Wi-Fi Diet: Day 1 from Chris

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 Chris Churilo, VP Product Management & User Experience

Diets start easily for me – Day One I feel great and super bullish on the progress that I am going to make. Then Day Two creeps in and I start to question the whole idea of a diet and feel desperately craving the very thing that I am avoiding. It is torture to say the least and I remember that the word “die” is at the center of it all.

I was certain that this would be a cakewalk since I wasn’t addicted to the Internet. However, unlike a normal food diet, the beginning of the Wi-Fi diet was far from great. I turned airplane mode on and Wi-Fi on first thing in the morning and headed to work. I usually look at email on either my laptop or phone, but that morning, I just headed out without a glance.

I kept busy at work, then rushed out to do some errands. While waiting in the checkout line, I was stuck behind a woman who was disputing the expiration date on a coupon for some detergent – so, I did what any normal person would do – I pulled out my phone to find entertainment on the Internet… but there was nothing. No signal at all. Just the orange airplane icon on the upper left. And since I didn’t sync up my email or anything else for that matter at home or in the office – I had nothing.

Just the whining of the customer in front of me… should I just give her the 50 cents? I looked up from my phone and told myself to be patient, we’ll go to lunch and it will be resolved.

Knowing I only had a few minutes left of lunch, I went to a place that was a quick drive away, put in my order, pulled out my phone and… nothing again. Really? I thought the Bay Area was littered with Wi-Fi – especially free Wi-Fi everywhere? I felt completely disconnected from the world and hurried back to the office to get me some Internet and feel whole again.

Then the usually short drive home – my chance to do the mandatory call to mom, then the fun calls to catch up with friends. By now, I am grumpy and sulking all the way home.

But really, I should have known better. When I travel internationally, I have gotten into the habit of turning on Airplane mode and Wi-Fi on – so this wasn’t really a new experience for me. The key difference is that when I travel, I am much more organized. I usually make sure that at every Wi-Fi connection I have I download the details I need on my phone so I can have it on hand. But more importantly, I check the iPass Hotspot Finder at the start of my day to make sure I will be within steps of an iPass hotspot.

I make a promise to myself to make Day 2 great by starting my day with a breakfast date with the iPass Hotspot Finder.

Tags: wi-fi access