Don't Back Down

Prior to leaving on our trip, I checked the AT&T WorldConnect site - which actually appears pretty useful - to see if I'd be able to use my phone there. The list is actually pretty exhaustive, and their little flash tool told me that I'd be able to use my phone in some locations - with Cable & Wireless.

That's okay, but the C&W maps weren't particularly impressive (once I finally dug them up somewhere). Digicel seemed to have much better coverage. According to AT&T, the problem was that my phone didn't support GSM 900 (which, so far as I can tell, it doesn't), yet the Digicel network in Jamaica uses GSM 900. So imagine my surprise when I fired up the phone in Montego Bay, only to find it report Digicel as the carrier.

Now I don't know if there has been some form of merger action going on, and Digicel actually took over (or has always operated) the C&W network. But every time I tried my phone, it seemed to work fine (except inside immigration at the MBJ airport), and the carrier was consistently reported as Digicel. I dunno. I'm just glad it worked so well.

Update: That is to say, it worked well for making calls. I was on vacation, so I didn't leave it on long enough to receive calls. I did receive one IM, however. And checking voice mail internationally didn't work well at all. I was finally able to get into the mailbox, but couldn't do anything to the messages (specifically, I was unable to delete them).

CNet is reporting that national ID cards may be effectively on the way. Frankly, I don't get it. The article says only that states must comply with federal antiterrorist standards by 2008. It doesn't actually say that the federal government will be implementing a national ID card. Even so, who cares?

If you have a drivers license now, there's a strong chance you have a bar code and/or magnetic information encoded on the card itself already. So the federal government will be mandating the standard containing that information? While I think it's probably a waste of time and resources, I just don't get all the hubbub about privacy because it is just a standard - the state will still be controlling the process.

And assuming the process follows its logical course, and one day the federal government has accesss to all that data? It doesn't really matter, does it? Do you really think that they don't have access to the data now?

So I'm just not quite sure what to do about trackback spam. I get far more spam than I get legitmate trackbacks. Even though I installed a filter (of sorts), and even though the filter is working, I still get trackback spam.

Read "Trackback Spam" »

As I mentioned a while back, I am in the process of switching cell carriers. The interesting thing is that, despite repeated letters, notices and even commercials, I've seen no change whatsoever. Perhaps I'll make it all the way to my one-year anniversary date prior to having to actually use a Suncom plan.

Read "More from Suncom Wireless" »