Most times I'm asleep before takeoff. The routine, honed after 20+ years of heavy traveling and more than two million miles in the air, is more a result of muscle memory than thought. Backpack stored in overhead - check. Newspaper and reading materials folder in seat-back pocket - check. Earbuds firmly inserted to block noise and memorized announcements - check. Turn off phone - check. Wake-up when drink cart rolls down the aisle - check. Log into WiFi to get some work done - check - WAIT - what? WiFi? Up here? Yup.

After years of isolation at 35,000' and the ability to effectively block work-related communications thanks to a lack of Internet connectivity the wall has come down - or gone way, way up, depending on your point of view. It took years before the net's reach extended outwards from the home or office but now that's pretty much routine - wireless cards, hot spots, tethering a mobile to your laptop, etc., all keep us connected when we're on the horizontal. But now the reach has gone vertical. Just last week I had sky-high WiFi. And loved it.

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Biking alongside someone for hours at a time gives riders plenty of time to talk. My #1 riding buddy (and great pal) Andy and I have clocked thousands of miles together, all the while talking about business, arguing about politics, laughing about the sheer stupidities of life and generally covering a lot of ground - both literally and figuratively.

A few years ago Andy got his first satellite radio and was instantly hooked. He loved the clear sound, choice of channels and absence of advertising. My comment, as we pedaled along, puzzled him. "Enjoy it while you can. It won't last forever," I said.

As with a lot of other predictions I'm off by a few years in one direction or another. However, I'm convinced that satellite radio is currently on life support and is doomed to be a marginal product for however long it lasts - despite the opinions of Andy and millions of his fellow satellite-radio-addicted compatriots.

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Most people who know me wouldn't suggest that I was cheap. Quite the contrary, actually - I drive a couple of nice cars and spent way too much money on my last bike (although that was about 4 years and 25,000 miles ago).

But when it comes to monthly bills I'm a piker - especially when it comes to communications like phone, Internet connection, cable/satellite TV, etc. I'm on the prowl pretty much all the time when it comes to better deals and am not afraid - OK, proud - of calling a vendor and asking for a discount. I've got no pride when it comes to getting a better deal if there's one to be had.

Regular readers of this blog know that I really put this to the test when I decided to go completely wireless in my home office about a year ago. Truthfully, it really worried me - with the vagaries of coverage and the ease with which minutes can run up a bill I was more than a little nervous about it.

All turned out well, though, and I blogged a few times about it HERE, HERE and HERE. Little did I know, though, that the best was still yet to come - a way to save money, create virtually perfect coverage for my cell phone around my home office and actually make life a little more convenient.

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Is it possible to spank a phone? I'd sure like to at least slap mine around from time to time. It just behaves badly.

Now, I don't mean to say that it's rude (I almost always keep it on just vibrate when I'm in public) or that it's foul-mouthed (the music I listen to doesn't qualify in the "explicit lyrics" category) or even that it's loud (I'm almost always on a headset and consequently can speak in a normal tone and volume).

No, I mean it just doesn't know how to behave in certain situations. And it's not always the phone's fault… the carriers are complicit in this, too.  It's exasperating. 

To be clear, it's not just my iPhone - it's every other phone, too - but certainly my device should be better behaved than others simply because it's not really a phone… it's a computer that makes phone calls. You'd think that the behavior in various situations would be more suitable to everyday use, or at least be programmable, but it's not.

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