Recently, work was getting more hectic and family matters required more travel, and I was getting frustrated going out to coffeehouses and delis just to get wireless Internet. So, signed up for an AT&T wireless data plan, complete with a little dongle by Sierra Wireless that actually does the job of connecting to the Internet.

I refused to get the two year contract just so I could get the dongle for free, because I was burned this time last year getting a two year contract just so I could get a cheap smartphone ... right before the Search Engine That Starts With A G bought all of its employees Android smartphones.

SO I opted to instead to pay month to month, and as a consequence I had to pony up two hundred dollars for that little dongle. Because of the monthly fee, and how the math worked out, I stupidly did not spend the extra $5 bucks a month insuring the damn thing.

I say stupidly, because I left it in my pocket and put my pants in the wash.

My heart fell when I saw the cap of the dongle tumble out as I was emptying the clotheswasher. Sure enough, I found the dongle in the pocket of a pair of pants. Sadly, I took it to my Mac and plugged it in. The lights flickered for a moment, but did not come on. Just to be sure, since the Mac's two USB ports are not equivalent, I switched it to the other side.

The lights flickered ... and then the power light turned blue, while the connection light turned red. Hoping against hope, I hit "Connect" on the Sierra Wireless Watcher control panel. The connection light began flashing ... and a minute later, it connected.

Since I knew that liquid in electronic devices can sometimes cause problems down the road, I disconnected it, unplugged it, and put it front of a spaceheater to dry out more thoroughly, then a fan to cool it off. One day later, I'm writing this blog entry using this same dongle, and it's doing fine.

Go Sierra, and go AT&T for picking a quality parts supplier.

-the Centaur

Labels: Development