Wireless life

I work at home once a week. The problem with working where I do is that security is tight. So until recently (read: tonight), in order to connect to work, I had to use dial-up. That's right. Now, we've had broadband for a long while, so it seems silly for me to have to use dial-up. So, let me explain.

Our apartment is completely wireless. There is the cable modem, the router and all sorts of wireless cards for various devices. There were practical reasons for this arrangement. Mostly, because of the way the apartment is laid out, running wires to the loft would be too much work and far too unsightly. So, we chose to be wireless.

The major issue with this arrangement is that my work computer, for reasons of security, was freed of its wireless card before I received it. That's right. My work computer came with a wireless card and it was removed before I received it. Only recently, within the past couple of months, has the agency allowed wireless access for home use. Once I heard that - I jumped on it and got my card re-installed. Great, simple, right?

Wrong. The encryption used by the agency is WPA, which, until recently (read: last week), was not supported by TiVo. So until all of the software was updated, etc., the choice was TiVo or work computer. Well... the TiVos won. Anyhoo, that's not a problem anymore since the software has been upgraded to support WPA encryption (well, on one of them... the other one is having issues).

So, what's the point? Well, now that everything has been set up and updated, I not only have broadband access with my work computer, but on top of that it's wireless. This makes me a very happy camper. No more waiting forever (and I do mean FOREVER) for email to load into Outlook. And I am no longer tethered to my desk.

This will make working at home even more enjoyable from now on. No more screaming at the dial-up anymore!