Mobile wifi

I use one of those 3G datasticks (mines a t-mobile) one, but alas its a usb one so i cant share it with multiple people at once, it also does not officially support linux and the best hack requires that you have to have it plugged in before you turn the laptop on or it wont work (and some programs can be a bit picky about it), so when the first “mifi” portable hot spot providers came out i thought they would be fab, the early ones are a bit picky on their compatibility, but the latest ones such as the Novatel 2325 look perfect and have very good reviews (‘3’ also do a mifi but it does not look as good), so off i tootle to try and get one (im well out of contract),

To cut a long story short, it turns out that i cant (well not for free anyway), because my data plan is ranked as “un-upgradable”, (well thats not how it was explained to me by t-mobile) I finally got this info from a sane man at carphone warehouse (god i love independent shops), who explained that as i had got my data plan when they were first introducing them, i got a REALLY good deal (10Gig per month for £44, where as 5Gig for £30 is the highest they will go nowadays and they its charges charges charges ), and in this situation he would buy one direct ( Amazon does them for £209) as it would be cheaper in the long run, but that’s a bit steep, but again the internet comes to my rescue in the shape of JoikuSpot which allows you to use a 3G capable phone for the exactly the same thing, back home i dig up my old N81 (they have a full list of compatable phones and there is always ebay) jam in my 3G sim card, and for the princely price of 9Euro i get an amazing bit of software that does the job perfectly (in fact better as it has a great “link status” page that tells you what’s going on your connection)

there is always a way.