Data

It's pretty easy these days to get on the internet. For the last couple of years I've been here or there "borrowing" wifi networks for high data and dedicated activities like downloading music, or doing web development on a server via SSH. It is an easy party, with lots of cake and ice cream.

Also, two years ago I went from a normal old cell phone to a "smartphone" (I'll not incriminate myself here) which has an unlimited (no lie) data plan, and a fully functional web browser. It didn't take long to figure out how to share my phone's internet connection with my laptop. However, on Shindagger, and probably a lot of places where you would build off the grid, cell phone reception is hardly up to par.

No problem any trucker worth his rig ain't seen. I just went to the nearest truck stop and picked up one of those trucker antennas, and ordered a Wilson cell phone amplifier (off the internet even), and today I get 5 bars with 3G data. Speed tests range from .87Mbs to 1.6Mbs download with ping times around 300ms. It's not super fast, but it's solid enough to watch Hulu, download podcasts, and well..