I’m at an Internet hotspot. I was at Border’s studying for my EIT and when I popped open my laptop, I noticed I was in the presence of a wireless network. It happened to be for T-Mobile for which I had a discount coupon. I signed up for a free 24 hours with T-Mobile. The sign up process was easy enough. Just give them some info and you’re all ready. They ask for credit card information, which I gave, just in case you spill over the allotted 24 hours. I was reluctant at first, but there’s a pay-as-you-go option. If you decide to use their network after the 24 hours, you pay something like $.10 a minute.

The concept of wireless networks is cool, but they would be more valuable (to me at least) if they had the same coverage and range as cellular networks. Of course, this is all still in its infancy and a successful business model has yet to show itself. I do miss the network available at UCI since it was free and it was almost everywhere on campus. Graduate school?? We’ll see. It’s always an option. All for a ubiquitous wireless network? Not really. But it’s always a plus.

Posted on August 18, 2003 in Uncategorized.