When I was much younger (and had hair), I was an early adopter of new technologies. I had a touch screen on my computer back when this meant affixing a semi-transparent plastic sheet to the monitor and plugging it into the joystick port. I had one of the first Apple ][c computers (with amber monitor), I remember the excitement when EGA superseded CGA graphics, and I actually bought AMI Pro when it first came out for OS/2.
Unfortunately, there are three big problems with being an early adopter. (1) New technology is usually buggy, (2) new technology lacks support, and (3) new technology will probably become outdated quickly. The plastic touch screen didn't work very well and was very hard to program. Touch screens didn't become popular until the technology matured -- two decades later. EGA was quickly replaced by VGA and SVGA. And AMI Pro was so buggy that I ended up writing my dissertation in WordPerfect. (I still think that 1992's WordPerfect 5.2 is better than today's Microsoft Word.)
Due to my past experiences, I'm rarely an early adopter of new technologies. For example, I didn't buy my first DVD player until years after DVDs came out. Shortly after DVDs came out, there was a rumor about a better technology. Just as records were replaced by CDs overnight, I didn't want to start buying DVDs when everyone was switching to HD DVDs. I waited until I was sure that DVDs were not superseded. And I'm glad I waited; BluRay beat out HD DVDs, but the slow adoption rate tells me that my DVDs won't be outdated in the near future. (I know two guys who spent a small fortunes on their betamax and laserdisc collections.)
Wireless Broadband
More and more, I'm finding myself in situations where I need network access. Hotels, for example, either have very slow access for free, or no access at all. I hate driving 10 miles to find a bookstore or coffee shop that has free WiFi, and I cannot justify spending $12 to $25 per day for a hotel's paid Internet service. Besides the outrageous prices, there are limitations regarding
when the 24-hour period ends. Some hotels are 24-hours from purchase, others are noon-to-noon or midnight-to-midnight. And if you shutdown your computer, then you may forfeit your paid 24-hour service.
More than once, I've found myself in an airport or parking lot and needing Internet access. I almost missed a contract because I couldn't get Internet access during a two-hour layover -- I had to wait 5 hours before I could get online.
Because of this, I've finally decided to break down and buy one of those wireless broadband services. Oh, what a nightmare! Right now, I'm just pricing and comparing services. Some of the things I have found so far:
- Unless you go with one of the big four (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile), you will likely not have coverage outside of a limited number of metro areas. Cricket's coverage map, for example, says that they don't offer 3G over most of Silicon Valley.
- Most either want a 2-year contract (with a $200 - $400 cancellation fee) or offer a no-contract option. Currently with T-Mobile, the only difference is the cost of the device (no contract means paying full price for the device), but there is no difference in the monthly rate. Verizon has a no-contract rate that is really expensive. They want as much as $15 per day for the days you use it (that matches most hotel's $12-$25 rate, and I don't have to buy a special device for hotel Internet access and hotels usually don't have a bandwidth limit).
- They all seem to offer two to three levels of Internet access. The lowest level is usually 50MB to 250MB per month. The mid range is 3GB to 5GB per month (a DVD is 4.7GB, so you can do the math -- it's 2-3 Hulu feature films per month). A few providers offer "unlimited" bandwidth, but then you're talking $60-$80 or more per month. That's really expensive for something that I really would only use when I am not in the office.
- Every single one of them says that they support Mac and Windows. Uh, what about Linux? I have that "Early adopter means buggy code" fear...
- While nearly all wireless broadband providers support 3G networks, some provide support for newer networks. For example, Sprint is rolling out their 4G network. T-Mobile is offering "HSPA+". And WiMax isn't dead yet. To me, this sounds like DVD vs BluRay vs HD DVD all over again -- but with a two-year contract that will lock me into the loser. I really want to wait until this settles out, but I'm hitting a business necessity.
Measuring Network Usage
Each of these services charge based on bandwidth usage. However, they don't really tell you much about it. For example, is 250MB per month a lot or a little -- for checking email, surfing the web, and doing basic business tasks (not downloading videos or playing online games).
While there are many programs for measuring real-time network usage, I couldn't find a program to tell me the cumulative total usage. Command-line programs like 'netstat -i' show the total number of packets, but not the total number of bytes. 'ifconfig' and 'nload' show the current byte totals, but that's from the start of the network interface and not from when I say "start measuring now!"
Anyway, using nload, I decided to monitor my network usage. Checking email, reading the web sites I usually read (CNN, USA Today, Photoshop Disasters, Facebook, and typical Google searches), and running VNC over SSH to access my office systems.
The net result? I consumed 50MB in the first 30 minutes. That's half of the allocation of Verizon's $15
pay-by-day plan and 25% of T-Mobile's
monthly 200MB allocation. Over the course of the day, I will probably use between 200MB and 750MB of bandwidth. (I'm not always surfing the web.) Any plan offering less than 1GB per month is an expensive rip-off. (Your mileage will vary based on how you use the Internet.)
Fortunately, I'm only going to need this type of service for 1-2 hours per day and not more than 10 days per month. That comes out to about 20 hours at 100MB per hour, or 2G per month. However, that's based on today's usage. I'm very likely to see overages as I approach the middle of a 2 year contract and my needs expand.
Defcon!
Defcon is coming up next month. One of the
big problems with Las Vegas is that there really is no good, free Internet on the Strip. Krispy Kreme (in Excalibur) and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (Planet Hollywood) offer hit-and-miss free WiFi -- when it works, it works well enough, but when it is down, they rarely know how to reboot the router. All of the Starbucks (in every hotel) only offer fee-based services -- if they offer WiFi at all. The Apple Store in the Fashion Mall has free WiFi, but that isn't exactly convenient. None of these free locations are open 24-hours a day.
Nearly all hotels offer fee-based Internet in your room. Some are wireless only, others have wired but you might need to bring your own cable. (I've been in too many hotel rooms where the in-room network cable was busted.)
Defcon does offer free WiFi to attendees, but I won't go near it. It is an actively hostile network. Even if you are not worried about someone hijacking your SSH or SSL connection (with client-side certs), they can still DoS your connection and attack the server's IP address. Oh, and don't think that Tor or SSL (
without client certs) will save you -- last year, I heard that the
Wall of Sheep ran their own Tor node as well as used man-in-the-middle attacks on SSL.
With Defcon coming up, I'm looking for a solid, reliable, secure-enough solution for Internet access. If I go 3G, I still won't use it at the conference... but back at the hotel room should be fine. (Right?) Is 3G the way to go? Are there other options? Which providers are best and include support for Linux? Hopefully this year I will guess correctly and choose well for the duration of a two-year contract. Oh, and what do people use in other countries? I might travel in the future and BlackHat in Europe sounds fun!
Hypocrisy? Probably. But it isn't a one-time fee of $60. It is $60 x 24 months = $1440 for two years.
Viewed another way, I have Internet at my home and office. Each runs about $40 per month for uncapped access. A $60 wireless plan is nearly as expensive as both of my other Internet services, offers a slower data rate, requires a device that must be charged regularly (most Android phones require nightly charging), and this doesn't even include the per-minute talk rates.
For example, T-Mobile has 3 services. There's the 200MB per month rate (cheap, but definitely too capped). There's the 5GB/mo rate -- with costs higher than a cable-modem. (Why pay the same cable-modem price for a slower, capped rate?) Both of these plans work with a USB dongle, so there is no additional device to recharge nightly.
Finally, there is their unlimited rate plan. This costs double compared to a cable modem and can only be used use a smart phone. Now we have gone from a small device to a big device that must be carried from hotel to hotel on each trip -- and it must be charged nightly (or more often, depending on usage).
And don't get me started on their price per minute fees. ($0.10 per minute for a regular cell phone, or $0.45 per minute for a smart phone with unlimited Internet access!)
While I seem to be picking on T-Mobile, these same issues are with all of the big four carriers. Each offers variations of the same services with pricing that is just different enough to make direct comparisons difficult.
Basically, all of these options suck. The prices are more than double compared to regular home services and the data rates are significantly less and usually capped with a huge fee for any overages. Pay more, get less. I'm looking for better options.
I live in Norway and my provider is NetCom. For about $3 a month I can get a second sim card I can insert in my Thinkpad that use the same data subscription as my iPhone. It works on Linux. Great for emergencies
Perhaps US providers have similar products? If you own a smartphone with a data subscription, that is.
We previously had a Sprint Overdrive wifi hotspot under contract. When we activated our Evos, they let us out of our contract despite still having about 1.75 years left on it.
I'm not sure what mobile your on, but I just survived 3 weeks without internet (Debacle!)by using my Droid as my modem via a free app.
In that period I consumed about 5GB, and it was all under my unlimited phone data plan for 70/month. I was averaging about 1100kbps too.
Hopefully of some use..
Not so. T-Mobile has three unique elements in its current plan compared to its three major competitors in the U.S.:
* Prepay for the device, and service is $10/month cheaper. (Devices are as cheap as about $130, so that's one year of use to repay.)
* No contract is required if you prepay, thus no cancellation fee.
* No overage fees above 5 GB per month, although they reserve the right to throttle from HSPA 7.2/HSPA+ speeds to something much lower (unstated).
There's also a current $10/month promotion, so you can get 3G service for $40/month if you prepurchase the device.
I have no business relationship with any cell carrier; I'm a reporter who covers wireless data quite closely
If you're going to tether a phone, why not connect it to a USB charger at the same time?
Minor nitpick: why are people calling data transfer limits "bandwidth"? It makes for confusing discussions when you start making international comparisons (Finnish 3G carriers limit the max bit rate[=bandwidth] but even the cheapest plans have unlimited data transfer).
PS - There's free wifi in the lobby of the Bellagio, and seating in the raised area ( I think it's a piano bar at night ) across from the registration desk if you're in a pinch and staying/gambling/whatever there.
Seems like you could have fun with a honeypot...
Over the past year or so I've had similar concerns and issues with 3G access here in the UK.
For myself, the use is sporadic and there are various providers. I wanted a 3G modem to use which worked well with Linux.
Personally I settled on the Huawei E220 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_E220). The reasons were a few several fold.
- With a firmware upgrade it would support up to 7.2mbps over the stock 3.8mbps (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/networking/?p=431).
- A free tool enables a bit of HEX editing to 'sim unlock' the device (http://www.elakiri.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-115870.html though QMAT is now difficult to find) .
- It works with linux as a nice dial-up HSDPA modem.
- If I wanted to mess around later, it can be connected to an external antenna. (http://www.m0mcx.co.uk/2009/07/23/huawei-e220-external-antenna-modification/ or http://www.djinsonic.com/2008/external-antenna-for-huawei-e220/)
Admitedly it may not be the most 'smooth' and 'tidy' solution as it requires some time, dedication and possible 'hackery' and I apologise if that's unapproved of on here.
Still, it's served me well and I hope you find this information at least useful if not interesting.