IT Professionals

Mobile Internet Dependency

Posted by on Jun 30, 2010 | 3 Comments

There should be an image here!Internet on our phones. Once the kind of thing from a Dick Tracy comic (if there was Internet back then) down to something that most of us have come to take for granted. Would you be able to live without access to mobile Internet when on the go?

Most of us might like to exclaim that leaving mobile Internet at the door is such a simple thing to do. But if you are like me, who finds himself stuck doing something with his spouse that might not really appeal to the geeky type, the mobile Internet can also provide a tether to our sanity from “shopping at the mall.”

Here recently I toyed with the idea of discontinuing service with my iPhone, going back to basics with an older flip phone of mine to save the data charges. The battery life would also be a bonus. But then it hit me — I live with my phone in Web mode most days — checking email, answering questions, and catching up on my work queue. I honestly don’t think I could go back to the “before days” when I only used my cell for making calls.

Truth be told, if I was forced to… surely I could go without it. After all, it’s a habit, not a necessity. Would my productivity HONESTLY be affected in a negative manner by dropping mobile Internet? I honestly don’t know the answer to that. My gut tells me that the odds are I’d do better without it. But I am not convinced that I am ready to give up my unlimited data plan on my iPhone just yet, either.

[Photo above by tj scenes / CC BY-ND 2.0]

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  • http://www.gavinstipsandtricks.co.nr/ Gavin Roskamp

    Yes, I could live without mobile Internet — provided you are talking about 3G and all that fancy stuff you folks have on your smartphones. WiFi? I don’t know… It would be hard.

    Mobile Internet, excluding WiFi, is a service I only wish I had. I am currently stuck on a crappy little LG slide out keyboard phone that refuses to charge now and whose keyboard tends to malfunction at least 80% of the time. It’s really kinda sad. But nevertheless, I still depend on it. Which is why I had to purchase a charger for the battery itself so I could get past the broken plug on the phone. I’ll still be depending on this phone until late this year when my contract renews and I get the next free phone.

    But yes, I know there are millions of people who are constantly plugged into the Internet, and it kinda scares me. I can’t even maintain that connection at home, due to my horrible ISP. Add that to the fact that there are only two ISPs in my area, and you get two things: 1. Overpriced plans that 2. are horribly slow and disconnect VERY often.

    But nobody cares about that. So I’ll just go wait for this stupid 700MB video to upload over the course of the next 12 hours… *Sigh*

  • Jason

    I’ve never had mobile Internet to this day. To me a quality phone that makes good calls is my only necessity. I refuse to pay ~$100 a month so that my work can tag along at all times.