data card | Successful Software

cape reinga I am thinking about a trip to New Zealand with the family (my wife is a Kiwi). As a microISV I need Internet access to keep the business running. I might be able to rent accommodation with broadband or find Internet cafes, but I would like to have mobile Internet access as a back-up. Unfortunately it looks as if my UK mobile Internet provider doesn’t even support roaming in NZ. Even if I swap to another UK provider, roaming costs would probably be prohibitive.

Ideally I would like to just rent a data card in NZ for a month. But a search on Google turned up nothing, apart from one service apparently only available to Australians. My only other thought is to ask one of my wife’s relatives to sign up with vodaphone.co.nz for their ‘no term’ mobile broadband plan, then cancel at the end of the trip. I will probably have to buy a new data card as well, as I doubt my Three Networks Huawei USB modem and SIM would work with Vodaphone NZ.

Any Kiwis reading this? Suggestions would be welcome.

I try to check my sales and support emails at least twice a day, every day. I managed this 362 days in 2007 (I took a break for Christmas day and 2 days I was in Germany at a conference). But providing this level of service can prove to be a problem for a one-man software company when it comes to taking holidays. Last year I restricted holidays to places with broadband Internet access. But finding child-friendly accommodation with broadband access proved to be quite a headache.

I have considered getting a Blackberry, but I really need something that can run my application to do proper support.

After some dithering I have now finally got mobile Internet access for my laptop through 3 Networks at £10/month. This provides 1GB per month of free data in the UK. You can get a higher data allowance with a more expensive contract, or a pay-as-you-go contract. But 1GB/month will hopefully be sufficient for my needs. Data costs outside the UK are a frightening £6/MB, so I will probably have to look for alternative arrangements if I take a holiday abroad. Vodaphone offer contracts with more reasonable roaming rates, but the contracts are much more expensive (£25 – £99/month).

Installation of the USB mobile modem and software was very easy – it took me about 5 minutes from opening the packaging to being connected. Only time will tell how good the coverage and service are. Watch this space.

Having mobile Internet access could also be a useful back-up if I lose my landline broadband connection. This is quite reassuring after several website outages and a failed harddisk in the last couple of weeks.