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> -----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of Keith Hood
> Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:54
> I take my personal laptop to work with me. For doing anything for the
> company, I use the company laptop that it hardwired to their net. For
> doing anything personal, even something as mild as checking my email,
I
> use my laptop, which has a Sprint wireless modem. So if I connect to
the
> Internet from my personal laptop, that goes through the same structure
as
> my cell phone uses and does not involve company assets in any way. So
even
> if I do accidentally get something nasty installed on my laptop,
there's
> no way to pass it to the company.
In Canada, that _might_ be an option, depending upon how rich you
were... but then you wouldn't be in an employee situation. :-)
I understand that US cellular providers have progressed to the point
where your basic connection gives you either large amounts of browsing
and messaging minutes, or unlimited.
Here (Canada) where there's lots less competition, only those with large
bank accounts, or those who still live with their Moms (i.e., have no
living expenses) can afford to actually _use_ the new 3G iPhone (only
one carrier has the network to handle that speed/volume of data
traffic), so they can charge what they please. Others have signed up
for contracts (any phone) that appeared to offer "unlimited" minutes and
then... um... didn't. I mentioned in another post some recent newspaper
stories of people being shocked to get multi-thousand-dollar cell-phone
bills for trusting (and not reading the fine print) and then basically
using their phones as they would a PC for browsing, streaming,
downloading, social-networking, etc. Some of them simply couldn't
believe that the first bill was real/serious and continued their usage
until the second-month bill arrived (that was the $20,000+) and they
woke up. Those are extreme cases, but even a bill of several hundreds
of dollars, when you'd budgeted for less than 100, is an eye-opener.
That's more than I'm paying to re-do my kitchen...
A major carrier here announced that it is starting to charge users for
IMs and other text messages INCOMING, including spam and including their
OWN SPAM... the advertising crap that they send you regarding their own
"services" and specials. Yes, they partially relented and allowed that
you could apply to have spam messages dropped from your bill, but their
policy is to make it so onerous that you'll just let it ride. "Yes sir,
you can certainly get those 310 spam messages removed from your phone
bill - just fill out this form. What's that sir? Why yes, it is quite
easy. It had better be; did I mention that you'll need to do it 310
times? And it's an online web-form and we've disabled cut'n'paste.
Whoops! Make that 311 there's another spam just arrived. You be sure to
have a _nice_ day, sir!"
There's a groundswell of resentment and outcry, but most Canadian users
are locked into multi-year plans. You _can_ use pay-as-you-go, but the
per-minute and per-message rates are much higher than (the
already-higher-than-you-Americans-pay) rates if you have a plan.
As a general rule, phones are not unlocked here (I think it's not
exactly illegal, but providers are pressing to have that changed, too).
Also, IIRC, there's only one true GSM provider. There's little use of
the portability of phone numbers. You can take your GSM card and... and
... put it right back into a phone from the same provider - won't work
with the other major telecomms companies' networks, because they don't
offer GSM phones. Yes, you can keep your number, but all your other
stuff stays behind when you move - like those dozens of ring-tones that
you paid for, phone apps/plug-ins, etc. Anybody who buys a multi-band
phone is doing so because they figure to travel internationally with it,
not to use with different providers in-country.
Anyway, I wasn't asking all those questions on my own behalf. I don't
have a laptop or phone that I could use for browsing and other data
stuff at my employer's location. :-)
But my real point was that there are all kinds of issues and questions
about what's right, wrong, offensive, career-limiting, etc., that seem
to be mystifying or invisible to many new and young workers. They're
ever so proud of how they are natural citizens of the digital world,
unlike us old duffers who are uncomfortable or piecemeal in our
adoption, but they seem to lack clues about etiquette and propriety and,
to some extent, ethics. Guidance in those areas appears spotty (though I
may have overlooked a horde of treasures, since I didn't look very
hard... but then neither have many of the new kids).
Kevin
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