So over the last two weeks I’ve sort of been at war with Comcast. For as much as I seem to love the internet I sure seem to hate the people who provide me with it. For now I can’t bite the bullet and pay to have them provide me with my internet access and I’ve already tried the phone company and for whatever reason they can’t provide me with DSL without having some tech guy come out on my dime. For the last two weeks I’ve just been doing my best to live without it. Living without net access has been like missing a leg. It’s really funny to think about how much the connectivity of the net has changed my lifestyle, but I’ve really felt out of place not having access to the information superhighway. I was lamenting to Tom about my problems earlier today and he came up with the perfect solution. He suggested that I pick up a wireless access card for my PC and use it to connect to the Google WiFi now that I’m living downtown. I stopped by CompUSA on my way home tonight and picked up generic wireless USB adapter and it works perfectly. Finally I’m back online and I’m using a company that I actually like.
If Google WiFi turns out to be a real solution to my internet needs it could end up saving me at least $400 a year. For now, I’m really pleased with how things turned out, the connection is stable and the speed is fast, but the real test will come when I try and see if I can hook up my TiVo series 3 using the free net access. If I’m able to use Google WiFi and still be able to network my TiVo to my home media, then I’ll be more then happy to tell Comcast to stick with what they do best, maintaining a monopoly stranglehold on my TV.
#1 by Dave Zatz on August 2, 2006 - 1:58 pm
You’ll need to create a home network if you want to get your Series3 online. Perhaps you can use Internet Connection Sharing with your laptop, though I’m not sure and it could be trouble.
If I lived alone I’d have an EVDO card for my laptop and an EVDO router at home. However, my fiance tells me she wants to use the Internet whether or not I’m home so we pay Verizon for DSL — it’s not as fast as Comcast, but it’s 50% cheaper and in my experience more reliable. I think they did charge us an install fee, but it worked out OK since the Verizon installer escorted the substance-abusing Comcast installer out when he got agressive towards Melissa. His replacement installer wasn’t much better and drilled through the wall and kept going into our dresser.