Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

cqaigy2 · Feb 4, 2021

kcflhrc said:
The problem is with leased towers you never know what provider is using it so the site is pretty much worthless. Lots of towers around here that show the owner as ABC Tower Company but you well know there are multiple providers using that tower just by looking at it.

That's what im finding. Shows the nearest ATT owned tower 20+ miles away, up over a ridge in Tumwater WA. So im guessing im connecting to one of those leased towers somewhat closer. Misread, the ATT tower is actually closer to 38 miles away.

TractorGuy · Feb 4, 2021

kcflhrc said:
No way that site is accurate. I run over 60 meg down on my AT&T Mobley SIM and that site doesn't show an AT&T tower even close to me. It would appear the Towers close to me that more than likely have my AT&T Service show up as Leased Towers. So you would really never know what carrier was on a leased tower unless you had first hand knowledge.

kcflhrc said:
The problem is with leased towers you never know what provider is using it so the site is pretty much worthless. Lots of towers around here that show the owner as ABC Tower Company but you well know there are multiple providers using that tower just by looking at it.

cqaigy2 said:
That's what im finding. Shows the nearest ATT owned tower 20+ miles away, up over a ridge in Tumwater WA. So im guessing im connecting to one of those leased towers somewhat closer. Misread, the ATT tower is actually closer to 38 miles away.

So it doesn't work in your area. DON'T USE IT!

Works fine for me and my AT&T tower was right where it says it is. Guess it's not useless for every area. :confused3:

sodamo · Feb 5, 2021

Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

Strangely, Open Signal doesn’t show me any towers anymore, but it used to.

A few years back, AT&T told a friend where our tower was located and it does show on the map. The Verizon tower close to me is owned by Cellco, which is Vetizon. Sadly I don’t get blazing speeds likely due to about 200 ft elevation difference and some trees in direct los.

I wish my iphone got as great asignal as my Mobley.

TractorGuy · Feb 5, 2021

This is what CellReception | Find a better signal. returns when I tick the AT&T towers for my zip code, then click on the nearest tower they return on the map.

NorTracNY · Feb 5, 2021

If you have the provider already on a smart phone the "Network Cell Info Lite" app tells you what tower you're connected to and the strength of the signal. I know that the tower 1mi away doesn't have Verizon, but one 2.2 miles away does. There have been times when my cell signal has been really bad. When I've brought up the app, I've found that tower 2.2miles away has been down and my phone keeps switch back and forth from two other towers over 5 miles away.

TractorGuy · Feb 6, 2021

NorTracNY said:
If you have the provider already on a smart phone the "Network Cell Info Lite" app tells you what tower you're connected to and the strength of the signal. I know that the tower 1mi away doesn't have Verizon, but one 2.2 miles away does. There have been times when my cell signal has been really bad. When I've brought up the app, I've found that tower 2.2miles away has been down and my phone keeps switch back and forth from two other towers over 5 miles away.

Yep, those towers do go down for various reasons. Power outages, maintenance, etc. Pretty sure all my previous connection problems were tower related and not the equipment in the home.

We kept losing Verizon service after our last hurricane. Turned out people kept stealing the backup generators from them. They had to station some National Guard at the towers that weren't fenced in to keep cell service working. I have a 800 mhz tower the just serves emergency bands near me and it is fenced in like a prison.

<jinx>Knock on wood mine has been fairly consistent for a while.</jinx>

cqaigy2 · Mar 23, 2021

Just found this today.

Get unlimited data for your car starting at $20/mo.

Xfaxman · Mar 23, 2021

We are still on the Mobley and us hermits use it a lot

buckeyefarmer · Mar 25, 2021

Still using my mobley, at least the sim

the old grind · Mar 25, 2021

Me too. I've been streaming the volcano in Iceland for 6 hrs between dishes, dinner, & workouts. EDT here so four hr time difference.

buckeyefarmer · Mar 25, 2021

But I’m trying to get starlink.

sodamo · Mar 26, 2021

Splitting between a Mobley and a Mobley sim in my MOFI. I signed up for Starlink.

BigBlue1 · Mar 26, 2021

I'm still using the Mobley plan with a Nighthawk. Working better than ever.

I did manage to get into Starlink... That arrived Monday. Been more disconnects than I expected even though I know it to be a beta. Sometimes it's not just a few second dropout but the whole system loses connection and you have to disconnect wifi and reconnect to restore it. Not ready to be a complete replacement for a stable ISP yet, but I have hope that it gets better in coming months.

Rob

TractorGuy · Mar 26, 2021

Are they charging you to beta test starlink? Did you have to commit to purchase anything?

BigBlue1 · Mar 26, 2021

Yes to both. Terms of service are as they are expected to be at full operation. There is no contract or commitment but the equipment has a cost and the $99/mo is the standard subscription cost.

I wouldn't jump in like this with most things but having lived in a rural area with very, very limited ISP offerings for 5 years now and relying on Internet access for my work it is worth it to me to get in early even if I have to put up with sub-par situations for a short while. It's a calculated risk because if they ramp up later this year as expected the potential for delays in getting equipment may be very real. To have access to 150+Mb/s service with truly unlimited data (versus 40-90Mb/s and the constant threat of throttling or outright discontinuation of the Mobley plan) is worth it to me. I'm not parting ways with my backup ISP quite yet (DSL), but I will within a month or two. And the cost of the Starlink service is a wash with that, but with dramatically better capability (150+Mb/s vs 5Mb/s). SpaceX has already had 25 launches of Starlink satellites (60 per launch), including 9 already in 2021. They are at just under 15% of their total planned sats right now so I think the situation is actually pretty good considering that.

I'm sure people will drop by to say "that's stupid that you are paying for a 'beta' situation", but so be it. This is one of the most significant game changers to us that we've been looking for since moving here and I'm OK with the situation.

cqaigy2 · Mar 26, 2021

BigBlue1 said:
Yes to both. Terms of service are as they are expected to be at full operation. There is no contract or commitment but the equipment has a cost and the $99/mo is the standard subscription cost.

I wouldn't jump in like this with most things but having lived in a rural area with very, very limited ISP offerings for 5 years now and relying on Internet access for my work it is worth it to me to get in early even if I have to put up with sub-par situations for a short while. It's a calculated risk because if they ramp up later this year as expected the potential for delays in getting equipment may be very real. To have access to 150+Mb/s service with truly unlimited data (versus 40-90Mb/s and the constant threat of throttling or outright discontinuation of the Mobley plan) is worth it to me. I'm not parting ways with my backup ISP quite yet (DSL), but I will within a month or two. And the cost of the Starlink service is a wash with that, but with dramatically better capability (150+Mb/s vs 5Mb/s). SpaceX has already had 25 launches of Starlink satellites (60 per launch), including 9 already in 2021. They are at just under 15% of their total planned sats right now so I think the situation is actually pretty good considering that.

I'm sure people will drop by to say "that's stupid that you are paying for a 'beta' situation", but so be it. This is one of the most significant game changers to us that we've been looking for since moving here and I'm OK with the situation.

I wish i could buy into your "stupid beta" situation. I work from home and have three different connections/hotspots and get almost 1Mb for each one.