The life changing implications of 4G LTE wireless data services
Kevin Warnock's 'office' at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California USA October 2, 2011
I don’t like working at home.
There are too many distractions, and too few people around. That’s true even though I now have five roommates.
I have looked into coworking spaces like The Hub, Next Space and i/o Ventures.
These spaces are interesting, but they all have issues.
i/o Ventures is too noisy, as its associated restaurant and coffee shop is just over a half height wall that lets in all the sound to the work area. I’ve been there only twice, but both times the coffee shop part was jammed with laptop using customers and the working half of the space was either completely empty or almost empty, with just 3 people visible.
The Hub is bustling with activity, but it’s mainly for social entrepreneurs. That’s great, and I admire The Hub, and I know two companies that use the space regularly. To be admitted, you are supposed to be pursuing a social venture, and right now, I’m pursuing gOffice, which I don’t suspect could qualify.
Next Space is clean, quiet and well situated. It’s my favorite of the San Francisco coworking spaces that I’ve been to. But there doesn’t appear to be many Internet companies there. I need to meet and hang around with other Internet entrepreneurs. I wish that Hacker Dojo was not so far away, in Mountain View, California. I read yesterday that Hacker Dojo just signed papers to expand to 13,000 square feet, making it one of the largest hacker co-working spaces in the world.
What makes the Verizon MiFi device so great is that I can now sit down nearly anywhere in well populated areas of California and work. Coffee shops without wi-fi are my new favorite, because they tend to be quieter. I’m writing this from Muddy Waters Coffee House at 521 Valencia Street in San Francisco. The sound system is set to low volume, and half the tables are empty. There are no conversations taking place, and I’ve been able to get real work done for hours now. I love it.
What sets the Verizon 4G LTE MiFi Wi-Fi hotspot device I am using apart from other wireless connection devices is that this new Verizon device is faster than my home ATT UVerse wired connection. Even at the rear of Muddy Waters, 70 feet from the nearest window, my connection speeds to the Internet are an astonishing 8 megs a second download and 6 megs a second upload. The latency was just 68 milliseconds. The result is that I can access the Internet faster than at home. Never before have I experienced such great connection speeds in the United States.
I bought a Muni Fast Pass public transit pass today for the first time this year. My plan is to roam throughout the City this month, working from dozens of interesting nooks. I predict the down time I experience traveling will be more than made up for by increased productivity that results from fewer onsite distractions and the increase in social interaction inherent with being out of the house.
