Independence Day!

Today is the day I untether.

I’m disconnecting all of my landlines, my ISDN and upgrading to an ultralight, two-pound laptop. What better time to share a few thoughts about the future of technology and travel — and what it might mean for you.

A lot of you have already unplugged your phones. Few of you probably know what an ISDN is or what it does. And computer upgrades happen every day. But when everything happens on the same day … well, that’s noteworthy.

Let’s start with the phone. I had two lines, and every month, CenturyLink sent me a bill for more than $200. I almost never make land-based phone calls anymore. Instead, I use my AT&T cellphone or Google Voice. I wanted to disconnect a long time ago, but couldn’t until I let all of my clients know that I had a new phone number.

The ISDN — shorthand for Integrated Services Digital Network — is an antiquated technology that’s still used for broadcast audio. I used it for voiceovers on my TV show, and until May, to co-host a live, two-hour radio program about travel.

I quietly left the show in May. No one noticed, because no one listened to it.

I didn’t need to see the laughably low Arbitron ratings to know we didn’t have an audience. We just had to invite listeners to call in to the program to realize we were talking to ourselves every Saturday morning.

Oh well.

And then NPRs Vivian Schiller basically said terrestrial radio is dead a few weeks after I bailed out of the broadcast, which made me relieved to have jumped off a sinking ship.

The ISND definitely had do go. That was another $50 a month in savings.

The hardest part, maybe, was the computer. I’m used to holding something in my hands, even when it comes to a laptop. My current PC weighs about six pounds. I’m switching to a MacBook Air which will allow me to work anywhere and not have to worry about battery life (my current laptop holds a pathetic 15 minutes worth of juice).

As of today, I’ll have nothing more than a wireless network on a DSL, a cellphone and laptop that feels more like a Gameboy. What a strange future we’re living — and traveling — in.

What kind of changes are you making, in terms of connectivity and technology? How is it affecting the way you travel?

Do you feel untethered? I think eventually, I will.

Today, I feel a litte naked.

(Photo: Sanctuary/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Cynthia

    I’ve been totally untethered for 7-months now . . . I am living and traveling in my RV (large pickup camper on a big diesel pickup truck). My phone is my BlackBerry and the computer is connected via cellular broadband from Verizon. Friends collect my mail and send it to whatever addresses (eg: RV parks where I will be at long enough) I supply them with down the road.

    Nothing like living off the usual grid!

  • Kairho

    Chris, you could have gotten rid of the land lines a LOT sooner: your phone number has been portable for several years. I ported mine to wireless 4 years ago and now no land lines. Put in a wireless hub and there are no networking wires anymore.

    Still have the desktop, however, new just last year (and went to Mac from PC as well!). Unlike you I rarely need computer power when traveling and the desktop is more convenient for me … but still not wired to anything! Even the printer is wireless.

  • stephen – nyc

    You had a radio show?! I haven’t listened to radio in years (too much talking over the songs and cutting off the songs as well, in addition to endless commercials).
    I guess you’ve got a naked dsl account, since here in NYC, Verizon doesn’t let you have a dsl account unless you have a landline (unless that’s changed and maybe I should look into it as I too do not make any landline calls – I have packet8 for voip as well as my vzw cellphone). I’d probably sign up for a cheap fax service for the few faxes I still have to send these days and it would still be cheaper than maintaining the landline.
    10/23/2010 14:53 EDT.

  • Brian\PVD

    After 5 years of living in house where nobody called the land line except wrong numbers and telemarketers, finally got rid of it in the move. Would have dropped it years ago if we weren’t getting our Internet via dsl.

    My iPad is now my choice for leisure travel when I don’t need to work on presentations or large files, as well as web browsing at home.

    At work is a different story. Pagers and land line phones that look like they’re from the 1970s.

    Strangely, despite lack of wires, I feel more plugged in than ever.

  • vince

    If you’ve got DSL then you still have a landline, right? That’s the only reason I retain my landline.

    What’s the typical cost for that in your region and what kind of speeds do you get with it?

    I too am curious about what Stephen asks above. Does your phone company offer DSL WITHOUT a voice/phone service? (Mine forces you to take both.)

  • http://www.flyingwithfish.com Steven Frischling

    Chris my friend … welcome to the future!

    I shed my land line well over a year ago and its great. The few times I have needed to fax I have learned to do it all electronically.

    My 13″ MacBook Pro gives me around 5hrs of real battery life under most conditions, the 32gb iPad 3G lets me be online and do 85% of what I need to do for 7hrs or so in an ultra portable machine.

    The MacBook Air is likely next on my list (thanks to the same client who got me the iPad) and who needs wires with wifi or 3G built into the iPad.

    Enjoy your freedom!

  • Christopher Elliott

    @Steven, thank you. Feels a little strange.

    @vince and others … yes, CenturyLink lets you get a naked DSL without a landline. For which I’m very grateful.

  • Bill

    Congratulations upon cutting loose, Chris.
    Are you the last one in Florida to have an ISDN line? I shut off the last one I administered in 1999!

    My Dell works about 11 hours with a battery slice added. I use docking bays when I need desktop style monitors.

  • http://www.fontayne.com Cynthia Fontayne

    Hey, Chris — I have to say that I was excited to read your post (found via your FB page in this instance), and quickly contemplated the freedom and the cost savings I’d get if I followed suit. Then I had something akin to a panic attack! So many lines, so many devices, so many access points….I think I’ve only resisted one option: call waiting, (which is just rude). But you have inspired me; I’m hereby vowing to let go of at least one node by the end of the year. The Shower Fax has *got* to go.

  • Wes

    I bought an iPad immediately after they came out and find it a travel delight. The big test comes next month when I take a brief 9 day backpacking trip to Italy. I’ve purchased my ebooks and send my net book packing in an effort to reduce weight and convenience. I’ll be interested to see how much it improves the experience.

  • http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

    Congrats!

    I wish I could get rid of my landline, but my job requires it. But since I get it bundled with my internet and TV it probably only costs $15 a month anyway.

    I just ordered a macbook pro today, can’t wait! but I’ve been using laptops for 5 or 6 years now anyway, now I’ll just have a cool one.

  • Mo

    To make your life perfect take a look at ringcentral.

  • Barry

    Next on your list – a Google TV? I got one yesterday – and all I can say is WOW!

    Too bad I didn’t know about the radio show – it would have been great to listen to!!

  • http://kathibrowne.com Kathi Browne

    A few months from now, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. I haven’t had a landline for years and a desktop??? It that one of those big boxes that you attach to a wall? Your next step should be to vacation in Costa Rica where our cellphones don’t work. it is truly invigorating…

  • Carver

    I knew it was time for my landline to go when one of my best friends lost his cell phone and was reentering all his contacts. He asked me for my landline and I had to log onto AT&T to get the number.

    Today, at home I use my cell phone and google voice. When I travel I have a 3 pound laptop.

  • EllenB

    I don’t think you’ll have any regrets! You might want to buy an Energi To Go (phone charger that uses AA alkalines) or a Kensington USB power brick for power outages, if that’s a concern for you. Battery-dead cellphones during a power outage was my only concern when shedding the landline. (We often lose power for days due to windstorms here in the Pacific Northwest)

  • JeffK

    I have to have a land line if I want DSL. And since I live in the country in a rural area, I have a rural phone company providing service. More expensive, but the service is phenomenal.

    Anyway, my house is wired for networking, though I do also have a wireless router. I have everything I can connected, including my satellite TV. I can watch shows from home while traveling where ever. Watching the Simpsons in Italian wasn’t as fun as I thought it might be. I can record and then watch MY shows as long as I can connect to the web.

    I have networked drives that store most of my vacation photos. I can access these anywhere as well, and even copy files from location back home. Or show pictures from home to people while I’m on the road.

    This why I still prefer wired connections for things like this. The speed is so much faster. But the laptops in the house use the wireless, and when my kids come to visit, their laptops hook up automatically.

  • Mark K

    Good luck on the disconnected life. Hope it goes well for you. I know the financial savings will be great.

    I still have not lost the land line. I have too many bad memories of the after effects of hurricanes and other natural disasters to have 100% faith in my cell phone. When tropical storm Allison dumped 40 inches of rain on Houston, cell phone service was out for 3 weeks. DSL was also out or sporadic to many neighborhoods for several weeks after the storm. I remember seeing dozens of people lined up to use the few pay phones that were still around then. Through it all, my POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) worked perfectly without a single minute of outage. I was able to dial into work and get email and actually work until the battery went out on my laptop. When power came back, I was able to continue working from home until the roads dried out and we could get to the office again.

  • Michael

    I’ve been reading this blog for years and never knew there was a radio show. I feel as if I betrayed you by not knowing and listening.

  • Christopher Elliott

    @Michael, nonsense — I feel as if I betrayed my audience by participating in a program that didn’t meet the high quality standards I’ve set on this site and my other editorial outlets.

  • Ed

    While untethering from a wired network at home is nice and convenient, I just can’t handle the lack of speed that wireless still has. I run Gig-e networking in my home (the advantage of buying a new house, I got to pick the network cabling and drop points *BEFORE* they put up the drywall) and I find that wireless, even 802.11n to be tool slow. This is particularly noticeable when accessing content on my NAS RAID 1+0. And as for phone? Well…it’s bundled in my HOA dues, so I pay it whether I use it or not, so what’s the point in dumping it? I don’t have any extras like long distance or nothing…so I use Skype when I want to call my parents or I use my cellphone.

  • Batal Mariotelli

    Any other techie listening will agree that wireless isn’t completely the cat’s meow. I recently ran ethernet to my desktop at home, full duplex ethernet is perfect for my needs. I do host a wireless hub when I need to be on my laptops but that’s only a secondary option in my home network topography (user pcs -> router pc -> internet). My flexibility in home is fantastic, I wouldn’t trade if for anything. Next up is upgrading the media server, adding 4 HD tuner cards to it plus 2TB of RAID 5 space (I’m not going to have to re-rip all my DVDs just because I lost a drive!).

  • http://www.twc.ca Stephen Pickford

    A Comrex unit could have been utilized on a regular phone line, thereby not needing the ISDN. However, my trick now is to record my show and not do it live…and have my affiliates download it at their leisure as on-line audio files. No need to be tied down to same day/time, satellite usage, stations having to select who they wished to carry at the satellite feed time, etc. No need to schlepp equipment for live shows on location, particularly since the CBP and CBSA and TSA et al looked at those red Comrex boxes with a fine toothcomb…
    If you get the radio bug, Chris, you’re always welcome on Travel World Radio!

  • father212

    why does it seems I get your newsletter a few days late?
    I still have a landline and it cost me 2 bucks a month I think. Rarely used as we have quite a few cell phones. It’s from MagicJack. I have it for two years and yes it “works” internationally! Faxes? I scan and email. Laptop, I have a company issued Fujitsu with two batteries. Heavy but boy, I can work the whole day without worrying abt the juice.

  • Julie

    @Stephen – I have Verizon DSL in NYC with no landline. I had a landline so the doormen could reach me, but I discovered (after living in the building for four years) that I don’t need a landline for the intercom to work. So I cancelled it, and my DSL works just fine.

  • Carlo

    I was reluctant to cancel my landline because of possibly needing to call 911 and they would know where I was. However, I finally realized that no one ever called and I didn’t ever call anyone and paying two phone bills for the privilege of not using either of them was silly. Particularly in light of GPS and 911 enhancements. So I dumped the landline.

    I do like using my ethernet cable to use my cable internet connection because it’s so much faster than the wireless, but I like carrying the laptop around the house even more. So more often than not, I’m untethered. But unlike you with your fantastic new “machine,” the battery life on my laptop is not great – maybe an hour? – so I AM tethered to the nearest electrical outlet. I’m about to turn an old laptop into a media/internet machine. Too bad the battery on that one only lasts 10 minutes or so. I’m hoping it runs much faster once I wipe Windows and install Linux.

  • Sharon

    I bought an iPad back in April and have been in love with it since my purchase. I’ve taken it to Yosemite and Las Vegas for vacation, and on family trips. It’s a great portable computer and is often my primary computer when I don’t feel like getting out my laptop. The only thing I miss is some sites that still have flash, but I can usually work around those issues. It’s liberating to have email, games, books and net access wherever I go, without having to drag a backpack of gear. I also love having a great place to display the photos that I take and Netflix at the touch of my finger.

    Welcome to the future!

    Sharon