The service on the outbound bus to Ogden was painfully slow. It took me 15 minutes, well past Bountiful, to start to download the Deseret News Web site (in order to prove to Hilda I was who I said I was). A man named Kelly, a Web designer by profession, seated two rows behind me, was downloading some graphics and getting them, as he said, "pixel by pixel."

"The system has its days," he said. "In the beginning, it seemed like it worked pretty fast, but when they loaded it onto all the buses it slowed down. Two days ago, I couldn't even log in."

At this rate, I figured my column would be sent somewhere near Bozeman.

But at Riverdale Road, I switched buses and, Voila!, on the return trip to Salt Lake City, the connection was running faster than a Clemens denial. I was pulling up exhibition baseball scores, my bank balance, the weather report, the latest headlines ("Gunfire Kills 8 in Jerusalem School," "Favre Discusses Retirement") and checking my e-mail as fast as I pleased.

"I've had some passengers pull up alongside the bus in their own cars and use the Wi-Fi that way," said bus driver Cory Davis. "There's a little bit of overlap outside the bus."

By the time Davis dropped me back off in downtown Salt Lake City, my work was done, my column sent. Who knows, you may be reading it right now on the 472, seated next to Hilda.

Life is sweet in cyberspace.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.