Internet connectivity has been a challenge for us on the road. When we lived in Ohio in the late 90s and Kansas from 1999 through 2002, we used Juno dial-up for the Internet. Most of our internet usage then was for email with the very occasional eBay purchase or sale.
With no landline on the road, dial-up was out of the question. Keep in mind that iPhones that ushered in the smartphone era were still four+ years away. That left us with local libraries for any internet needs.
For the most part, we checked email every few weeks at a library or in someone's house or church computer and that was it.
At some point, we purchased an AT&T device that plugged into a port on our laptop that was about two inches wide. It worked sporadically, but we were occasionally able to check email and add pictures to our original website.
Those wide ports, the name escapes me, disappeared on the next generation of computers. That card became obsolete fast.
In 2013 we purchased a hotspot device that used Verizon towers but it was through a third party company. It was expensive for limited data, but it was cheaper than a Verizon plan. After a year or so, the third party company was eliminated and it became a Verizon plan and went steadily downhill from there. Ugh!
For a limited time in 2017, AT&T offered an unlimited internet plan with the purchase of a certain hotspot. We bought the hotspot and we have been enjoying unlimited usage as long as we have an AT&T signal and it is extremely cost effective. I tried later to buy one to leave at the barn, but the offer was over.
That device has been a workhorse. Four years in the digital world is a long lifetime. Last week the battery swolled up so big that it popped the cover off. I ordered a battery from Amazon and we received it Monday. We are back in business.
Do you understand the term "swolled up"? Imagine the battery on the left in the picture is a big belly and now you have it, swolled up.😍
Thank you for tuning into Mile Markers today. Tomorrow we should have Revival in Pictures.
Davy
