In order to combat my internet withdrawal for these 20ish hours I purchased a Three Wireless Broadband package. While I have been happy enough, I recently updated the software drivers and now wish I could downgrade.

For the past year I have generally been happy. It is fast enough for my type of usage, and the coverage is sufficient, even if I know every point along the train line between Karlskrona and Copenhagen where the signal drops out, and I know how long I can wait before I can reconnect.

But just before I presented my licentiate thesis my hard drive crashed. The IT guys returned my computer freshly formatted and I diligently downloaded the latest drivers and reinstalled my Huawei E220 modem.

At first I was impressed with the new software. I was able to see all of the SMSes I had received in the past year and the strength of the signal. But my problems started when I went to Amsterdam for work.

Not wanting to fork over the roaming fees I instead tried to use the hotel and conference wifi connections, only to find that the new modem drivers had disabled my AirPort and ethernet connectivity!!?! The only way I found to rectify this problem was to delete the network location profile attached to the new software from Three. This in turn meant that on my return to Sweden I was unable to use my modem until I completed my two hour train journey and could redownload the drivers from Three.

Having more time to play on my return I concluded that the modem drivers were intentionally crippling the wifi and ethernet. At first I was a complete loss to explain this brutal behaviour, but then concluded they didn’t want me to share my Three wireless broadband connection with other computers.

While I think the ethics of stopping internet sharing are questionable this is not something I was doing, and to break my computer to a level my parents would be unable to fix is unacceptable behaviour! I want to use ethernet at work, wifi at home, and wireless on the road – and I don’t think this is an uncommon situation. Now I have an ugly fix where I have to make two changes in System Preferences every time I change from the wireless internet connection to a wifi network.

Now I am even more jealous that I cannot get a MiFi, a product designed with both my laptop and iPod Touch in mind. The MiFi connects to the internet via your ‘friendly’ mobile broadband provider, and produces a 10 metre wifi bubble in which you can connect all of your internet enabled devices. Sadly this is not available in Sweden (yet?). In the mean time I will just look for the old drivers and do a Windows Vista style downgrade.