Since moving from my old Rev 0 Verizon card, to the new Rev A built in EVDO card in my new Lenovo laptop, I have had a lot more problems with my service.

It could be that with my old setup, I could simply tell the network adapter to connect and it would take care of dialing out and setting up the connection.  In other words, I didn’t have to go through VZ Access Manager.

But now, I am forced to use VZAM, and I have to say, I think it pretty much sucks.

In the last 10 minutes, here are 2 wonderful issues I have run into:

I have had this several times recently… my friend Pete who works a lot with this stuff told me that Error 913 … “It basically means that Verizon is stupid and can’t figure out if it should let your account login.”

Usually I just keep trying and eventually I get allowed to login and connect.

The other cool thing that has happened a few times recnetly is that it changes my connection to “dormant” even though I am clearly not dormant (actively using the internet).

So while it is “dormant” I basically can’t transmit any data, and it sometimes will not even let me disconnect and try reconnecting.

I don’t have any solutions to these problems, but they are very frustrating.

In 2 years, WiMax should be fully rolled out in Chicago, so I look forward to trying another product, but in the mean time, I am stuck with VZW.

We all know ticketmaster is the leader in screwing people when it comes to buying tickets.  You want 4 $28 tickets?  Ok, that will be $165.  What?

Well, I just got done booking a flight on ATA:

Base Fare Per Passenger: $238.00
Taxes and Fees Per Passenger: $102.50

Yes, the taxes and fees are over $100 per ticket!

Here are some other fees that some airlines apply AFTER you have finished comparing which airline to use (which tickets are cheapest):

• $2.50: U.S. security tax (“the Sept. 11 fee”);
• $4.50: U.S. passenger facility charge (Chicago O’Hare);
• $14.50: U.S. international departure tax;
• $24.23: U.K. passenger service charge;
• $37.27: U.K. air passenger duty;
• $14.50: U.S. international arrival tax;
• $5: U.S. customs fee;
• $7: U.S. immigration fee;
• $5: U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection fee;
• $130: United Airlines fuel surcharge.

$130 fuel surcharge???  Gimme a break.