Ubiquitous Internet?

I’m at an off-site on the North Shore of Lake Superior and finally had a chance to test Verizon’s claim to be THE ONLY wireless provider that is capable of saturating this sparsely populated region. Since the place I’m staying lacks internet access (and yes, it’s good to get off-the-grid but I usually need some access), I tried connecting to my Treo 700p using it as a USB modem.

The good news? I’m connected. The bad news? It tests at 92kbps down and 89kbps up (I’ve only got one small bar). Knowing that I usually achieve 700kbps down and 200kbps up when signal is good, it’s frustrating that I can’t have faster access.

Then I stop and say to myself, “Hey bonehead. You’re nearly in the friggin’ wilderness and you’re whining about being connected faster than that old 56k modem you used to use not that many years ago!?!” I must admit that it’s pretty amazing that I’m connected here, pulled over to a rest stop a few hours ago to send a PDF to a client because I could, and can use a legitimate connection to the ‘net vs. what I used to do when coming up here in the last couple of years: go wardriving and try to sniff out open Wifi connections so I could get connected.

My son asked me some weeks ago to use my laptop in the car so he could continue his online game he’d started in the house. He simply couldn’t understand why he couldn’t be connected at high speed everywhere and all the time. THAT is the expectation that is already here (he’s 11 years old) and the demand for ubiquitous internet is only going to accelerate.