"Wireless" takes on a whole new meaning!

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I recently got thoroughly annoyed with my internet service provider (whose name begins with V).  It was connected with my home telephone system, and when I first got the service ---for a very reasonable price--- it worked beautifully.  But now, I often found it not even connecting to the internet, so I gave it up, and went to a computer store.  What are my options, I asked them.

One option was to get a service ---unfortunately from the same provider, but a different service--- which actually used the cell-phone network system towers to link the customer to the internet.  Now, my wireless (cell) phone really works very well, so I knew that their cellphone tower system is one of the best in the country, especially in the places to which I usually traveled.  This is called something like "mobile computing", and seems to be catching on very widely, at least within the more affluent computing community, because it is actually significantly more expensive than DSL, provided by your cable TV company, or your phone company, over traditional cable lines.  (I'm not sure how cell-phone system towers communicate between themselves, but it could be a combination of land-cables and microwave links.)

First of all, there is a little gadget that one has to buy if one's computer does not come ready with a cell-phone modem.  (The wireless receiver on the computer that allows you to connect to the wireless modem in your house is not enough; you need a gadget that can communicate with a cell-tower, and some computers do have them, I understand.)  That cost $129, to obtain from the company whose name begins with V.  Then you have to sign up for roughly $60 for 5 gigabytes of service per month.

Yes, Virginia, these companies actually meter your usage.  They measure every kilobyte that goes from your computer to the Internet, and then every kilobyte that comes back to your computer.  The DSL service did not do this, so you could watch a movie on the Internet, or download a huge file, or upload a videoclip of several hundred megabytes to YouTube.  With this metered service, you can only do a limited number of that sort of thing before you exceed your allocation.  (A 10 Gigabyte-per-month service costs $80 per month.  It won't be long before people are signing up for that sort of service, since Internet usage is increasing at a terrific rate, and people are getting accustomed to paying pretty much what the vendors ask.)

On the plus side, I can use my computer pretty much anywhere I have cellphone service, whereas before I could only use my computer at home, or at so-called "hot spots", e.g. bars and lounges and coffee-shops which allowed you to use their wireless link for free (or for a nominal charge).

Now, Kindle and other technology of that sort, offer their users the feature that you could buy an e-book, which was essentially the right to read a certain file that they kept on their servers.  However, they deliver the book via satellite link, or wireless tower link, so that you do not have to carry the book (or file) around with you.  In some ways, this is a brilliant idea, since it makes no sense to keep something like a text file, which is what a book is, on your computer, occupying space.  Using up your computer disc-drive to keep static data is a waste of resources, just as it is a waste of resources to own an automobile, if you could go anywhere you wanted, conveniently, with public transport.  Some people actually own enormous tanks of gasoline, e.g. farmers.  For most of us, it is convenient to let the gas stations do that for us until we need it.  So Amazon essentially set itself up as a gas station for books.

On the other hand, they (Amazon) have actually been known to withdraw a book from their "library", under pressure from some author or interested private party.  In other words, censorship is easy for electronic libraries, while once you own a book, nobody can come and confiscate it from you without a great deal of trouble.  The policies of the various Netbook providers vary, but until legislation catches up with the technology on the side of the consumer, Netbooks are a convenience that can easily be circumscribed unilaterally by the providers.

As many of you know, Google and some other interested parties (possibly Verizon and AT & T) recently conferred, to decide among themselves whether to charge Internet sites fees for delivering their content.  At least, that was what we outsiders perceived.  Among the actual complicated issues that they discussed was whether Internet users whose usage was metered (such as those who used cellphone links) should be given preferred access to Internet content, since they were paying for it by the kilobyte.

It seems to me that having to pay for content by the pound, as it were, takes away from the utility of the Internet.  Having gotten accustomed to getting unlimited volumes of content, it is disconcerting.  It is like having to pay for radio by the number of notes you listen to, or something.  Or for oxygen, based on how heavily you breathe.  We already pay for water by the gallon (at least in my neighborhood), and electricity and gas, so it seems logical that Internet usage should be metered.  I'm still trying to think of a reason why Internet usage should be different than anything else I stream into my house!

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