Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The experiment is a resounding success!

About 4 months ago, I dropped Windstream as my internet service provider largely because they decided to charge me a $5 late fee due to a one-off missed payment. I think I was late twice in 3 years - both times because work was so busy I just plain forgot. I worked in retail for years and after a stressful day dealing with Joe Public, the only way to de-stress is to imbibe heavily, hence I just plain forgot.

At the same time as I dumped Windstream, I commenced construction of my new motorhome. Being mobile would mean a cable connection would not work. Thus, I purchased a MiFi pad and some data. It seems that I did a good thing there. Strange how everything came together.

My 2007 Macbook pretty much died, Windstream overcharged me and I started my motorhome. Having started the motorhome, I wanted to find out what a mobile Internet lifestyle would be like. It was a rip-roaring success. My internet costs used to be around $55 a month. Now, I pay $40 every two months and use public wifi for updates. My MiFi pad which cost me $100 has paid for itself. In 4 months I would have spent $220 on Windstream. In 4 months I have spent $80 on data. Add in the MiFi pad and it still represents a saving of $40 or 25%. A saving of 65% in just data costs.

There are things I do differently now. I seek out public wifi for software downloads and file uploads. I don't do anything with YouTube any more. I used to spend hours viewing nonsense on YouTube. So, my time is now better spent. I can have my fun writing content for my blog via a tablet and all the stuff takes up less space.

I will need to fix my Macbook or perhaps replace it for doing real photography but what to replace it with is the question, given that Macs just seem so expensive when Google's Chromebooks seem to do it all for a tiny fraction of the price. Even a cheaper Windows laptop cleansed of Windows and Linux installed seems good value.

I am all about doing things cheaper, with less bulk and more modern equipment.

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