I'm seeking connectivity advice for our kid's birthday present.
Those of you parenting teens, or who have seen MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen", understand how a 16th birthday has been blown way out of proportion by marketing & "rite of passage" hype. Our teen may not feel the same sense of entitlement as the rich kids renting out nightclubs, but that won't stop her from testing the limits. A Harry Potter book or DVD ain't gonna cut it this year.
No, there will not be a birthday car. She's been saving a portion of her allowance (a "Kid 401(k)") for literally eight years to be able to buy a beater. On her own initiative, she contributed her savings toward a share in our used Prius that we bought last May. When she leaves for Mainland college we'll buy back her share of the car's resale value. So at least that "gimme" is off the table.
But now tech is rearing its ugly Medusa head. I have a computer-science degree and I'm no Luddite but I tire of being "Super Tech Support Parent". I already maintain the family PC and my own laptop, plus spouse's laptop and a (sadly neglected) Mac Mini. I'm perfectly happy with HawaiianTel's lowest level of DSL service. (RoadRunner has a bad cable connection on our street, I've fought with Oceanic for over three years about it, and we're not goin' back.) Since I'm retired, I don't even bother with a cell phone. (We old pharts without mobile comms practice an ancient Hawaiian socializing technique known as "planning ahead".) While I'm happy to support a reasonable birthday gift for the 698 days left before she heads to college, I'm not looking for more infrastructure connectivity or maintenance. It needs to be the type of equipment that allows me to shrug and say "I dunno, why don't you read the manual and see if you can fix it. I'll be surfing!"
She has her own GoPhone that she supports at ~$25/month from her part-time job. I used to think it was a luxury status symbol but the fact is that teens network by cell. If you don't have one then you're out of the loop on homework, study groups, project planning, test/quiz questions, and (oh yeah)sex, drugs, and rock&roll a social life. Sure, "back in the day" and "these slackers are going straight to hell in a handbasket", but that's the demographic reality she's dealing with. She saw the problem, she figured out the solution, and she took care of it without whining or begging.
She's been furiously researching various options (while I've been surfing), and she's narrowed her focus to three items: her own DSL connection, a home wireless network, or an iPhone. This weekend she's taking her list to the Apple store for more questions and pricing. (Of course I'm going along because she still has her learner's permit.) I'm sure we'll hear lots of sales talk, but here are my questions for you satisfied (or unhappy!) customers:
I think our least-complicated option would be a hardwired router supporting our desktop PC and our Mac Mini (in separate rooms but within 10 feet of each other). Does HawaiianTel DSL work through a hardwired router or would I need to get a second IP address on our home DSL connection? Does that mandate a second phone line, or extra bandwidth, or some sort of business account? Any unpleasant surprises in the fees?
Next-least-complicated would perhaps be a wireless connection to "her" computer. Anyone happy with Clearwire? Is Clearwire worth the effort to connect to just the Mac Mini? She's perfectly happy to geek out on a Mac but I don't know if Clearwire is platform-dependent or has special Mac problems. I'm not particularly eager to crack the Mac to stick a card in it, either.
Unecessarily complicated (IMHO) would be a home wireless network. If we decide to go the Airport route, how should I connect that to our current HawaiianTel DSL account? Do we need to upgrade the account to have more than one computer online at the same time, or does the Airport handle it all under one IP address? Any bandwidth problems? Would I need to connect our family PC to its own wireless card or could I leave it plugged into a hard-wired DSL connection? Or should we just skip the Aircard and go with a generic wireless router that'll handle a Compaq Presario desktop, a Mac Mini, and a couple of Dell Inspiron laptops? Assuming such a generic wireless router crosses the Mac/PC gap.
Skipping past the computer/network questions would be the iPhone. When she goes to a Mainland college I can see that an iPhone is the way to go, so I'm not unhappy about this alternative. There are also persistent Internet rumors that iPhones will accept a GoPhone SIM card. I don't know if she thinks that she can switch SIM cards back & forth between AT&T's full-on 3G network and her GoPhone, nor would I think that she'd want to do that. I don't think she'd be happy with an "iGoPhone" lacking Internet access. However I don't know how much of a monthly fee she's getting herself into with the basic iPhone & contract. Of course she'd be in charge of the first $25/month and any "extras", but there might be other issues.
Anything I'm missing?
Yeah, we're nice parents. Maybe we're overindulgent. But she works her butt off at school and she has the GPA & SAT scores to prove it. She deserves the privilege & rewards of researching, designing, budgeting, & executing a project that she'll have to take care of. I'm just happy to give her any little encouraging nudge that'll get her flapping those independence wings on the edge of the parental nest...
Those of you parenting teens, or who have seen MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen", understand how a 16th birthday has been blown way out of proportion by marketing & "rite of passage" hype. Our teen may not feel the same sense of entitlement as the rich kids renting out nightclubs, but that won't stop her from testing the limits. A Harry Potter book or DVD ain't gonna cut it this year.
No, there will not be a birthday car. She's been saving a portion of her allowance (a "Kid 401(k)") for literally eight years to be able to buy a beater. On her own initiative, she contributed her savings toward a share in our used Prius that we bought last May. When she leaves for Mainland college we'll buy back her share of the car's resale value. So at least that "gimme" is off the table.
But now tech is rearing its ugly Medusa head. I have a computer-science degree and I'm no Luddite but I tire of being "Super Tech Support Parent". I already maintain the family PC and my own laptop, plus spouse's laptop and a (sadly neglected) Mac Mini. I'm perfectly happy with HawaiianTel's lowest level of DSL service. (RoadRunner has a bad cable connection on our street, I've fought with Oceanic for over three years about it, and we're not goin' back.) Since I'm retired, I don't even bother with a cell phone. (We old pharts without mobile comms practice an ancient Hawaiian socializing technique known as "planning ahead".) While I'm happy to support a reasonable birthday gift for the 698 days left before she heads to college, I'm not looking for more infrastructure connectivity or maintenance. It needs to be the type of equipment that allows me to shrug and say "I dunno, why don't you read the manual and see if you can fix it. I'll be surfing!"
She has her own GoPhone that she supports at ~$25/month from her part-time job. I used to think it was a luxury status symbol but the fact is that teens network by cell. If you don't have one then you're out of the loop on homework, study groups, project planning, test/quiz questions, and (oh yeah)
She's been furiously researching various options (while I've been surfing), and she's narrowed her focus to three items: her own DSL connection, a home wireless network, or an iPhone. This weekend she's taking her list to the Apple store for more questions and pricing. (Of course I'm going along because she still has her learner's permit.) I'm sure we'll hear lots of sales talk, but here are my questions for you satisfied (or unhappy!) customers:
I think our least-complicated option would be a hardwired router supporting our desktop PC and our Mac Mini (in separate rooms but within 10 feet of each other). Does HawaiianTel DSL work through a hardwired router or would I need to get a second IP address on our home DSL connection? Does that mandate a second phone line, or extra bandwidth, or some sort of business account? Any unpleasant surprises in the fees?
Next-least-complicated would perhaps be a wireless connection to "her" computer. Anyone happy with Clearwire? Is Clearwire worth the effort to connect to just the Mac Mini? She's perfectly happy to geek out on a Mac but I don't know if Clearwire is platform-dependent or has special Mac problems. I'm not particularly eager to crack the Mac to stick a card in it, either.
Unecessarily complicated (IMHO) would be a home wireless network. If we decide to go the Airport route, how should I connect that to our current HawaiianTel DSL account? Do we need to upgrade the account to have more than one computer online at the same time, or does the Airport handle it all under one IP address? Any bandwidth problems? Would I need to connect our family PC to its own wireless card or could I leave it plugged into a hard-wired DSL connection? Or should we just skip the Aircard and go with a generic wireless router that'll handle a Compaq Presario desktop, a Mac Mini, and a couple of Dell Inspiron laptops? Assuming such a generic wireless router crosses the Mac/PC gap.
Skipping past the computer/network questions would be the iPhone. When she goes to a Mainland college I can see that an iPhone is the way to go, so I'm not unhappy about this alternative. There are also persistent Internet rumors that iPhones will accept a GoPhone SIM card. I don't know if she thinks that she can switch SIM cards back & forth between AT&T's full-on 3G network and her GoPhone, nor would I think that she'd want to do that. I don't think she'd be happy with an "iGoPhone" lacking Internet access. However I don't know how much of a monthly fee she's getting herself into with the basic iPhone & contract. Of course she'd be in charge of the first $25/month and any "extras", but there might be other issues.
Anything I'm missing?
Yeah, we're nice parents. Maybe we're overindulgent. But she works her butt off at school and she has the GPA & SAT scores to prove it. She deserves the privilege & rewards of researching, designing, budgeting, & executing a project that she'll have to take care of. I'm just happy to give her any little encouraging nudge that'll get her flapping those independence wings on the edge of the parental nest...
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