Friday, September 30, 2005
Verizon's "Broadband Access" follow-up
Sitting in Gold Canyon, Arizona, which is about as far east as you can go in the Greater Phoenix area, but still inside the edge of the designated "broadband coverage area" I can certify that things work well. Access to the internet is achieved roughly 4 seconds after clicking on the icon. This is particularly nice since it means you can sign off and on again with great rapidity, obviating the need to remain "online" all the time. Presumably this lessens the exposure to bad things happening.
Overall speed seems faster than the local "wi-fi" hotspot provided by the campground. The software does supply a graphics indicator of speeds, but it is so variable that it means very little to me. So far there has been little noticeable slowing during the times of day (morning, after school) at which I would assume Internet usage is highest.
Unlike the local wi-fi which is VERY sensitive to location of the laptop within my RV (i.e. it wants to be close to a window, and even better, with line-of-site of the antenna atop the clubhouse), this seems relatively impervious: I can be sitting in bed, working atop my counter, table, etc. Plus, of course, there is no line connecting my laptop to an external device or antenna of any sort. This affords considerably greater freedom even than the USB Wi-Fi devices I've often used.
What I have NOT been able to achieve is any sharing of this internet connection over the LAN I have connecting my laptop and desktop. I had no difficulty doing this with wi-fi, but for whatever reason, it is not working with this connection.
Sitting in Gold Canyon, Arizona, which is about as far east as you can go in the Greater Phoenix area, but still inside the edge of the designated "broadband coverage area" I can certify that things work well. Access to the internet is achieved roughly 4 seconds after clicking on the icon. This is particularly nice since it means you can sign off and on again with great rapidity, obviating the need to remain "online" all the time. Presumably this lessens the exposure to bad things happening.
Overall speed seems faster than the local "wi-fi" hotspot provided by the campground. The software does supply a graphics indicator of speeds, but it is so variable that it means very little to me. So far there has been little noticeable slowing during the times of day (morning, after school) at which I would assume Internet usage is highest.
Unlike the local wi-fi which is VERY sensitive to location of the laptop within my RV (i.e. it wants to be close to a window, and even better, with line-of-site of the antenna atop the clubhouse), this seems relatively impervious: I can be sitting in bed, working atop my counter, table, etc. Plus, of course, there is no line connecting my laptop to an external device or antenna of any sort. This affords considerably greater freedom even than the USB Wi-Fi devices I've often used.
What I have NOT been able to achieve is any sharing of this internet connection over the LAN I have connecting my laptop and desktop. I had no difficulty doing this with wi-fi, but for whatever reason, it is not working with this connection.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Verizon's "Broadband" Nationwide service:
Not everybody has the same needs. Email "on the road" is a challenge very often, made better by the advent of wi-fi hotspots, often more plentiful than pay phones or modem hookups. Generally, they reside in motel parking lots, sometimes libraries. (I recently encountered a public library which would not let me USE their internet computers unless I paid $3 (PER DAY) for that privilege. I believe this is the sad wave of the future). Getting onto the Internet at any kind of speed is even harder.
While in Flagstaff we came upon an unusual site: a Verizon cellphone store which was MOBBED with people. (Not just once but every time we visited). I suspect there was a good reason for this: there were some people inside who actually knew what they were talking about. This is SO unusual, that it attracts attention.
After speaking to one young gentleman who explained the nuances of Verizon's new Broadband service, I elected to sign up for it. It's not inexpensive: let me say at the outset that $60 a month is NOT for anybody who has good access to any other kind of broadband service. DSL's, Cable Modems, wi-fi hotspots, all are cheaper than this. If you can afford the initial outlay, even two way satellite service is comparable, on a per-month basis.
I cannot speak, yet, to the real "broadband" access: so far I've not been in one of the enhanced service areas (of which there are a hundred or more scattered about the country, all in larger cities). The promise is of a 400Kbyte download speed, comparable to a slow DSL, or to many wi-fi services.
The drawing card, for an RV'er, however, is that is a much, much larger area of the country which has what I'll call "semi-enhanced" services: in those areas, you can attach to the Internet at roughly 3x dial-up speeds (download speeds of up to 145Kbytes/second) . And even in the non-enhanced areas, which include a vast majority of the country, you can attach to the Internet at 14.4Kbytes/second. Faster than most cellphone connections, slower than most dialups.
But there is no time limit: you can spend as much time, any time of any day, using your device. No more cellphone overage charges.
So, for a traveler, this is a solution which outranks most of the competition. (Personally, I think that a two way satellite, one of the automatic kinds on your roof would probably be a better solution, but $3-5K or more initial outlay is daunting).
In use, it has proven to be quite fast, "most" of the time. I've had no trouble getting attached. You click on an icon, it dials, and you're "on." Usually in 10 seconds or less. Very much faster than even the fastest dialup connection time I've encountered. If you leave it "on," it stays on. No timing out, no blips, haphazard disconnections, etc.
When Internet traffiic is a bit slower, I've found that the speed is apparently FASTER than some of the wi-fi spots I've used. And keep in mind, I'm in the "semi-enhanced area." As I write this, I'm two or three miles outside of Cottonwood, Arizona, in a campground. Nary a wi-fi signal anywhere around, and if I tried to connect with my cellphone, I'd be at 14.4 if that, and watching the minutes drag by, knowing that beyond several minutes a day, I'll be paying bigtime overages. In other words, watching, and worrying. Not what I like to do. And "surfing the web" just isn't possible at those speeds.
I do not know just how things will pan out in 1) the real enhanced areas, and 2) the spots of the country where there are NO enhanced connections. I'll report these after I've had a chance to experience them.
For the moment, though, it's a joy to be able to sit in a semi-remote location and surf the web, get downloads, upgrade Windows, download virus definitions, all of those things that I had to wait weeks for in "the old days."
Cautious recommendation. I'm the "Guinea Pig." More when I know more.
Not everybody has the same needs. Email "on the road" is a challenge very often, made better by the advent of wi-fi hotspots, often more plentiful than pay phones or modem hookups. Generally, they reside in motel parking lots, sometimes libraries. (I recently encountered a public library which would not let me USE their internet computers unless I paid $3 (PER DAY) for that privilege. I believe this is the sad wave of the future). Getting onto the Internet at any kind of speed is even harder.
While in Flagstaff we came upon an unusual site: a Verizon cellphone store which was MOBBED with people. (Not just once but every time we visited). I suspect there was a good reason for this: there were some people inside who actually knew what they were talking about. This is SO unusual, that it attracts attention.
After speaking to one young gentleman who explained the nuances of Verizon's new Broadband service, I elected to sign up for it. It's not inexpensive: let me say at the outset that $60 a month is NOT for anybody who has good access to any other kind of broadband service. DSL's, Cable Modems, wi-fi hotspots, all are cheaper than this. If you can afford the initial outlay, even two way satellite service is comparable, on a per-month basis.
I cannot speak, yet, to the real "broadband" access: so far I've not been in one of the enhanced service areas (of which there are a hundred or more scattered about the country, all in larger cities). The promise is of a 400Kbyte download speed, comparable to a slow DSL, or to many wi-fi services.
The drawing card, for an RV'er, however, is that is a much, much larger area of the country which has what I'll call "semi-enhanced" services: in those areas, you can attach to the Internet at roughly 3x dial-up speeds (download speeds of up to 145Kbytes/second) . And even in the non-enhanced areas, which include a vast majority of the country, you can attach to the Internet at 14.4Kbytes/second. Faster than most cellphone connections, slower than most dialups.
But there is no time limit: you can spend as much time, any time of any day, using your device. No more cellphone overage charges.
So, for a traveler, this is a solution which outranks most of the competition. (Personally, I think that a two way satellite, one of the automatic kinds on your roof would probably be a better solution, but $3-5K or more initial outlay is daunting).
In use, it has proven to be quite fast, "most" of the time. I've had no trouble getting attached. You click on an icon, it dials, and you're "on." Usually in 10 seconds or less. Very much faster than even the fastest dialup connection time I've encountered. If you leave it "on," it stays on. No timing out, no blips, haphazard disconnections, etc.
When Internet traffiic is a bit slower, I've found that the speed is apparently FASTER than some of the wi-fi spots I've used. And keep in mind, I'm in the "semi-enhanced area." As I write this, I'm two or three miles outside of Cottonwood, Arizona, in a campground. Nary a wi-fi signal anywhere around, and if I tried to connect with my cellphone, I'd be at 14.4 if that, and watching the minutes drag by, knowing that beyond several minutes a day, I'll be paying bigtime overages. In other words, watching, and worrying. Not what I like to do. And "surfing the web" just isn't possible at those speeds.
I do not know just how things will pan out in 1) the real enhanced areas, and 2) the spots of the country where there are NO enhanced connections. I'll report these after I've had a chance to experience them.
For the moment, though, it's a joy to be able to sit in a semi-remote location and surf the web, get downloads, upgrade Windows, download virus definitions, all of those things that I had to wait weeks for in "the old days."
Cautious recommendation. I'm the "Guinea Pig." More when I know more.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Brother P-Touch Label Printer QL-500
Did you ever try to print labels? There are two ways most programs work: 1) they will either print from a database (if you want to print out labels for a group mailing, that is many different personal addresses on the same page, one name per label), or 2) they will print out 20 or 30 of the SAME kind of label (if you want 30 returns address labels for yourself. What they don’t do very well is print out ONE label, or 2 or 3... You can fudge certain programs (like PrintShop Deluxe, a great label-making program otherwise) by creating ONE label, and asking it to print it out, starting in position “x.” This does work, but with one problem: after you’ve printed out “one” label on that sheet which has 30, you peel it off, then have to recycle that same sheet over and over.
Enter a “better solution,”—the dedicated label printer. Brother makes one, called “P-Touch QL-500"—it’s roughly half the size of the average popup toaster, and sits on your desktop, connecting to your computer via USB (1.1) cable. It comes with software which enables you to design various kinds of labels. Labels come in strips of thermally-sensitive self-adhesive material, ranging in size from very small, up through the usual 1" or 1-1/7" wide up to 2-7/8" wide. Rolls are easily inserted, removed, exchanged, without wasting a label. Cost is about $.03 per label.
It’s fast. Push the icon on your computer, and the label is in your hand. The printer has a very effective cutter built right in. Push the lever, and a perfect label is ready to go. I’ve found that it’s easy to make up labels (stored on your hard-drive) for each person I regularly send to (it even allows the addition of postal bar codes!) and then call it up as needed. No pausing to “design” a new label each time. It has a database, so that you can do a “mass run” of labels, but I haven’t used this feature.
I use it to make address and return labels for envelopes and packages, but also to make small informative labels to go on the back of photographs. (Ever try to write on the back of one of those glossy photo stocks? Neither pen nor pencil will write on that material!). Also to make labels for CD or DVD sleeves, or just about anything else. I understand you can buy special strips which contain ROUND labels especially designed to stick on CD’s—though they don’t cover the entire face, just the center portion. (In my opinion, not the best idea; sticking things on CD’s/DVD’s is, according to the experts, inviting problems).
Are there negatives? Well, being a thermal printer, it doesn’t require inks or ink-heads. That’s nice, but it also means it prints in black, or as Henry Ford once put it, “you can print in any color you like so long as it’s black.” The quality of the print-out is otherwise excellent (any font in your computer, at any size, and in either landscape or portrait mode), but I don’t know how sensitive thermal labels are to sunlight or extraneous heat (e.g. sitting on your dashboard in the sun before you get to the postoffice). Obviously, any thermal output is not as permanent as you might like. Brother does manufacturer, at somewhat greater cost, a “film” (not paper) stock, which is supposedly a good deal less sensitive to external heat.
Did you ever try to print labels? There are two ways most programs work: 1) they will either print from a database (if you want to print out labels for a group mailing, that is many different personal addresses on the same page, one name per label), or 2) they will print out 20 or 30 of the SAME kind of label (if you want 30 returns address labels for yourself. What they don’t do very well is print out ONE label, or 2 or 3... You can fudge certain programs (like PrintShop Deluxe, a great label-making program otherwise) by creating ONE label, and asking it to print it out, starting in position “x.” This does work, but with one problem: after you’ve printed out “one” label on that sheet which has 30, you peel it off, then have to recycle that same sheet over and over.
Enter a “better solution,”—the dedicated label printer. Brother makes one, called “P-Touch QL-500"—it’s roughly half the size of the average popup toaster, and sits on your desktop, connecting to your computer via USB (1.1) cable. It comes with software which enables you to design various kinds of labels. Labels come in strips of thermally-sensitive self-adhesive material, ranging in size from very small, up through the usual 1" or 1-1/7" wide up to 2-7/8" wide. Rolls are easily inserted, removed, exchanged, without wasting a label. Cost is about $.03 per label.
It’s fast. Push the icon on your computer, and the label is in your hand. The printer has a very effective cutter built right in. Push the lever, and a perfect label is ready to go. I’ve found that it’s easy to make up labels (stored on your hard-drive) for each person I regularly send to (it even allows the addition of postal bar codes!) and then call it up as needed. No pausing to “design” a new label each time. It has a database, so that you can do a “mass run” of labels, but I haven’t used this feature.
I use it to make address and return labels for envelopes and packages, but also to make small informative labels to go on the back of photographs. (Ever try to write on the back of one of those glossy photo stocks? Neither pen nor pencil will write on that material!). Also to make labels for CD or DVD sleeves, or just about anything else. I understand you can buy special strips which contain ROUND labels especially designed to stick on CD’s—though they don’t cover the entire face, just the center portion. (In my opinion, not the best idea; sticking things on CD’s/DVD’s is, according to the experts, inviting problems).
Are there negatives? Well, being a thermal printer, it doesn’t require inks or ink-heads. That’s nice, but it also means it prints in black, or as Henry Ford once put it, “you can print in any color you like so long as it’s black.” The quality of the print-out is otherwise excellent (any font in your computer, at any size, and in either landscape or portrait mode), but I don’t know how sensitive thermal labels are to sunlight or extraneous heat (e.g. sitting on your dashboard in the sun before you get to the postoffice). Obviously, any thermal output is not as permanent as you might like. Brother does manufacturer, at somewhat greater cost, a “film” (not paper) stock, which is supposedly a good deal less sensitive to external heat.
