Recently I moved to a new apartment. We decided to cancel service and get service with a new provider. Adelphia SUCKS. They questioned me for “illegal” server activity. I made an FTP server to back up one of my servers back home, and the freaked out because they saw activity on port 21 and 22. Anyway, it turns out that Adelphia is the only cable company that offers service in my area. A month ago I made an appointment with Adelphia to “set up” my Internet. It just so happened that during the 2 hour window they gave me to be home, I had other arrangements. I asked them to come towards the end of the window, instead they came at the beginning and all hope was lost. The next available slot was a week from the following Saturday from 1-5. I wasn’t going to commit a four hour time slot on a Saturday afternoon, so I said ‘F’ it and bought an external WIFI antenna for my laptop. That’s when the fun started.

Things were going swimmingly until my neighbor caught on. One day the connection was WEP’ed. Fortunately I was able to hop on to another neighbors. It didn’t last long until they WAP’ed theirs (I have no idea how they knew I was on, probably bandwidth). Anyway, that was my last option. I ground my teeth, and called Adelphia to set up an appointment. That was when the unbelievable happened. I came home from work today, desperate for Internet, and I decided to try and plug my cable modem into the wall. I had thought about it before, but wrote off the possibility of the modem just hopping onto the network. Well, I’ve waisted the past month without Internet, when I could have had it for free. I’m cruising now, will Adelphia find out?

I found this article in slashdot about wifi in your car. In all actuality I'm writing this article on the 28th, but I've been thinking about this idea for a while and it needs to be written down. I was un-aware of the ability to supply WiFi over the cell network at high speeds and a reasonable price until this was brought to my attention. Tor Amundson has a site detailing the process of creating a WiFi access point for your car using an EVDO pcmcia card. EVDO can deliver around 300kbs in it's major supported areas (big cities), 100kbs in normal digital service areas (smaller cities), and 5kbs in remote areas (the sticks). The best part is, it is a flat fee of $80 a month for unlimited access. Tor uses his device for some pretty cool stuff. He hooked up a GPS unit to the router and it syncs with Google Maps Standalone on a server else where. This allows for a web application that displays the exact location of a given vehicle as long as it has Internet. The cellphone networks are key here. There is Internet offered via satellite, but the satellites are too small a target to hit in motion. The first application of this that came to mind was in the RV market. Because my father deals allot with RV's, and I generally deal with the technical end, I saw this as a great fit. Imagine the possibilities. Anyone in the coach could hook up to the WiFi and be surfing the net, going down the road. The server could be synced with the coach systems. In particular the engine heater and thermometers so you could check the temp of the coach from your house, or Japan for that matter. Security is also a big plus in this area. You could have web cams and the works, right there at your finger tips. Beyond the RV market, my next thought was Emergency Vehicles. The possibilities are endless. You have the Internet in your vehicle now, out of this world. I hope to be thinking about this idea further and hopefully applying it soon. I should be moving back to Iowa mid summer. I will soon be immersed once again in the RV world. Look out world, here comes the Internet!