G R 'Scott' Cundiff
3rd May 2007, 01:12 PM (13:12)
We just got home from a rushed trip to Iowa. The small community of Mt. Ayr is in s.w. Iowa on Highway 2. It used to be the end of the road for communications. When we were there, there was no cell service and no internet.
Over the past 3 years things have changed. Cell service is still spotty for me on Sprint, but Verizon works just fine now.
A few years ago I found that the local library had wireless internet. I could even park out front and check my email. (Without meaning to I also found I could log onto the wireless service of the church across the street!).
They built a new motel (replacing the 1940's one that had served the community for years.) It is state of the art, with wireless internet.
It was as we left town that I realized just how far internet technology has expanded. I was sitting in the pickup in the parking lot of the nursing home and, since we were pretty close to the motel we had just checked out of, I thought I would see if I had internet access.
I couldn't get to the motel - but to my surprise, I found, and logged right onto the wireless connect of the nursing home!
I don't know about you, but I find it very interesting that even in rural mid-western America nursing home residents can have internet access.
On the way home I was trying to do some Sunday work on my laptop while Jackie drove. We were driving through Lufkin, Texas - stopped at a light - just as I was getting ready to close the computer down. Just for fun, I slipped over to networking to see if there were any internet signals. I found a whole page of them! Motels, restaurants, etc. all around us had open internet connects. I tried to log in, but the light changed before I could do it! Still, I think we could have pulled off for a minute and I could have checked email from one of several available connects.
The times, they are a'changing!
Over the past 3 years things have changed. Cell service is still spotty for me on Sprint, but Verizon works just fine now.
A few years ago I found that the local library had wireless internet. I could even park out front and check my email. (Without meaning to I also found I could log onto the wireless service of the church across the street!).
They built a new motel (replacing the 1940's one that had served the community for years.) It is state of the art, with wireless internet.
It was as we left town that I realized just how far internet technology has expanded. I was sitting in the pickup in the parking lot of the nursing home and, since we were pretty close to the motel we had just checked out of, I thought I would see if I had internet access.
I couldn't get to the motel - but to my surprise, I found, and logged right onto the wireless connect of the nursing home!
I don't know about you, but I find it very interesting that even in rural mid-western America nursing home residents can have internet access.
On the way home I was trying to do some Sunday work on my laptop while Jackie drove. We were driving through Lufkin, Texas - stopped at a light - just as I was getting ready to close the computer down. Just for fun, I slipped over to networking to see if there were any internet signals. I found a whole page of them! Motels, restaurants, etc. all around us had open internet connects. I tried to log in, but the light changed before I could do it! Still, I think we could have pulled off for a minute and I could have checked email from one of several available connects.
The times, they are a'changing!