My jet lag seems to be wearing off. We got back from Europe last Friday, though Monday was the original plan.

Last month I had a conference in Berlin. We combined the trip with a family visit in Belgium.

When planning the trip, I had a choice to fly from Phuket to Munich and then to Berlin, or from Phuket to Bangkok and then to Berlin. I figured changing planes in Bangkok was the best choice. My wife has relatives there, so we’re not stranded if anything goes wrong. Munich is miles from everywhere in my world.

Bad idea. You saw the news.

At least the airline (LTU) was cool about it and offered to reschedule, reroute, or refund our flight at no charge, even though I’d bought non-refundable tickets and the airline could easily have claimed force majeure. Not their fault if yellow fruitcakes clog the airport. I’m still waiting for the refund to show up on my credit card, though.

I chose the refund because otherwise I’d still be in Belgium now. Lots of news coverage about people stuck in Bangkok. But lots of people stuck in Europe too. Empty flights to U-Tapao don’t increase the number of seats available.

Fortunately, a Belgian tour operator still had seats available on a charter flight that flies direct from Brussels to Phuket. Though that meant wasting about 1,000 euro on a useless return flight, I just didn’t want to deal with the uncertainty. I’ll comfort myself with the thought that I can waste that kind of money without affecting what shows up on my dinner plate, and that I don’t have to hope for a populist government to stay in power to be able to dream of a better future.

I don’t like populist governments, but I’ll take an elected populist government any day over mob rule.

Now I’m going to sleep off the last of my jet lag.

A reader pointed out that CAT now offers a new EV-DO rev A modem in addition to or instead of the CCU-680.

I haven’t tried the MC727, but it should give you the same performance as the CCU-680. The EV-DO specs are exactly the same.

The difference is that the MC727 has a slot for a micro SD memory card. It can double as a card reader for micro SD cards up to 4 GB. The CCU-680 has 64 MB of on-board flash memory.

The specs for the Cradlepoint router list the Sprint Novatel U727 as being compatible. The U727 is the same modem as the MC727 sold in the US under a different name, so the MC727 should work with the Cradlepoint too.

So should you buy the CCU-680 or the MC727? I’d buy whichever model the local CAT office has in stock. If they have both, I’d get the cheapest one, which would be the MC727 according to CAT’s web site. My guess is they’ll phase out the CCU-680, as it’s more expensive, and doesn’t have any extra features.

Update: Turns out my guess is correct. If you want wireless broadband in Phuket now, the MC727 is your only choice now.

With all the political nonsense going on in Thailand, and the world economy having another bad hangover, some might forget that the sun still rises and sets as always. If you need a break from watching too much late night news bulletins, take a vacation.

Some countries have issued travel warnings for Thailand. I’d certainly avoid the political centers in Bangkok and the three border provinces with Malaysia. But in Phuket and the other tourist areas, everything is calm, and the airports are open. The political protesters have learned they can’t pressure a government by shooting themselves in the foot, or the people they claim to represent. (Phuket is a stronghold of the largest opposition party.)

My newest blog is off to a very slow start. I don’t find blogging much fun without always-on high-speed internet. It’s taken some time to get it all set up after our move to this island. But I’m back in the air now. In the next few articles, I’ll share what I’ve learned about the state of the Internet in Phuket.

Right now I’m surfing wirelessly with EV-DO on CAT’s CDMA network. This is actually the fastest internet connection I’ve ever used in Thailand.

DTAC has announced they’ll deploy an HSDPA network in Phuket by mid-2009. HSDPA offers speeds similar to EV-DO, but using a different technology, which needs different devices.

To share the EV-DO connection with all the computers on my network, I purchased the CradlePoint MBR1000 router. Plug the CCU-680 into the router, enter the catevdo username and password into the router, and all your PCs and laptops can connect to the internet via a network cable or Wi-Fi. The MBR1000 also supports HSDPA devices.

Three companies provide ADSL services in Phuket: CAT, TT&T and TOT. I have a cheap line with TOT to complement my EV-DO connection. Read this if you’re not getting the speeds your ADSL provider is advertising.

I’ll update this article to add links to the following articles, as I write them. If you don’t use an RSS reader to follow my blog, you can bookmark this page to check back later.