I am going to San Francisco next week. I read on PCWorld that with iPhone OS 3.0 AT&T will deliver free Wi-Fi access non-U.S. carriers who include Wi-Fi access in their plans. Naturally, I am curious to see if the plan I have with Rogers (my Canadian provider) covers me with a Wi-Fi access. Since I unable to find the information on Rogers site, I did a search.

Here are the search results I got on Rogers Web site. Totally useless since the description repeats the menu instead of highlighting some content of the page. To make matter worse, the results were not even filtered for iPhone due to the fact that their search engine considers menu items. This is what happens when you failed to implement the most basic don’ts and do’s in search engine.

At minimal, a search engine eliminates menu items and only considers the content of the page to deliver relevant results. At least if they were providing me with the content of the page instead of repeating the menu items in the short text highlights I may be able, with patience, to get a clue of where to find what I was looking for.

Basic WordPress Search Engine

To reassure bloggers on WordPress, the basic search engine used by default on WordPress blogs limit the search to the content of the page. It is far from perfect, but at least it does that.

Search Engine is the Last Resort

A well-designed site should give me easy and obvious access to the information I need. A good navigation system and gathering related links are a must. If the Rogers site was better structured, I could have find the information I was looking for without using the search engine. In doubt, ask yourself these questions:

• Is it too complicated to navigate your Web site or blog?
• What I can do to make it simple to understand?
• Do I need a portal page easy to navigate that contains absolutely ALL the links relevant to the single product, its options and accessories and latest news?

You might also like these posts

• Quick Guide for Canadians Traveling with an iPhone to the USA
• Defining Social Media Etiquette One Step at a Time
• The Blogger’s Toolkit and Why I Upgraded to the iPhone 3G S
• Talking Blog Monetizing on my Updated Look at Women and Social Media Presentation – Part 3 of 3
• Envisioning the Future Technologically

Then, the iPhone becomes a simple cell phone with a contact book. Nothing smart about it. I felt naked. It is easy to forget the technological advancement as we get used to technology. The first thing we did when we arrived at the hotel was to open our computer to get Rogers phone number. We called to inquiry if there was a plan we could subscribe to reduce our costs. They now do!

Instead of paying $6 CAD per meg, you pay a monthly fee of $10 + $1 per meg. I used about 14 meg on my trip. I save $60 (=$84-$24). Since my husband also have an iPhone, our savings pay off the Custo Barcelona dress I got on sale.

Important Steps to Take to Reduce your Costs

1. Turn off the data roaming as you board your departure flight even if you subscribed to a US data rooming  plan.
2. Close off the Fetch New Data – this means that you control when you are downloading new data.
3. Reset the usage statistics (Settings -> General -> Usage). The idea is that you can track your usage and adapt your behavior.
4. Once you landed you can put back on the data roaming.
5. Try to limit browsing the Web, reading your RSS feeds (especially if you read a lot of graphic blog) and even checking your email too often. These actions raise your bill.
6. Uploading pictures on Twitter do not consume too much; after all they are part of the fun of Twitter. I sent a little bit more than 1 meg for uploads versus receiving 13 meg.
7. If you do not plan to go to the United States the next month, cancel the US data roaming plan at Rogers to save the $10 monthly fee

As soon as we landed in Montreal, I return to reading my RSS feeds while I was waiting to pass the customs. It felt great to use the full capability of my iPhone whenever I want.

Little note: My husband Jerome Paradis, the other half of the we in this post, wrote a post on the same topic. We did not consult before. If you are curious you can check his version of the story.

You might also like these posts

• Bad Search Results Hurt Customer Service
• Defining Social Media Etiquette One Step at a Time
• The Blogger’s Toolkit and Why I Upgraded to the iPhone 3G S
• Envisioning the Future Technologically
• Having fun catching bugs with Crazy Frog for the iPhone

He bought the individual wireless stations, installed them and the next morning, I watched a home decor show while I ate breakfast. The Media Center allows you to skip the ads. It is a fast forward button that jumps 30 seconds each time you press it. So it took 20 minutes to watch a 30-minute episode. I got 3 network congestion in 20 minutes; the image freezes until the congestion is gone. Unacceptable! I asked him to put back the cables, which he did. Everything works fine again.

My husband did not give up on his idea. He tried with another wireless technology. I am happy to report that our complex techno-system works well now.

The story does not end here. My husband failed to mention something when he told me that we get rid of the cables. His wireless network set up meant that a few wireless boxes will be spread across the house. It is not bad since you can hide them behind a book but it is something to consider before you make the move.

The lesson is not to ask more questions because we will never imagine all the scenarios. Since I have no intention to learn about this boring matter, I simply make sure my husband knows my requirements so well that he will only propose solutions that will please me. My requirements are simple:

1. it has to work the same or better than the current situation
2. it has to be simple to operate
3. it has to look good in the living room.

An if you can do the set up without cutting my Internet connection for a couple seconds here and then, it would be fantastic.

You might also like these posts

• Bad Search Results Hurt Customer Service
• Quick Guide for Canadians Traveling with an iPhone to the USA