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

[BigBlue1]

I switch from the old Family Share plan to the Unlimited Starter with phone upgrade in a ATT Store and they made sure the Mobley plan remained untouched. Been about a year now and all's still good. Make sure its a real ATT store and not one of the 'authorized' ones that look the same.

Good to know. Thanks for sharing the tip!

 

[BigBlue1]

Indeed an AT&T 'company store' vs an affiliate is the way to go for anything, if one can. Going to even that a few yrs ago to set up my plan the employees didn't know what I was asking for at first. One guy got through it all and was explaining it to others by the time I left.

btw, if I'm not mistaken a router can be assigned as just one of the five devices connected and what-have-you connected to that. I don't use a router or better antenna with the Mobley so can't confirm the possibility. I DO like taking my own i'net along vs logging into public access when on the road or on a job. I'm keeping it simple vs making waves to get more data/usage. 5 Mb down & 1.5 Mb up isn't much but it's enough for my use, .. one device at a time.

Are you suggesting that you can only connect 5 endpoint devices through the AT&T "Mobley" connection, regardless of the network setup fronting it? I can tell you for sure that is not an actual limitation. I've had setups with the actual Mobley behind a standard wifi router, the Mobely behind a mesh system and the Nighthawk M1 on the Mobley plan connected to the wifi router or the mesh system and in all cases I've had WAY more than 5 devices ultimately using the Internet connection. If I've misunderstood what you meant than disregard...

Rob

 

[ponytug]

I believe that the Mobley itself is limited to a DHCP space of five addresses. Like the three wishes with the genie, one of the addresses can be another router with a completely different range of DHCP addresses, like say, 254.

It is a fairly common limitation on LTE devices, although I do not know the rationale. (Limit users? Security feature? Some on chip limitation?)

All the best,

Peter

 

[sodamo]

A friend has a Netgear LM1200 on order NETGEAR 4G LTE Modem - LM1200 | Mobile Broadband | NETGEAR
Will be using with an AT&T sim and Yagi external antenna.
Anyone tried a Mobley sim in one?

 

[TractorGuy]

I believe that the Mobley itself is limited to a DHCP space of five addresses. Like the three wishes with the genie, one of the addresses can be another router with a completely different range of DHCP addresses, like say, 254.

It is a fairly common limitation on LTE devices, although I do not know the rationale. (Limit users? Security feature? Some on chip limitation?)

All the best,

Peter

I agree the connection limit is in the device, not the plan. The Velocity has a 10 connection limit.

I mainly route all my connections through the router because it has greater range.

 

[the old grind]

Are you suggesting that you can only connect 5 endpoint devices through the AT&T "Mobley" connection, regardless of the network setup fronting it?

Sorry for any confusion. I'm reiterating that a properly set up router is one of the five devices that can be connected vs any/every served by it being counted. Someone mentioned setting up router whose downstream devices capped the 5-limit. Apologies if I reacted to a post read elsewhere when searching PUKs and whether AT&T is giving them out anymore. (btw, I use all ten thumbs at the keyboard )

As tractor guy says the Mobley (any modem) sees a router as one device & that should be obvious to anyone who's ever set one up successfully, and/or added another one* served by it. (*I hard-wire such) Still, firmware provides control to AT&T that we can't all work around or hack, including rewriting SIMs, setting device/data limits/logging, forcing timeouts, etc. Even we who run OEM & barefoot have our concerns about being closed out vs 'grandfathered' in.

btw, if my Mobley had a Cat-5 wan port I might use it when indoors, but as a mobile device I'm keeping it box-stock vs fuss with extra connections. (thanks Win 10) I get several x better connection when on the road than with Mobley on the China cabinet and my desk 10' away. (~10x down/up from computer to Mobley) btw, Ya's shouldn't have to listen to us odd-balls but we're here too.

 

[wsc9tt]

FYI. Since Starlink is taking longer than expected and my mobley has been needed to be reset more and more frequently I went ahead and decided to upgrade my LTE modem.

This weekend I bought a Netgear Nighthawk Mobile LTE modem from Amazon for $225. It arrived the next day.
My SIM was locked because of the v1.3 upgrade on my Mobley so I called AT&T support and requested my PUK1 & PUK2 codes for my SIM and that worked fine. They will still hand it out.

I swapped the SIM and the new device is getting 30mbit when the mobley only did 3. Now I have an external LTE antenna for the Mobley that gets it to rates at 20-30 mbit, but the Nighthawk uses a different antenna connector so it will be a couple of days before I can try the Nighthawk with the big antenna.

So just saying it is still possible to move a SIM. The Nighthawk allows 20 devices by default, but if you disable the internal routing features you can use an external router then you don't have any limits on the number of possible devices. After a day of use, it seems stable.

 

[BigBlue1]

Nice to hear that the PUK codes are still accessible.

Play around with different locations and orientations for your new LTE modem. It's likely that you'll get better results that way than trying an external antenna. Keeping it away from things that impede cell signal (wiring in walls, screens, e-coated windows, metal structures) can dramatically improve your throughput.

Rob

 

[mike0000]

The Netgear Nighthawk LTE showed up today, got it up and running. First impressions are that our internet speed is a bit quicker than with the Mobley.
Thanks to all

Mike

 

[techman]

I pulled the trigger also. Got a late model M1 (used but in LN condition) on ebay for $ 150. I called and got PUK codes from AT&T, but when I swapped the SIM card it worked right away. No lock or code needed. So far, so good. Performance is good, notably the range of WiFi is much better.

Paul

 

[mike0000]

I pulled the trigger also. Got a late model M1 (used but in LN condition) on ebay for $ 150. I called and got PUK codes from AT&T, but when I swapped the SIM card it worked right away. No lock or code needed. So far, so good. Performance is good, notably the range of WiFi is much better.

Paul

We‘re seeing much better range too, the 20 connections as opposed to 5 on the Mobley my be all our household needs.

Mike

 

[newbury]

Well I rarely use my Mobely when I'm in Virginia because the house has a pretty good internet package we pay for.
BUT this morning my router was down. So I pull out the Mobely and just put it on a table in front of me, hoping to get a connection so I can connect here and surf the web a little.
One of the things I routinely do when I connect the Mobely is a speedtest, by OOKLA.

DARN!
37 DOWN, 10 UP.
Good to go.

 

[Xfaxman]

One of the things I routinely do when I connect the Mobely is a speedtest, by OOKLA.

DARN!
37 DOWN, 10 UP.
Good to go.

Wow, that is more than 3 times faster than our Mobley this morning!

 

[TractorGuy]

Wish I saw those speeds. I have seen up to 15 but usually hover around 5.

 

[prichard]

FYI. Since Starlink is taking longer than expected and my mobley has been needed to be reset more and more frequently I went ahead and decided to upgrade my LTE modem.

This weekend I bought a Netgear Nighthawk Mobile LTE modem from Amazon for $225. It arrived the next day.
My SIM was locked because of the v1.3 upgrade on my Mobley so I called AT&T support and requested my PUK1 & PUK2 codes for my SIM and that worked fine. They will still hand it out.

I swapped the SIM and the new device is getting 30mbit when the mobley only did 3. Now I have an external LTE antenna for the Mobley that gets it to rates at 20-30 mbit, but the Nighthawk uses a different antenna connector so it will be a couple of days before I can try the Nighthawk with the big antenna.

So just saying it is still possible to move a SIM. The Nighthawk allows 20 devices by default, but if you disable the internal routing features you can use an external router then you don't have any limits on the number of possible devices. After a day of use, it seems stable.

What external antenna are you using? I replaced Mobley with a ZTE but have yet to find an antenna that does anything.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm still using my work around when "Visiting" my home.

Have two cell phones from different carriers and neither is consistent as far as signal.

Learned if I place either one in the chandelier over the dinning room table I have a reliable hotspot for the laptop or to use the other phone.

Don't know if it is elevation or the metal chandelier or combination but it always works.

I did go to unlimited plan on the one I pay for so no problem that way.

Carriers... Verizon and T-Mobil

Home is on a small ridge surrounded by hills.

 

[TheMan419]

I'm still using my work around when "Visiting" my home.

Have two cell phones from different carriers and neither is consistent as far as signal.

Learned if I place either one in the chandelier over the dinning room table I have a reliable hotspot for the laptop or to use the other phone.

Don't know if it is elevation or the metal chandelier or combination but it always works.

I did go to unlimited plan on the one I pay for so no problem that way.

Carriers... Verizon and T-Mobil

Home is on a small ridge surrounded by hills.

Why not put up a repeater outside and boost the signal in the house?

 

[ultrarunner]

Choice can be paralysis sometimes...

If I lived there it would be simple but mostly I visit staying nights at moms caring for her...

Ideally she would move to my place but after 53 years in her home even with memory problems it is still familiar.

Functioning without reliable internet today is a handicap for many things.

The two cell phone idea just kind of evolved even down to where in the chandelier to place it.

More research required...

 

[TheMan419]

Choice can be paralysis sometimes...

If I lived there it would be simple but mostly I visit staying nights at moms caring for her...

Ideally she would move to my place but after 53 years in her home even with memory problems it is still familiar.

Functioning without reliable internet today is a handicap for many things.

The two cell phone idea just kind of evolved even down to where in the chandelier to place it.

More research required...

Yes choice can be that way. I look at like do your research and then just put a pin in the date. You made your decision on 1/12/22 with the best info available. Go with it and dont look back. Weboost has several options depending on how much you want to spend and how much of the house you want to cover with better signal.

 

[newbury]

<snip>

More research required...

I hate paying extra for antennas but I paid about $90 for a Weboost bottom of the line model about 5 years ago. Went from < 1 bar to up to 3 bars in the living room. According to my cell phone it provided about a 10 dB boost. Well worth the $90.
/edit - didn't seem to improve my Mobley reception.