Jacob Haller (jwgh) wrote,
Jacob Haller
jwgh

  • Music:

T-Mobile Hotspot grumble

Every so often it becomes necessary for me to work someplace that isn't my house. These days I like to go to a Borders to do this. Border's is a relatively nice working place because it tends to be clean, quiet, and if I get frustrated with a customer and have to get up and walk around for a little while to cool off I can go look at books and stuff.

But Internet access at Borders isn't free; their access is via T-Mobile, so you either have to sign up for one of their packages (but I don't have to do this often enough to make that be cost-effective) or pay $10 for a day's access.

So that's what I do. However, there are two annoying things about this.

(1) You need to have an account on http://hotspot.t-mobile.com/ to buy the Internet access, and they require that the user name of the account be six characters or greater. This means that my usual account name, jwgh, isn't acceptable. (In situations like this I just double it to jwghjwgh. But I don't see why a policy like this makes sense.)

(2) If you don't use the account for a while -- which I generally don't, because I usually just use my home Internet connection -- then your account gets disabled. Unfortunately, there is no obvious way to re-enable an account once it has been disabled, and also when an account has been disabled its account name can't be reused on a new account. This is a pain in the butt.
Tags: rant
Subscribe

  • the great debate

    Defend your position in the comments! (Tik-Tok's a robot, obviously. But what happens if he's sprinkled with the Powder of Life?) Important…

  • robot roll call

    I was poking through my closet looking for my dress shoes (so far I have found one of them) and I came across a grocery bag filled with what turned…

  • Weekend photos

    I went to Massachusetts to celebrate my nephew Ezra's second birthday (which is actually not until this Thursday) and give him the stuffed robot and…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 5 comments