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1999

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2001

History

But even at the low rate of 9600bps this was a quite useful mobile solution for many applications, like sending/receiving mail or even administrating a server using the command line Interface. With the introduction of the Nokia 9000 Communicator 1996 this was even available in the "palm" of a hand, an often useful but also quite expensive way to use GSM.

But when 1998 the German D2 network introduced the "Datanight" billing option this suddenly changed. At a price of about 10 eurocent per minute mobile Internet suddenly was quite affordable even for private users - at least for me :) Using my Nokia 9000 I telneted into my Linux servers to read mail (online using mutt, POP3 is for weenies :), chat on IRC networks, do server-administration and so on. I was used to have Internet at home all the time since 1995, where I ordered a modem leased-line to my ISP, and now I was becoming used to the idea of having it all the time where ever I was. Not connected, but at least available.

The Nokia 9000 also was one of (if not THE) first consumer phones supporting a normal AT command set over a rs232 serial line without additional hardware, and so also allowing a notebook to access the Internet over GSM. I used this rarely as the build in terminal-application usually was enough for me, but quite a few times I used a Linux notebook with PCMCIA LAN and masquerading to provide mobile Internet to a whole LAN of PCs.

The first time I actually used it over a long time in a car - and so to say the first experiment of project::gigacar - was early in 1999 when I spontaneously decided to build a website for my aunt's 60th birthday while already being on the way. This worked surprisingly well, I was online for at least 2 hours as I also set up a guest book, searched for photos on my servers at home and so on, and there were only 2 or 3 disconnects in this time.

So the logically next step was the idea of being online all the time during a long ride. A good chance to try this out was a trip to the Chaos Communication Congress, and to make it affordable the idea was to build a LAN of at least 3 participants (a fourth person would have to drive :) and share the cost. But then this problem got solved to to a marketing-gag of Viag Interkom, who started a special offer in this time: using their prepaid-card "loop" network internal calls would cost only 1 Pf (0.5 eurocent) per minute. The only problem: the only Viag internal ISP was their own access number which of course was excluded. But if a Nokia 9000 can act as a modem to dial into the Internet, why shouldn't it also be able to function as a dial-in server? So I connected one of my Nokias (I had 4 at this time, this product simply is too cool to have just one :), ordered an incoming data number (5 Euro per month) and connected it to an mgetty on one of my Linux servers. And it worked, dialing from one 9000 to the other using the loop card really just was 1Pf/minute, having 50 DM on the card that would be enough for about 5000 Minutes of mobile Internet. Time to go crazy.

Now the problem wasn't money any more, but battery capacity. A 9000 battery lasts for about 1.5 hours of talk time, I had 3 of these spare (plus one in the dial-in server), so a total of 4.5 hours of connected mobility (the 9110 which I of course also had and which has a much longer talk time is not usable for the GSM 1800 Viag Network). I was online in the McDonald's IRCing while waiting for my order, surfing the IMDB while sitting in the movie theater, and reading new mail while waiting at red traffic lights. And of course while driving to Berlin for the 16C3. See the first series of photos "1999" :>

[see "2000" photo section for what I did 5 years ago and the rest of this page for what I'm doing in the moment :]