, I’ll do a review of the modem after I get some more use out of it. I’m posting this as I wait at the McCarran airport to leave Vegas after CES and it turns out that I didn’t get to use it much at all during my time here, and the one time I did try to use it resulted in more Epic Failage. I’ll explain what happened (and talk about CES) in my next post, which will be written after I recuperate with 48 hours of non-stop sleep.

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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’ll never buy refurbished again – wireless modem EPIC FAIL

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My wireless modem (the USBConnect Mercury made by Sierra Wireless) arrived last night and though I wasn’t able to try it out right away without a USB extension cable (I’ve ordered one but it hasn’t arrived yet), I did download the software from Sierra Wireless’s site to be prepared for it. At work this morning, I borrowed a cable and tried it out, and it worked brilliantly for all of 10 seconds, and then abruptly stopped working. I did immediately think that something went wrong with the modem internally, but valiantly tried to troubleshoot and get it working again. In the end, I spent far too much time trying to get it to work and Sierra Wireless support deemed it broken and eligible for return after much angst and irritation on my part. 

I had to go through a round of troubleshooting with AT&T tech support first, which was absolutely USELESS. The script-driven and inattentive support specialist kept sending me PC instructions and gave me information in direct conflict with what I’d found on Sierra Wireless’s site own support site. Idiots. Needless to say, I gave the worst possible scores and scathing commentary in the customer feedback survey right after, not that it will actually change anything about how they operate…

I have purchased refurbished items before and had no problems. The best example was a Blackberry 8700c from AT&T a couple of years ago that looked brand new and performed flawlessly. My refurbished stuff luck has apparently run out, though I think I’ll have no choice but to get another refurbished modem as a replacement for this one. I need to look at AT&T’s policies first to see if I need to return this by mail or if I can simply bring it to a local store to get a replacement. At this rate, it will be some long, convoluted process that will require me to package it in exactly 3.79 sheets of bubble wrap in a blue box sent via unicycle courier. Ugh.
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