firstly they have no service in my area, which kind of makes it difficult to know if it is working correctly.

Secondly, I am not sure I want to get into a subscription service for something I am not sure I would use.

Fair enough, although for me some type of interaction with the outside world would still be more interesting than a CD drive. A USB to serial adapter would seem interesting as well as it would allow the user to attach a variety of devices via serial without needing to have direct support for them in your hardware.

-Mike