I’d just had it. That wretching financial pain that comes with the prospect of having to buy another “on-contract full-price” phone to replace an HTC Touch that replaced a Motorola Razr that my dear wife lovingly laundered no more than 2 months ago. Then again, I’ve not had much luck with phones since about 2004; averaging one every year or two, so this really sucks… again.
The human mind is a wonderful thing. It’s also the most rambling, dynamic, worry-wart of an affair that conjures up all sorts of scenarios and what-if situations.
So I start wondering…
Wondering whether or not some jerk is out racking up a massive long distance toll to “Burkina Faso, Disputed Zone”.
Wondering if I should drive back to the office just to find it staring at me, mocking me for the worry, wasted time and fuel.
Will this be the night that the production server explodes, and I wouldn’t know about it until dear Carol-Ann (our super front-line support, master of many jobs, ever pleasant and never has a bad day, wonder Grandma!) woke me up to break the news?
Did I leave the WPA keys in an Outlook note? Did I lock the handheld? Was I reading News while ruling my kingdom from “The Throne”? (yes okay, I do read news and email, but I never take or place a call from the can!)
I gotta know. It’s most likely just sitting there… but I gotta know.
The device has got to be in “stand-by” mode. WiFi Off, but configured for the office wireless network.
I need to wake it up. Once awake, how could I know? Do I have any apps that listen on this device?
If I could only ping the device. (Moment of realization….)
Well, this is where a VPN connection and “root” access to the DHCP server kicks ass… A quick look through the log and I quickly found the last IP the HTC device was provisioned with. In this case 192.168.199.34.
I’ve got a ping going to 192.168.199.34… that’s currently returning “Destination Host Unreachable”.
I wake the device up with an SMS message and the following sequence of events takes place:
- The device wakes up and accepts the SMS message.
- As part of the wake-up procedure, the device tries to re-establish the last WiFi connection it had; in this case the office WAP’s.
- The WiFi is authenticated, and provisioned the HTC is assigned (usually) the same IP it had out on a lease last time.
- My Pings are being replied!
The HTC is within WiFi range (but so is the washroom)!! Regardless, I feel better already. It’s not a loss yet.
I drafted a quick email to the parties generally responsible for calling me explaining that the phone was most likely on my desk and that any issues should be redirected to my home phone number instead. Mere moments later, Bill our Chairman of the Board offers to deliver my HTC to me on his way home. I graciously accepted.
So much worry for such insignificance in the end.
- Paul