Columbus day weekend, one of the many 4 day weekends during the year, marks a routine trip to Baltimore, Maryland, to visit the in-laws.

This particular trip however was slightly different then those of the past, as I completely forgot to load up music on my iPhone!

We were already running late and I did not want to delay our departure any further, so my wife and I got the dogs in my trust 2003 Honda Accord, loaded our bags in the trunk and pulled out of the driveway.

This drive was looking like it was going to be alright at first as our trust local radio station Q104 was playing some great tunes on their “Whatever Weekend” caller request show. As an amazing bonus on this drive, we discovered that Ohio has finally adopted EZ-Pass on their toll roads! Then trouble hit us. We had been on the Ohio turnpike for a little while at this point when Q104 started to fade in and out, and it increasingly became more static and less music.  Now for those of you who don’t know, I am not particularly fond of country music, and as you head further east toward Pennsylvania country music seems to be the only radio option. This was not going to do, I could not sit in the car for another 4+ hours in the rain without any music!

Then I had an idea.

I could use my iPhone to listen to Pandora in the car!

Figuring I could get some use out of my amazing AT&T 3G coverage (yes that was a joke), I hooked my iPhone up to the USA SPEC Honda iPod interface adapter I have connected to the factory radio of my car.  This is where I ran in to the first potential issue.  I have had this iPod interface installed in the car for a long time.  The cable which hooks the iPod/iPhone to the vehicle was not designed or the iPhone 3G that I own.  This means that while it does work to play audio, the cable does not charge the iPhone. USA SPEC does make an updated cable which fixes this issue, however I have not gotten around to ordering one (yeah I know). Anyway, I connect the iPhone which at this point is sporting a visible 94% charge, which I can see thanks to the Extended Preferences app from Cydia available on jailbroken iPhones.  I figured using Pandora, over the AT&T 3G network without being plugged in would last maybe an hour or so, and I would figure out what to listen to when that time came.

Well that time never came!  Averaging 65 miles per hour during torential rains through Pennsylvania, over the Mason Dixon Line in to Maryland and finally to my in-law’s house outside of Baltmore,  the iPhone battery lasted for approximately 4.7 hours or 305.5 miles.

Wow, I can not believe the battery held out using the data network and playing tunes for so long, but that is not the most amazing part!

The AT&T data network was almost 100% solid over that nearly 5 hour time span.  Yes the service did drop in to Edge for a significant part of the drive, but that did not impede the functioning of Pandora.

So thank you to AT&T, Pandora and the good people at Apple, for helping to pass the time during my most recent road trip!

End of Technoramble

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