Cellular Data Speeds

When I worked at QUALCOMM over 20 years ago, I was introduced to cellular data. Everyone was excited about being able to get stock quotes on the 4 line display of the phone; remember Unwired Planet? Data speeds were a whopping 9.6 Kbps on the digital network. This speed was enough to stream Real Audio, get email, and do basic tasks. I was even able to hookup a laptop and "browse the web".

Fast forward to today where the mobile hotspot I use is able to get 20 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up! These speeds are significantly faster than the 5 Mbps down I had on my cable modem when I worked at QUALCOMM. I know that I shouldn't be surprised at the advances, but trying to explain to my son about what we could do back then makes me think how far technology has come in that time. Today's cellular data speeds are at least 2000 times faster than what I used 20 years ago and there is no end in sight to how fast the connections will get. Of course, there will be a limiting factor that the connections to the other parts of the Internet won't match the air link, but the speeds still amaze me.

6 months after fixing Internet woes

About 6 months ago, I wrote about how I replaced all of my dad's networking gear with Ubiquiti products including the USG, Cloud Key, and a pair of UAP-AC-LRs. While it didn't completely cure his Internet issues, we were at least sure that the router and access points weren't the problem. His cable provider kept doing work on the connection and eventually he replaced the cable modem with an ARRIS 6183. I don't believe that the cable modem was the problem, but I wasn't going to argue with it working (we had already swapped out the cable modem with a different SB 6141).

The gear has been rock solid; one of the access points wasn't touched since the day we installed it; the USG was rebooted when the cable modem was replaced and my dad had to reset the other AP when he did some wiring changes in a closet.

Ubiquiti has been putting out regular updates to the equipment, but I decided to just leave it on older versions as everything was running. Yesterday I went ahead and performed the upgrade remotely which was quite scary as any firmware upgrade could render a device useless. Luckily upgrading all components went smoothly; the Cloud Key took a little longer than expected and I almost panicked when it didn't come back online.

I asked my dad if he's had any problems with the Internet and he said no; this was news to my ears. Prior to installing the Ubiquiti equipment, the family's solution for any time they had a problem was to reboot the cable modem and router. This no longer happens and everything just works.

As much as I'd like to recommend this type of setup for the average household, the separate components make it intimidating. For anyone with a little networking knowledge that has to handle an Internet connection for someone else like a family member or a small business, I'm not sure that you can beat Ubiquiti for the features at the price point.

Yes, I know I sound like an advertisement, but the more I use their hardware, the more I keep looking at reasons to get more and see what it can do.

Making medical decisions based on cost

Throughout my career I have been fortunate enough to have good, company-sponsored health insurance and have been in relatively good health. I only thought a little about healthcare costs when I was self-employed and we were on a continuation plan (sort of like COBRA). While the costs were not cheap, if I recall correctly around $1100 a month about a decade ago, we had good coverage and could see whatever doctor we wanted. When I lost my job last year I kept coverage through a COBRA plan until my new employer's plan started; they had a 60 day waiting period which is kind of brutal if you're trying to maintain continuous coverage.

When I picked a plan I picked what I thought was an okay plan: they had HRA plans which basically gave you a few hundred dollars to reimburse costs. It wasn't until I started looking at the cost of the ulcerative colitis medicine that I have been on for many years that the costs started to sink in; the medicine, Delzicol, was about $600 a month vs the $70 for a 3 month supply that I had previously. That adds up quickly. I was in the process of weaning myself off the medicine since I had been doing well for years so I didn't think much of it at the time. In addition to the medicine costs, the plan had a very high deductible and the doctors couldn't tell me how much a visit would be until I got the bill. It wasn't a regular PPO or HMO plan with a fixed fee for a doctor's visit and the cost sharing didn't kick in until I hit the deductible; the bill from a doctor was whatever negotiated rate the doctor would accept.

In November when I decided to become self-employed again I went on a COBRA plan through my old employer. Now I had to pay the full cost of the mediocre plan which amounted to over $1500 a month. While expensive, it was a lot better than having no coverage at all and luckily I can afford this.

About 2 months ago due to an issue with a client I had a lot of stress. Stress typically causes my colitis to flare up and this time it was a doozie. I resisted seeing a doctor but needed help. I went to see a physician's assistant (they can prescribe medications which is good) and while discussing my condition with her and treatment options I was using the CVS/Caremark app to see how much each medication would cost. I shouldn't have to put a price on my health but high costs would increase my stress and lead to a vicious cycle. One drug was $1000 a month, another was $500 a month so we settled on another drug where the cost was just under $100 for a 2 week treatment. She also recommended a colonoscopy, but I declined that as I suspect that would have been several thousand dollars.

Unfortunately the first medicine didn't work so we went with another drug. This one was going to cost close to $200, but it had to be done. However, I found an app called GoodRx that shows you prescription costs and has a drug discount card attached to it. Using this, I was able to reduce my cost by about $45. Yes, it would cost me more with insurance to get a prescription than without it. That didn't work either, so as a last resort we went with a drug I didn't want to take, but has been quite effective in the past; that prescription, with the discount card, was only $15. Luckily, it seems to have done the trick.

The good news for me is that we're changing insurance plans to one with more upfront pricing and hopefully more cost effective coverage. I'm also not going to rely on medicine alone to treat my colitis; I am embarking on a complete diet change (look for a future post about that) as I feel that there are potentially other treatment options for my condition.

I do feel fortunate that I can afford health insurance and out of pocket healthcare costs. This episode gave me a bit of a scare and really highlighted for me what some people have to struggle with due to the high costs of healthcare in our country; people shouldn't have to make healthcare decisions based on cost. Unless I misread something or my COBRA coverage was different than normal employees get, besides base cost, the insurance plan really had a lot to be desired.

Dongles everywhere!

In the last few revisions of the MacBook and MacBook Pro, Apple has replaced the legacy ports with USB-C ports which some think is forward thinking and others complain that their devices don't connect. Last fall, when the last MacBook Pros were announced, I was eyeing one, but ultimately decided against buying one. However, when Apple had a sale on the dongles to placate people, I thought about what I would need for my next computer. I bought a USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and a USB-C to USB-A adapter.

Fast forward to last month when Apple announced the 2017 MacBook Pros and I decided that it was time to replace my almost 5 year old MacBook Pro. I again, had the option to purchase dongles, but decided the 2 I had were all that I would need. My current setup is 2 27" Thunderbolt displays that each have 3 USB-A ports, FireWire 800 and a Thunderbolt port. With only the USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, I'm able to hook up my MacBook Pro to 1 display (second display is daisy chained) and all my devices work. When I travel, I can bring the USB-C to USB-A adapter in case I need to use a card reader.

While I may not be typical in my setup, basically 2 dongles are all I need to make my new computer hook up to all my legacy devices; this is really no big deal. Next year, however, when/if Apple releases its own displays again, they will unlikely have legacy ports. At that time, I'll get a few USB-C to USB-B cables for my scanner and hard drive dock and a few USB-C to USB-A adapters to hook my Lightning cables; total cost for all this will be maybe $30 and the cables/dongles will always be plugged into the display. Nothing to lose and a minor cost to move forward.

I'm not sure why there was so much uproar in the Mac community about getting rid of legacy ports; to me this is a much smaller deal (if any) than moving from 30 pin to Lightning because of the shear number of devices and cables I have lying around the house.