I recently picked up an Acer Aspire D270 netbook. It’s a bit slow with running Windows 7 and only 1GB of RAM. But it’s cheap, thin, and light, which are perfect qualities for using this on my upcoming bicycle tour. I decided to upgrade to 2GB of RAM and replace the hard drive with a [...]
Posts under ‘Tech’
New Wilson Sleek 4G-V Cellular Signal Booster
I bought the Wilson Sleek 4G-V in order to boost my Verizon 4G LTE cellular signal at the mountain cabin. But first I gave it a try at home. It’s designed for mounting in a car, but I also bought the separate Home/Office Accessory Kit which includes a desktop cradle, a suction cup window mount [...]
Verizon 4G LTE in Wrightwood – Finally!
One day back in March, I was walking around town, and my Verizon iPhone 5 switched from 3G to 4G LTE! But only one bar of signal.
Outdoor Home Office
I work from a home office, and now with the warmer weather (at least in Southern California) I’ve been looking to spend some of that time working outside. Though the biggest obstacle to doing so is being able to see my laptop screen in the sunlight. So I bought a Compushade for my laptop, here’s what [...]
Technology at the Mountain Cabin
I’ve posted many times here on this blog about my latest gizmos at my cabin in the Southern California mountains, but it’s been piecemeal and I’ve never summarized everything in one place. Hence, this post. Below is a photo of my “network closet” in the crawl space. I use the crawl space because it says [...]
New Cradlepoint MBR95 Router for Cabin
I’m at a crossroads with my internet connection at the mountain cabin, in a small town with a population of 5,000. A long time ago, I got the most basic DSL connection, 1.0 Mbps, good enough for remote access to the thermostat and the webcams. That was long before streaming movies and working from home, so [...]
Goodbye DSL, Hello Cable Internet!
On Saturday 10/27, my internet connection started dropping intermittently. My internet provider DSL Extreme said there was no problem with the line. I replaced the modem, router, and even ran new ethernet cables – no luck. The only fix was to take the router, which was 40 feet away from the modem, move it 6 [...]
AirVoice Wireless Test
In my previous post I talked about getting a SIM for AirVoice Wireless, which is an AT&T MVNO. Here’s some screen shots from some data speed tests up by my mountain cabin, which only has 3G service. Text message after putting the SIM in the phone. Guess they defray their costs with advertising!
What To Do With My Old iPhone 3G?
I currently have a Verizon iPhone 4. I still have my iPhone 3G, it’s software unlocked, so I can put in a foreign SIM card for the occasional overseas trip. And I also still have my iPhone 2G, as it’s an emergency Wifi device living at the mountain cabin. I’m looking to upgrade to the [...]
Mobile Broadband Woes
I’ve been waiting quite some time for Verizon to provide hardware upgrades at the central office so that I can upgrade my (what is now) pitifully slow 1.0 Mbps DSL connection at the cabin. I’m about to throw in the towel and instead get a mobile broadband, hotspot, or whatever is the generic term for [...]