Someone on the Sounder commuter train from Tacoma is giving away free WiFi.
Tight. Sit in the front car and log on to his network, powered by a portable battery-powered hotspot and, presumably, a cellular data link.
WiFi on moving vehicles has been a holy grail for a while now. Boeing is working on adding the service to some planes, and the Washington State Ferries are trying to get it on the ferry service. The technical problem, as I understand, is that you drop data as you get handed off from one relay station to another. While this is fine for a phone call (a few milliseconds of dead air), it’s unacceptable for a data network, where it can ruin a file transfer.
I’ve been using a Motorola v710 as a Bluetooth modem with my PowerBook for a few months now, and it works pretty spectacular. Though much has been made of Verizon’s annoying decision to cripple the Bluetooth on the phone, it works great as a modem. And you can’t beat Verizon’s coverage area.
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Now Playing: Episode 349
Troops needed in Afghanistan end up in Iraq, Obama punts on the FISA bill, and finally: the Supremes rule on the 2nd amendment.
Links Mentioned: The hunt for Bin Laden … the new Army Iraq report … the FISA bill … the Prof references Chinua Achebe and The Lives of Others … the Genarlow Wilson aftermath.
One thing that I didn’t mention is that it helps to look at the ethnic make-up of the city of Flint. The goal is definitely to shut places like this down.