EVDO saves the day

When I first got my cellular data connection, I was not impressed. I would take my cellular connection card and go to the EVDO coverage areas and run speed tests and get crummy numbers for ping and download throughput. The latency was bad, it was pretty much unusable. I kept it around for a backup method to get on the network, but for the most part I searched for wired or 802.11 connections.

I had the opportunity recently to upgrade the firmware and the dialer software, and I have been impressed. The speeds are better, the latency is better, and the coverage seems better.

I have had odd situations where the software will disconnect for no good reason, or when you click on the dialer software it can take a minute for it to respond, but for the most part I am more than happy to deal with those situations rather than have no network connectivity at all.

I have had to resort to the cellular connection when I am behind the iron curtain. My employer has not seen the light, and insists that we need to visit the web via a proxy server with very restrictive filters.

I came from a very wide open environment, so this restriction is too much for the internet junkie that I have become to handle gracefully. Others that have lived in this ecosystem for a longer period of time are not bothered by it too much, but when you shut down my instant messenger access, and cut down my outbound ssh access, and ask that I go cold turkey, that is just too much.

Yes, I can create ssh tunnels through the proxy server, but the Nazi admins watch for a bunch of tunnelled traffic and come give you a talking to. It is OK for short durations, but not for an every day solution.

This is where a privately owned laptop and a cellular data connection is a lifesaver. The speeds are not nearly what I am used to, but it sure beats nothing.

How much longer do I have on this contract anyway? I like to joke that they did OK on the recruiting, and on the relocating, but not so much on the retaining.

We shall see.