Relegated on 8 hours a day

So I still don’t have internet access. At 6pmish on Sunday, my DSL provider, it seems, lost the record of my phone number.

We don’t officially exist for some reason. Ergo no internet. They are of course ‘working on it.’

I’m using my brother’s house during the day because, at the moment, my business day requires me to be in the countryside and not in the city.

However I think it’d be a little rude camping in his place just for internet. So I’m only working there from 9am to 7pm while he is at work.

A little bit limited, yes, however critical business functions remain unaffected.

I’m not steaming with annoyance at the moment because a little lightbulb went off in my head: An opportunity!

I have been properly testing mobile internet these past days. I don’t mean limpwristed ‘oh look I can email you from the pub’ testing as I’ve done before. I mean business critical usage.

I’m disappointed to say that, well, it ain’t that good.

First, I tried the N90 connected via bluetooth to the Sony laptop. Nokia really have sorted out their software of late. It all worked. I pressed a button and hey presto I had internet access.

Badly though. Enough to change a server parameter. Enough to casually look at Google News. That was it though. Anything more challenging than occasional browsing and I began to lust after a proper wireless or wired connection.

Then I tried the data card. As you know recent stupid bill for international data use testify to the fact these devices do work… But my biggest issue with it is the heat. After about 10 minutes, the card and the laptop’s left area get hotter and hotter, especially if I’m using a lot of data.

It’s just a little annoying. We’re not talking exploding Dell levels though. The data card solution is a lot more usable. I begin to get frustrated when pages take over 5 seconds to load though. After 5 seconds my mind is drifting toward the opportunity cost of hanging around.

True internet usage requires a wireless/wired connection on broadband. I routinely have multiple applications and browser windows open using 100s of kilobytes a second – a style of working that is just not possible to maintain on a data card. Within minutes I find myself automatically limiting myself. (“I will do that when I get broadband, I’ll do this in London” and so on).

So right now, if I needed a web connection, I’d use the data card.

Second choice is data via bluetooth.

Third is an analog modem connection – although a guaranteed sustained throughput – my chief problem is that a lot of my devices now no longer have modems as standard.

It’s been a fun time really, really trying out the technology. Now, I need my broadband guys to find my phone line record and activate service. Just. Whenever. They. Are. Ready.