[Stock image by Gerd Altman on Pixabay: thanks!]
Although I’ve been what one could call, generically, a “technology professional” for over forty years, I have intentionally limited the scope of technology I pay much attention to. (My thinking: if I control what I know about, I’ll limit what I’ll be expected to know about.) Consequently, I’m always behind the curve — I might (indeed, do) know about Tech X, Y, or Z, just not enough to be confident enough in making recommendations or providing support.Here’s the current general configuration of our electronic stuff:
- Two computers — a six-year-old desktop PC which alternately boots into Windows 10 or Linux Mint, and a… well, a maybe nine-year-old laptop (also dual booting, but most often into Windows). The desktop is “mine”; the laptop (nominally The Missus’s) I have used myself on a few trips here and there. (Update, 2019-10-19: The Missus mentioned this week that she’s thinking of getting a new laptop.)
- Two not-really-conventional “computers”: The Missus’s iPad Pro (now a few years old), and my Pixelbook (just got it over the summer). The iPad can be used in either WiFi mode, or in cellular mode if no WiFi signal is present; the Pixelbook does WiFi only.
- Phones: an iPhone 8 and an LG G6. Our cellular provider for years has been Spr*nt, but we’re still with them now more or less just out of inertia.
- A variety of media-related tech — several Roku boxes and a Chromecast.
So given all the above, what would we have to give up for a six-month trip to Europe? And of what’s left, what should we leave behind anyhow?
The need to answer those questions has bumped me out of my comfort zone. But this is what I’ve got a handle on so far…
For starters, the two “real” computers we’ll leave behind. (We may completely divest ourselves of The Missus’s laptop; given the iPad and the Pixelbook, we pretty much never need to use the thing anymore at all.)
Update, 2019-10-19: If The Missus does indeed replace her laptop, I’m not sure how that will fit into the equation: bring it in addtion to the two tablets? or maybe leave the iPad behind? (Slightly unimaginable but not impossible.) As the old Magic 8-Ball toy used to say: Answer hazy; try again later!
The iPad and the Pixelbook and two phones — presumably, we’ll bring them (caveats below).
As for the Rokus and the Chromecast, well, they’re still under investigation. (The biggest open questions relate to the availability of our “saved” content when not in the US; all those swaggering-big and blustery streaming-media sources get suddenly shy and squeamish when you raise questions about cross-border licensing and permissions.)
The main thing I’m trying to wrap my head around at the moment has to do with wireless service in Europe. Here’s what I think I know, or maybe need to know.
- We already know our present carrier has a satisfactory international plan we can use. (We know this because we used it last year, in England.) We don’t even need to replace our phones and the iPad.
- But we’ve contemplated switching carriers anyhow, for some time now: we’re paying a fortune for our plan — even sillier now that we’re no longer making any payments on the hardware.
- For mobile devices, The Missus has no desire to leave the Apple iEverything universe, and I’m committed to Android.
- So I’ve been investigating carriers, especially those with decent international plans and track records; I’m leaning toward Google Fi (their Flex plan). One thing I like about Google Fi is the whiz-bang network-switching cellular coverage which the “official” Google Fi phones offer; and I really like the pricing structure of the Flex plan. The big question mark about Google Fi: phones in general, and the Apple-vs.-Android thing in particular.
- You can bring any phone with you to Google Fi…
- …and you can bring your old phone number, as long as your carrier allows that (I’m pretty sure ours does)
- …but if you want to take advantage of the network-switching thing, you’ve gotta use one of their specifically configured phones. At the moment, these are limited to Google’s own Pixel phones and a couple of models from Moto (the G6 and G7).
- …and support for the iPhone, in particular, is as of today only in beta (and at that, Fi support apparently has to walk you through specific configuration steps)
- …and there may not be any support at all for cellular-ready tablets, like The Missus’s iPad Pro.
- Another thing I like about Google Fi: all calls over WiFi, and all data generally, run through a VPN for additional security.
- …which, of course, reveals another area of ugly embarrassing ignorance for me: I’ve never used any VPN at all. So now I’ve gotta spend time scoping that out as well.
- I do know that both the iPad and the Pixelbook can access the Internet anywhere simply via WiFi… using a hotspot-equipped cell phone.
- A careful reader will observe that pretty much all this ignorance is simply within the domestic realm of technology: I really don’t know much at all about how it would change (for better or worse) in settings anywhere comfortably within the US of A.
Life used to be so much simpler when we all had landlines, period. (Ha.)
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