unwired

In the beginning there was the modem. Then came ISDN. Then came DSL. That progression captures my landline data technology from about 1985 to last month.

My mobile data technology has been through many more iterations. Analog PCMCIA modems with AMPS phones in the early 1990s. 9600 baud digital data with GSM in 1996. 19.2k baud IP with CDPD. On to Richochet. Back to 56k data with GPRS, then EDGE. I took a step away from GSM with the CDMA Novatel MiFi 2200, then a step back to GSM with a T-Mobile UMTS phone, then another step away from GSM with a CDMA iPhone 4S on Verizon, then a step back towards GSM with an iPad with LTE, and now an iPhone 5S, on Verizon.

My mobile speed went from 2.4 kbps to 30 Mbps in 20 years. My landline speed went from 300bps to 6Mbps in 30 years. A factor of a ten thousand in twenty years for mobile -- and only twenty thousand in thirty years for landline. The wireless performance trend line is spanking the wired line here at my house.

Of course, performance is not the only parameter worth considering. Reliability has also set wireless and wired apart. Reliability drove me away from DSL last month and into the embrace of Verizon Wireless as my sole ISP. My DSL reliability was never better than the reliability of the low quality, vulnerable, DSL modem of the month. I owned a string of modems and all required more reboots than my iPhone.

Reliability is the reason I moved from T-Mobile's US network to Verizon's much slower CDMA network in the iPhone 4S era. I was in Maryland for the 2011 East Coast earthquake and I got a front row seat for what is possibly the best dress rehearsal for a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Verizon Wireless did just fine. The wireless carriers rebounded quickly from 2012's 'Sandy' attack, though Verizon earned scorn from many for its decision to abandon copper service lines on New York's Fire Island.

Price per megabyte is not there yet for mobile. I now pay Verizon $225 a month for 30GB. DSL cost me $90 for unmetered access. Before this, though, I paid Verizon $70 for 4GB that my wife and I used little of on our phones. My marginal additional cost for using Verizon for the home connection is $155.

A premium today, certainly, but my cellular data bill has been falling over time. My DSL bill was about the same for ten years.

Cellular disrupting landline is an old story. Classic "Innovator's Dilemma" stuff. The upstart technology finds a customer that values a new attribute of the challenger -- mobility in this case -- and uses that revenue to grow the technology until it can displace the incumbent.

In my case, the thing I value isn't mobility. I value never needing to schedule an appointment for the Verizon wireless guy to visit my house. I can solve essentially any problem with a visit to the mall instead of waiting for a guy to show up at my house. Even the trickiest problem could be solved by cruising over to the other end of the mall and talking to the AT&T guy instead. At the time of writing, AT&T was offering 30GB for the same price as Verizon.

On the day I went to the mall to replace DSL with cellular, Verizon was not my first stop. I first popped into the T-Mobile shop to get a modern MiFi and an unlimited plan. T-Mobile reps told me that I couldn't tether on an unlimited plan. I understand. I moved on.

I don't want unlimited. I want a reasonable monthly bill and no surprises. Verizon has been very good about managing my surprise. I started first with a 20GB plan. A Netflix binge put me a few gigabytes over my limit. Verizon's usage monitoring warned me at 75%, at 90%, and the end, and after every additional gigabyte. I responded 'YES' to one of the messages and upgraded my plan to 30GB with a text message. No surprises.

One welcome surprise has been the revolution in overage charges. I remember days when overages were measured, and billed, by the kilobyte at absurd penalty rates. Today, a gigabyte of overage costs only double the base plan rate. An hour of Netflix overage at 1 GB/hr works out to $.25/min. That's cheaper than the typical $.40/min voice minute overage rate that still exists on some carriers.

One other surprise has been my change in behavior. I no longer moderate my data usage while out. It's now the same data from the same plan when I'm at home. I no longer bother with with free WiFi in public. I no longer regard the ugly black phone wires that slink from my house to a street pole as a necessary evil.

I wonder which wire I can cut next.