Testing...

Check, 1, 2, 3... nah, just kidding. Since we are back in "civilization," we have done some changing around with our phone/internet stuff. I had to get a new phone last week before we left the Tetons when my "old" Droid died. I updated with a Droid Bionic... generally, very pleased... much faster than my previous Droid, but some e-mail issues with AOL. Not just my issues, it seems that other Bionic owners are having e-mail issues with AOL... as in: one account is OK, but you can't easily switch between accounts. Yeah, that's an issue. A trip to the Verizon store didn't solve it; they gave me a tech support phone number, and they didn't solve it, either. The nice tech support guy said he'd check into it and get back to me... he wasn't aware of the issue, but when he pulled up the Droid forums and saw plenty of folks with the same problem I'm having. So, it's "officially" reported.

That said and done, we made a big change: dropping the Mifi card (in one more month) and putting an unlimited wifi hotspot service on the Bionic. Half the price ($30 instead of the $60 for the Mifi), but I am already paying $30 per month for data service on the phone. That extra $30 saved disappeared immediately when Joan came kicking and screaming into the 21st Century and got her first smart phone: an iPhone 4.

She already knows how to run an iPad, so this is an easy transition.

Now for the test: how does the Droid Bionic used as a wifi hotspot compare to the Mifi card? I switched back and forth several times between the Mifi and the Bionic as a hot spot, using my Mac and checking the speeds. The guy at the Verizon Store didn't think there would be any difference. We were thinking that the Mifi card is two years old, and technology has certainly improved... maybe there would be an improvement?

The results: the Droid Bionic as a hot spot is delivering almost twice the speed of the Mifi card. While the Bionic has 4G technology, we are in an area where only 3G is available. Still, did I mention: twice the speed? And, at half the price? Sorta.

Using Joan's new iPhone to talk with the tech support folks about the Bionic leads me to another interesting conclusion: the iPhone is just smooth. Just like Mac stuff vs PC stuff. I like my Bionic a lot - it is fast, has a big screen, plenty of apps, and at first blush is my new favorite way to connect to the internet with our laptops... but, the iPhone (with older technology) is just smooth. It will be interesting comparing the two over the long term; as in: the next two years ;-).

After being in western Wyoming for the past 4 months, it was nice to be able to shop for some things we couldn't find there. Pretty sure the credit card company must have thought we were mad at them... not any more.