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!

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.

I caved and bought a wireless USB modem

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I’m not quite sure why I agonized over this decision for so long since it’s not like me to be wishy-washy about gadgets I want to buy. But I caved today after yet another commute on the train without Wi-Fi onboard this morning. I shake my fist at you, MBTA!

Although I got free 2-day shipping with my order, I’m quite sure AT&T won’t get around to sending it out until after Christmas, so it will be a little while. This gives me time to find a USB extension cable since I’m nearly positive it won’t fit into the USB port on my MacBook Air with its limited clearance. RadioShack, I shall hunt thee with a vengeance.
Hmmm, I should do a review on this modem. When I Googled for information on it, there wasn’t much in the way of reviews, so there’s definitely a dearth of detailed information from a user’s point of view on it on the interwebs. Geeky girl to the rescue!

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?

Thinking out loud – wireless modem or not?

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If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen my cry for help on whether or not to get a wireless USB modem to use with my MacBook Air. I’m tempted for 2 reasons: I spend 2 hours on the train per day for my commute to and from work, and I’ve got a corporate discount that would knock 20% off the monthly plan cost. Of course, AT&T also offers a mail-in rebate that makes the modem I’m considering free after all is said and done. Free Wi-Fi is supposed to be available on most of the commuter train cars by Spring 2009, but I’ll believe that when I see it at this rate given how little money the MBTA has and how piss-poor they’re performing overall despite increased ridership.

Yes, I know I can tether my computer to my iPhone 3G with NetShare, the virtues of which I have extolled before. But doing this regularly will most likely result in data usage levels that will put me on AT&T’s radar and it would be just my luck to get slammed with some massive fees as a result (which would be my fault – I know that tethering is against the TOS for my account.)
Do I really need to be connected all the time? I thought of this some during the power outage after the ice storm this past weekend. Our house, along with just about our entire town and a good chunk of the state, was without power for just over 2 days. I did tether my iPhone a little since we ran a small generator to power a space heater and I took the opportunity to charge up my computer at the same time. A wireless modem would have been peachy to have since the cell towers were still up and running. I didn’t really lack for anything to do – I love to read and have plenty of books at home. We have a modest collection of board games and the dog is endless entertainment 90% of the time that he’s awake as it is. Though I didn’t ask him to, my dear husband did hook up the TV and  Xbox 360 to the generator at one point so we could kill some zombies in the cold darkness of our family room. God, how I love that auto-loading shotgun. But I digress…
Cost-wise, $32 more per month to my bill for the wireless modem plan is not pretty, but it’s not terrible in the grand scheme of things, and can be covered if I’m more diligent about bringing my lunch to work more often (she rationalizes in her head knowing damn well this may very well not take place). What bothers me most is the 2-year agreement it requires – I know I’ll need a cell phone 2 years from now, but I’m less sure about the modem. I could also cancel if I need to and pay the horrific ETF, though it is pro-rated now and would be down to just over $100 after 1 year. On the other hand, I don’t see my need to connect to the internet wherever I may be decreasing over the next 2 years. In fact, if all goes according to my devious master plan, I’ll be spending even more time online than I do now.
Erk. I am usually way more decisive than this. I just need to saddle up and make up my damn mind.
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