Dial Up and Roaming

The rumours about Microsoft rebranding Skype Wi-Fi Hotspots offering, which allows you to connect to paid Wi-Fi hotspots around the world with your Skype credit, set me on a nostalgic path for few minutes. It was circa 1996 when I was using analogue phone lines & dial up modems to connect to the Internet through Government of India’s company VSNL. VSNL had a partnership with a company in USA called iPass, you can opt-in to, on additional charge to get enrolled into iPass service and then install iPass Dial-Up connection software in your PC (Windows/Mac laptop). With that in place, from many places around the world you could dial-in to a local phone number and get on to the Internet, saving yourself the humongous international phone charges.  In those days I used to travel a lot and having iPass proved extremely handy, an edge over my fellow “novice” travellers from India.

I was surprised that VSNL (now Tata Indicom) continues to offer even in 2015, a dial-up and iPass still has Unlimited pass but it’s for Wi-Fi hotspots now.