Last week I popped down to London for the Ubuntu Jaunty release party (congratulations, by the way, to all involved). Even though it’s practically the opposite end of the country, I can still use the term ‘popped’ because the journey was less that 3.5 hours. Coolness #1.
I thought I’d be productive on the way down (and back) and took along my old Nokia N95 with Pay As You Go SIM. Turn it on, plug it in, a short configuration procedure (i.e. pick your provider) and I was online. What happened to hacking PPP files and AT commands? Coolness #2.
It didn’t take long to burn through my credit on the SIM, after which I discovered that Virgin now offer T-Mobile WiFi on their west coast trains. Coolness #3.
Today I picked up a T-Mobile PAYG mobile broadband dongle (for days when I want a bit more social interaction than the numerous animals that inhabit our house, and Chai Tea Lattes of course!) and, unsurprisingly, it just worked – like my N95.
We’ve come a long way baby.
