CURRENT ISSUE
Contests
Priority IntErrupt
|
|
Issue #231 October 2009
A Broadening Experience
by Steve Ciarcia
OK, I’ll admit that my technical interests seem schizophrenic at times, but I contend that all engineers have their quirks. I just get to play more of mine out in public so I seem quirkier. I have a cell phone, but I don’t want voicemail or too many “smarts” (yet). I want a computer-controlled house, but I don’t want an invasive intelligent media system anymore. (Been there, done that.) I want Internet connectivity everywhere, but I don’t want social networking. (Call me old-fashioned.) I want the whole world to be wireless, but I still string copper wires for every new home-control signal. (Call me insecure.) ;-)
Regardless of the fact that I prefer bulletproof hardwired connections on my fixed-location home control system (HCS), virtually all mobile-computing applications these days are wireless. Like the ubiquitous dial-up modem of the past, all laptops come with built-in Wi-Fi that makes reading e-mail and local news at the breakfast table the new cultural norm. Extending mobility to include constant social network connection, sports score updates, and casual browsing away from home territory just involves linking to cheap Wi-Fi hotspots or a private mobile broadband network.
I got mobile broadband two years ago as a defensive measure (smart phones typically use a mobile voice/data plan, whereas I’m talking about a mobile Internet connection). We have a timeshare condo in Newport, Rhode Island, and like most tourist traps, it can be rip-off city, especially when it comes to Wi-Fi. Don’t get me wrong, the condo, the city, and virtually every place in the town has Wi-Fi—at $10 or more per day! The only free Wi-Fi in town was at Panera Bread, where the Wi-Fi was free but occupying the table imposed a different obligation. In protest, I drove over to the Sprint store in Newport and signed up for mobile broadband. Here’s what I’ve learned during the last two years.
Not every mobile connection is broadband. If it isn’t 3G (third generation), then it really isn’t “broadband.” The three major U.S. networks—Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint—are all 3G and their two-year subscription cost is the same. Beware of the advertising hype when anyone starts talking about coverage and download speeds. Depending on the position of the moon, what you had for lunch, the number of iron train bridges in the area, and other stupid stuff like that, any one of the mobile providers can appear to have the highest speed during a particular test. For 3G, they all seem to be approximately equal under optimum conditions. Of course, out there in the real world, results may vary; but in the end, download speed is simply a function of how close you are to a cell tower.
For the most part, about 1 Mbps is what you can expect in a good signal area. I remember signing on and getting 3.2 Mbps one time, but on average I see 1 Mbps in highly populated areas. The farther you are from the cell tower, the worse it gets—and I’ve experienced connection speeds of less than 100 kbps at times. If you need wide-area mobility along with high data rates all the time, you may be out of luck with current technology and coverage maps.
Mobile Internet for your embedded application or laptop sounds like a solution made in heaven, but rest assured there is always a “gotcha” that reinjects fire and brimstone into the equation. Unlike smart phones, mobile Internet plans currently limit the amount of data downloaded to 5 GB/month before they start adding charges. (I checked my plan and it seems to still say “unlimited download,” for whatever that’s worth.) This may seem like a lot of data until you start using your laptop like it’s still tied to your landline ISP. For example, while e-mails are typically 3 KB, the average webpage is 150 KB, a downloaded song is 4 to 8 MB, and a non-HD one-hour movie is about 800 MB. Going over the 5 GB limit can be hazardous to your wallet.
Depending on the provider, the overcharge can range from barely reasonable to absolutely absurd. Sprint charges $0.05 per megabyte over the 5 GB limit. One gigabyte of extra data will cost you $51.20 over the $60/month regular cost. Based on their current pricing, the same additional gigabyte on Verizon would cost $256 and on AT&T it would be an unbelievable $503.31. Watching Hulu during the morning train commute can get very expensive very fast!
Finally, to add insult to injury, all providers seem to have fine print saying they can reduce broadband speed if they think you are using too much bandwidth (especially for us unlimited download guys) or for certain kinds of data transactions (i.e., VoIP). Heaven forbid you aren’t paying them another $30 to $50 a month for regular cell phone service and try sneaking your phone calls through their towers using Skype. My guess is that video streaming is also on their poison list someplace too.
So, this isn’t a rant or a testimonial for any particular ISP. It’s merely a statement that mobile broadband is something I have, and it has been useful to some extent. I suppose there will be a day when I can no longer watch Hulu while the wife is shopping, or when I can’t leave the HCS webcams streaming data for hours, but I’ll remember that it was fun while it lasted. The irony is that you sign up for all these services based on claims of unlimited benefits, and then after you do, the services get rationed. I guess that it was too much to hope that devious tactics like these were limited to government.
Priority Interrupt Archive List
|
