Over the past few months, I’ve had two things bugging me. One: how incredibly high my internet bill was and two: How slow our internet was getting. It gradually got worse and worse even after two different service visits.
Today my modem finally died and I decided to act on something I’d been thinking about.
I cut off our internet through Comcast.
The first thing my business partner said was “Uh, then how do you think you are going to keep working from home?”
That explanation takes a few parts:
First since I interviewed Johnny Truant about virtual assistants a few weeks ago, I have been interested in the trial he did only checking his email twice a day. I had never considered how truly addicted to being constantly connected I was until that interview and the thought of a disconnection fast, as Johnny mentions in his post sounds so peaceful.
So my plan was to turn on the 4G Hot Spot on my LG Revolution and only check my email 2-3 times a day, which also limits my Twitter time. I’m a total Twitter addict but I rarely get on Facebook. I have also noticed over the past 3 years while I’ve been home based that I get a lot more done in a shorter period if I work at a coffee shop or library for a few hours. I’m not sure if it’s the change of scenery or just the fact that I have to focus on what I’m doing, not laundry or household things.
I already had a wireless card in my desktop, and of course in my laptop and tablet so the most difficult thing about the process so far has been returning the dead modem to the Comcast office. I’ve been working via the Hot Spot for a few hours tonight and it’s actually faster than I expected. Uploading and downloading audio for my transcription company might have taken 10 seconds longer than before. Netflix on my Blu-Ray player worked fine too.
I might lose my mind and have it turned back on, since I’m running two businesses, finishing my last semester of college, and have two more weeks as Marketing Coordinator for BarCamp Nashville 11. But I’m committing to at least a month of semi-disconnection to see how much more work I get done just from not being sucked into internet time wasting. It’s also going to save me almost $60 a month on my internet bill.
I’ll be sure to update the blog with my opinion: love, indifferent, or total meltdown.
**Update Day 2: So it’s almost 2 and my phone is almost dead. When they say to run a Revolution with the Hot Spot turned on plugged in, they mean it. Also since I have Dropbox, Evernote and Action Method on my phone, plus I just realized that I can get a CrashPlan app too, I could easily see myself going totally mobile. Except for the fact that I love my dual-monitors in my office.**
Photo Credit Flickr User: ilovememphis
