Another place to get web access is public libraries. You can use WiFi at the Corvallis Library for free. I think it's unlimited. I don't know if other libraries offer free WiFi. -- Allen Brown http://brown.armoredpenguin.com/~abrown/ It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive. --- Sir Winston Churchill
> The iPhone Nomad - Is He or She Possible? > > > The questions is posed first, then the compiled essence of the > answers: > > I have a goal. You might say I'm looking for the silver lining in a > storm cloud. > > Over the next six months I'm going to have to wind down my financial > lifestyle to the point I live in a camper trailer behind my car. > Enough said about that. What I really am looking at is the fact that > I use my iPhone as my telephone and my Internet as well as writing > already. I have a laptop that is a dual-boot one side being Fedora > 11 and the other side being Windows XP. My thinking is that I can > keep my iPhone updated on Windows and use Skype for my telephone > existence with e-mail being the way people contact me more formally. > > But this notion of a nomad lifestyle brings up several questions. > First, using an iPhone with Windows means that you have less > functionality in relationship between the operating system and the > handset. What is it that Windows won't be able to do for my iPhone > that the Macintosh operating system can. (Trading my laptop in for a > Macintosh lap top is not an option in my financial situation) > > Secondly, this means that I am way to be dependent on the E, 3G > and Starbucks type WiFi for all my networking needs. Can I update > the software on my iPhone through a Starbucks type WiFi connection? > I'm sure it's going to take longer than on broadband, but is it even > possible? > > Thirdly, I'm not even sure whether Fedora 11 and Windows XP can > update over WiFi. > > And the whole business of people calling me if I have to use Skype > alone is a mystery so far. > > Perhaps if I had just a cheaper landline that phone number could > reach me over the AT&T network and have really slow updates. But > that itself would be depending on being able to hang onto my home, > and eventually I will almost certainly have to move to my camper > trailer. > > So you see I have some logistics problems here, and I have a sneaky > suspicion I'm not even seeing some real pitfalls. But I'd like to > ask anyone who has experience in any of these areas to help me > orient myself, and in return I plan to write a kind of article about > the whole thing and put it out there somehow because I think that > there will be a lot of us out there someday. > > Don't cry for me Argentina, after all, if you have an iPhone by > definition you are one of the really lucky ones in this world of 6.7 > 5 billion people. > > Leo Rivers December 16, 2009 9:16 AM Cottage Grove, Oregon 2009© > > > Some replies: > > On 12/18/09 2:59 AM, LuKreme wrote: Yes. And starbucks wifi is > 'broadband' at least for certain values of broadband. I normally get > about 50-100KBps on their wifi, which is plenty fast enough for an iPhone. > > Starbucks is AT&T so maybe I can buy a card and buy the band width > > John wrote: Windows updates fine over WiFi. What it won't attempt is to > instal the updates when not plugged in to power...it will hold the > updates until it is plugged in. > > On 12/18/09 2:59 AM, LuKreme wrote: As for updating windows or Fedora, > it should work. However, some updates night be a bit large. Nit sure > what Starbucks policy is on 100MB downloads. > > Ron Risley wrote: If you mean apps and tunes, then yes. For backups and > the occasional firmware update (and really big apps), you'll need to > boot your laptop into Windows and use iTunes. But how are you planning > to connect your laptop to the net? If you're in the US, you can't > tether, so you would need to be able to find free WiFi to download > firmware updates and the like. > > On 12/18/09 2:59 AM, Ron Risley wrote: Look into Google Voice. You can > get a regular phone number from Google, which can forward to one or more > phones and does voice mail with transcriptions that can be delivered on > the web. This page might also be useful if you decide to use GV: > > I have several acquaintances who have iPhones but no Mac OS computers > and they seem to do fine. Remember, Windows users are part of Apple's > target demographic for the iPhone. You can use Google instead of iCal > for calendar/contact/email sync, which also means that you can use the > web interfaces for those functions so that you can stay on the Linux > side when using your laptop. > > Alternate approach; > > epcraig wrote:I can see that with Android/Ubuntu/Clearwire. T-mobile is > a bit limited in range (OK, coming from AT&T perhaps not) you might go > with Droid/Verizon? > > mcherba wrote: With a rooted droid, you could set it up as an access > point and access the net through it from your laptop. That might work a > bit better, but I'm sure the iphone has apps that turn it into an access > point. As for updating your iphone via a free wifi connection like thos > offered by various coffee houses. That should be very workable. I > don't see why the phone would see it as anything other than just another > wifi network. Sure, the download might not be swift, but you can try > various ones till you find one that works well enough. > > mike.mikemiller wrote: Have you looked at google voice vs Skype? You > get more services for free with google voice vs skypes free offering. > > > > -- > the ancient destructive urges in, us, that grow more deadly as our > populations approach in size and complexity those of ancient Mars. Every > war crisis, witch-hunt, race riot and purge is a reminder and warning. We > are the Martians. If we cannot control the inheritance within us this will > be their second dead planet! > quote: Dr. Bernard Quatermass of the The British Experimental Rocket Group > The BBC TV serial miniseries version of "Quatermass and the Pit" 1957. > > _______________________________________________ > EUGLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug > _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
