{"id":2407,"date":"2011-03-23T23:46:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T23:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2013-01-21T21:32:47","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T21:32:47","slug":"its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/11\/getting-vodafone-mobile-connect-and-windows-vista-to-play-nicely-together.htm\">Back in 2007, I wrote about the fun and games I had getting a Vodafone PC card working with Windows Vista<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/03\/getting-vodafone-mobile-connect-and-mac-os-x-to-play-nicely-together.htm\">I revisited the topic in 2009 with Mac OS X<\/a>. Thankfully, things have moved on since then but, a few weeks ago, I was issued with a replacement modem for mobile data, as part of a change of mobile operator. The new device is an O2 Business USB Modem 889 and the fact that it&#8217;s a USB device rather than a PC card is great (it means it works with more of my computers) but the software it ships with is awful, presenting a Windows XP-like skin, even on my Windows 7 system!<\/p>\n<p>Since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/rambling-thoughts-windows-7-service-pack-1-full-drive-encryption-mounting-virtual-hard-disks-and-a-pc-rebuild.htm\">my computer was rebuilt to corporate standards a few weeks ago<\/a>, I&#8217;ve been making a concerted effort to avoid installing any unnecessary components (although somebody has put an in house &#8220;display manager&#8221; on the build, despite there being a perfectly good one that&#8217;s just a <code>Windows<\/code>+<code>P<\/code> keypress away, and HP&#8217;s printer driver for my company-supplied OfficeJet 6310 at home installed a pile of crapware). My intention was to simply install drivers for my USB modem, then follow a colleague&#8217;s advice to create a dial-up connection with the HSPA modem as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Modem initialisation to <code>+cgdcont=1,\"IP\",\"mobile.o2.co.uk\"<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Dial-up number to <code>*99#<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Username and password for the dial-up connection set to <code>o2web<\/code> and <code>password<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The problem with this is that my colleague was setting his environment up inside a virtual machine, using virtual network drivers to map to the underlying host&#8217;s hardware. \u00a0I&#8217;m running directly on the hardware (non-virtualised) and I couldn&#8217;t find the drivers for my device.<\/p>\n<p>Using the <a href=\"https:\/\/usb-ids.gowdy.us\/index.html\">USB ID Repository<\/a>, I was able to check that my device was a Sierra Wireless (1199) device (actually, the label on the device would have helped there too) and I was also able to see from the markings on the device that it is a Compass 889. \u00a0After checking out the Sierra Wireless website, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sierrawireless.com\/en\/sitecore\/content\/Sierra%20Wireless\/Support\/Downloads\/AirCard\/USB_Modems\/Compass_889_for_O2_UK.aspx\">I found updated software for my modem, even a version for my carrier (O2)<\/a>\u00a0but nothing that seemed to offer naked drivers without any additional applications. \u00a0As it happens, the latest version of the Sierra Wireless Aircard Watcher installed without any issues and it seems much better than the software that O2 originally shipped with the device &#8211; although it&#8217;s interesting to note that this device is now officially end of life, despite mine only having been shipped in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>I guess the main point of this post is to say &#8220;hunt around&#8221; &#8211; you may find that there is updated software for your device, from either the OEM or the carrier, that provides a better experience than the version shipped out-of-the-box.<\/p>\n<p>[Update: I had cause to download the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sierrawireless.com\/en\/Support\/Downloads\/AirCard\/Legacy_Products\/Compass_889.aspx\">Sierra Wireless Aircard Watcher<\/a> again tonight and it seems the download location has changed in the last couple of years]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in 2007, I wrote about the fun and games I had getting a Vodafone PC card working with Windows Vista and I revisited the topic in 2009 with Mac OS X. Thankfully, things have moved on since then but, a few weeks ago, I was issued with a replacement modem for mobile data, as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[18,378,513],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-mobility","tag-o2","tag-sierra-wireless"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>It&#039;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It&#039;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back in 2007, I wrote about the fun and games I had getting a Vodafone PC card working with Windows Vista and I revisited the topic in 2009 with Mac OS X. Thankfully, things have moved on since then but, a few weeks ago, I was issued with a replacement modem for mobile data, as &hellip; Continue reading It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Wilson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"headline\":\"It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\"},\"wordCount\":486,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"keywords\":[\"Mobility\",\"O2\",\"Sierra Wireless\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\",\"name\":\"It's worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"markwilson.it\",\"description\":\"get-info -class technology | write-output &gt; \\\/dev\\\/web\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\",\"name\":\"Mark Wilson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Mark Wilson\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/uploads\\\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"A Chartered IT Professional, with recent experience in technology leadership, IT strategy and practice management roles, Mark Wilson is an Enterprise Architect in the Advisory and Management Group at risual. During a career spanning more than two decades, Mark has gained widespread recognition as an expert in his field including both industry and national press exposure. In addition to certifications from Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat, The Open Group and Axelos, Mark held a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for three years and is now part of the MVP Reconnect programme. Mark is also well-known on social media and maintains an award-winning blog.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/markwilsonuk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/markawilson\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/markwilsonit\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCWHlZCoHRTocdvtrOJ2IL4A\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mark-wilson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It's worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"It's worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it","og_description":"Back in 2007, I wrote about the fun and games I had getting a Vodafone PC card working with Windows Vista and I revisited the topic in 2009 with Mac OS X. Thankfully, things have moved on since then but, a few weeks ago, I was issued with a replacement modem for mobile data, as &hellip; Continue reading It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices","og_url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm","og_site_name":"markwilson.it","article_published_time":"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00","author":"Mark Wilson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@markwilsonit","twitter_site":"@markwilsonit","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Wilson","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm"},"author":{"name":"Mark Wilson","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"headline":"It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices","datePublished":"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm"},"wordCount":486,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"keywords":["Mobility","O2","Sierra Wireless"],"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm","name":"It's worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices - markwilson.it","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-23T23:46:30+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T21:32:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/03\/its-worth-hunting-around-for-updated-software-for-mobile-data-devices.htm#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It&#8217;s worth hunting around for updated software for mobile data devices"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"markwilson.it","description":"get-info -class technology | write-output &gt; \/dev\/web","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468","name":"Mark Wilson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Mark Wilson"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/uploads\/image-4.png?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1"},"description":"A Chartered IT Professional, with recent experience in technology leadership, IT strategy and practice management roles, Mark Wilson is an Enterprise Architect in the Advisory and Management Group at risual. During a career spanning more than two decades, Mark has gained widespread recognition as an expert in his field including both industry and national press exposure. In addition to certifications from Microsoft, VMware, Red Hat, The Open Group and Axelos, Mark held a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for three years and is now part of the MVP Reconnect programme. Mark is also well-known on social media and maintains an award-winning blog.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/markwilsonuk\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/markawilson\/","https:\/\/x.com\/markwilsonit","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWHlZCoHRTocdvtrOJ2IL4A"],"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/author\/mark-wilson"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1018,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/03\/hyper-v-and-networking.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":0},"title":"Hyper-V and networking","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 14 March 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"For those who have worked with hosted virtualisation (Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server, VMware Workstation and Server, Parallels Desktop, etc.) and haven't experienced hypervisor-based virtualisation, Microsoft Hyper-V is fundamentally different in a number of ways. Architecturally, it's not dissimilar to the Xen hypervisor (in fact, there are a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bluetooth\"","block_context":{"text":"Bluetooth","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/bluetooth"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1695,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2010\/03\/how-uk-iphone-users-can-save-money.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":1},"title":"How UK iPhone users can save money&#8230;","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Thursday 11 March 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought my most recent iPhone (a white 3G) back in August 2008.\u00c2\u00a0 On an 18 month contract, that means I've fulfilled my commitment but O2 is quite happy to keep on taking the \u00c2\u00a335 a month which partially subsidises the handset cost! I've been thinking about switching back to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Apple iPhone\"","block_context":{"text":"Apple iPhone","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/iphone"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3439,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/12\/making-an-ordinary-3g-data-sim-work-in-an-ipad-without-a-tariff-change.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":2},"title":"Making an &#8220;ordinary&#8221; O2 3G data SIM work in an iPad without a tariff change","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 23 December 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The history of my various mobile telcommuncations contracts is a long one, so I'll spare readers the details but after my recent customer service debacle with Three, I've cut them loose (they tried to offer me an iPad 2 for \"free\" to stay with them... the sort of \"free\" that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":953,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/11\/getting-vodafone-mobile-connect-and-windows-vista-to-play-nicely-together.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":3},"title":"Getting Vodafone Mobile Connect and Windows Vista to play nicely together","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Tuesday 27 November 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In order to be effective, I need to be online for a large part of my working day. Right now I'm spending a big chunk of my week either travelling or at a client site where their policies prevents me from connecting my notebook PC to the LAN and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Microsoft Windows Vista\"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft Windows Vista","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/windows-vista"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":705,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/02\/portable-applications-alternative.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":4},"title":"Portable applications &#8211; an alternative approach to mobile computing","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Monday 19 February 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been playing around with the idea of running operating systems from USB flash drives for a while now but the main problem is USB boot support in the hardware I use (most notably the Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook S7010D that I use for work doesn't support it). A while back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Mobility\"","block_context":{"text":"Mobility","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/mobility"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/07\/trying-to-work-out-why-blackberries-are-so-popular-i-still-dont-get-it.htm","url_meta":{"origin":2407,"position":5},"title":"Trying to work out why BlackBerries are so popular (I still don&#8217;t get it)","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Thursday 26 July 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Whilst the United States is going iPhone crazy, over on this side of the pond we can't get one yet... so life goes on. A couple of weeks back, I was given a BlackBerry to use at work (until I can get my hands on a Windows-powered phone - one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"E-mail\"","block_context":{"text":"E-mail","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/e-mail"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4722,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions\/4722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}