Internet option for air only locations

[txdon]

Verizon air card up-date.

I was at the mall and talked to the salesman at one of those Verizon booths. They have a promo going now that lets you upgrade your existing air-card to a mifi hot spot device. It can be connected to the USB or wifi anywhere in the house. It's 1/4" thick and 2"x3". I have a metal roof and the wifi lets me set it in the best reception area in the house and I can move around.

Now the good part: At $50 a month It is $10 less than my current air card (and no router needed) It can supply up to 5 computers, and with the rebate, the device if free. I am not a salesman, I'm just always looking for the better deal that works in my remote area. (You do have to renew your 2 year contract.)

TBN is faster than ever. Good shopping and good luck!

 

[3BPercherons]

Take it from someone who has been using Verizon's mifi since it became available as a home internet solution; pay the extra $30/month and get the 10gig plan. You'll be amazed how quickly you can go through 5gig.

Now it's time for someone to chime in that you can get 10gig on Verizon's network for $60/mo through Millenicom. Oops - I guess I just did.

(I knew about Millenicom, and considered that option, but opted to stay with Verizon & upgrade my plan for a variety of reasons.)

 

[ronjhall]

Saving $10 a month is a good thing.
How has 5GB been for you, now that you have had it for a year?

 

[txdon]

Ron, the 5GB is about right but I did go over when I down loaded an apple upgrade.

 

[thatguy]

Saving $10 a month is a good thing.
How has 5GB been for you, now that you have had it for a year?

One of the other thing Verizon changed this month was that overage charges are now more reasonable - its $10/gb instead of the old rate of $0.05/mb= $50/gb

We got away from Verizon due to going over the 5gb cap (old plan), but the coverage, service, and mifi were wonderful..

I also think 3BPercherons has the right idea about staying with Verizon directly.. I hate having to deal with a third party on stuff when it goes wrong.. Sometimes saving $20/mth is not worth the hassle when you have to call CS..

If our virgin mobile service doesnt work out I would probably go back Verizon..

Brian

 

[3BPercherons]

One of the other thing Verizon changed this month was that overage charges are now more reasonable - its $10/gb instead of the old rate of $0.05/mb= $50/gb

We got away from Verizon due to going over the 5gb cap (old plan), but the coverage, service, and mifi were wonderful..

I also think 3BPercherons has the right idea about staying with Verizon directly.. I hate having to deal with a third party on stuff when it goes wrong.. Sometimes saving $20/mth is not worth the hassle when you have to call CS..

If our virgin mobile service doesnt work out I would probably go back Verizon..

Brian

We have been happy with the speed and reliability from Verizon but consistently blowing through the 5gig cap (and the $50/gig overage charge) had us looking to drop them - most likely in favor of the millenicom/verizon plan, as our high speed options are very limited in my neck of the woods - when we heard about the changes to Verizon's plans. The new 10gig limit and $10/gig overage charge should serve us well for the foreseeable future.

Then again, I'd really like to use Netflix's streaming service.....

 

[thatguy]

Then again, I'd really like to use Netflix's streaming service.....

that will get you in trouble very quickly i bet.. We have had such slow/undependable DSL for so many years we dont even consider trying streaming video.. LOL

Brian

 

[Pushing_Tin]

How many of you stream Netflix movies? I'd like to consider this option but don't want to worry about going over the limit all the time.

 

[thatguy]

How many of you stream Netflix movies? I'd like to consider this option but don't want to worry about going over the limit all the time.

Based on an 'average' usage chart I found online a

netflix standard (non HD) movie is about 660 MB
Netflix high definition movie is about 1.67GB

Based on 5gb you get, on average, 167MB/day

You would have to do the math on how many movies (and what type) you watch in a month and how much other usage you have each day..

Keep in mind that download speeds max out at about 1.4 MB/s and average more likely around 1mb/s or less - so you may not get seamless streaming (ie choppy).

brian

 

[merrickvilleguy]

have we thought about using satellite ? I use xplornet ... there's no "caps" perse ... but they drop you from your 1mbit to 15KB/s after you blow through 300MB during the day ... but even then its fine for surfing/email ... if you preload youtube vids it works well enough

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Merrickville, is explorenet just for Canada, couldnt get the site to give me any information, had to pick location first and the map didnt work

 

[merrickvilleguy]

I think Hughesnet is the american version ?

Satellite Internet - High Speed Internet Service Provider | HughesNet

 

[tungularafishcamp]

That is what I have but your deal seems cheaper even before you factor in the loonie.
Rick

 

[Pushing_Tin]

Based on an 'average' usage chart I found online a

netflix standard (non HD) movie is about 660 MB
Netflix high definition movie is about 1.67GB

Based on 5gb you get, on average, 167MB/day

You would have to do the math on how many movies (and what type) you watch in a month and how much other usage you have each day..

Keep in mind that download speeds max out at about 1.4 MB/s and average more likely around 1mb/s or less - so you may not get seamless streaming (ie choppy).

brian

Interesting. I get 1.5mbs with DSL unlimted at $25 a month, so there's no point in going this route. I regularly get 2-3mpbs on my iPhone with AT&T, but they cap you at 5gb a month, so that doesn't work either.

 

[thatguy]

Interesting. I get 1.5mbs with DSL unlimted at $25 a month, so there's no point in going this route. I regularly get 2-3mpbs on my iPhone with AT&T, but they cap you at 5gb a month, so that doesn't work either.

I didnt realize you had DSL - I would not drop DSL for wireless if you are getting those speeds, as long as its reliable..

We are only going wireless because the DSL is so unusable a lot of times and the only other option is satellite (which seems to be a last resort from other users opinions)

Brian

 

[Ken45101]

I think Hughesnet is the american version ?

Satellite Internet - High Speed Internet Service Provider | HughesNet

Hughesnet is poor, it's only worthwhile if you have no other options (like us). We have had it for about 5 years now.

Their TV ads are a lie, download speeds are 100 kbs at best and worse in the evenings. There is a 200 MB max download per day. If you exceed that, you get put into a 24 hour penalty box that makes dial up look absolutely spectacular. It's so bad that you can't even get email, much less browse the web.

200 MB may seem like a lot, but a routine Apple Macintosh "security update" will blow the limit. Some of the Apple updates run 600 MB or more. I haven't updated in months.

Unfortunately, we are 40 miles away from the nearest 3G service

Ken

 

[merrickvilleguy]

I am in the same boat ... xplornet is around the same ... i get 120KB/s tops for the first 300MB, then it drops to around 15KB/s for the rest of the day.

The biggest complaint I have is that the jitter (variation in the response time) makes using it for voip impossible even with extremely low bandwidth codecs)

 

[dieselbeef]

sprint internet card..unlimited for 60 bucks..if ya got good signal its lightning fast

 

[thatguy]

sprint internet card..unlimited for 60 bucks..if ya got good signal its lightning fast

they offer a 4g unlimited plan but 3g is capped at 5gb - UNLESS you have an older plan and were grandfathered in..

Brian

 

[buckeyefarmer]

MIFI- My first mifi stopped working after 9 months. (1 yr warranty, 2 yr service agreement). Verizon sent me a new one overnight, but it has 3 month warranty. I use it when I travel, but 5 GB is not enough for my home use. Also, when connected to computer with USB, the wireless router does not function. Also, it needs USB connection on a machine with a wireless interface, or it will not work (It would not work on my desktop since it could not find a wireless card in it).
just did a speed test with verizon mifi, getting 470 Kb down, 250 Kb up. So hughesnet is faster download, little slower upload. This afternoon, my hughesnet was down for several hours with sunny skies, not sure why.

Hughesnet - Just did a speed test, getting 720 Kb down, 140 Kb up. my home plan is advertised 1000Kb down, 125 kb up, so not that far off. I started with hughesnet as an earthlink customer, I think the speeds were higher. earthlink dumped everyone off to hughesnet, and the speeds went down and the price decreased to $60 month. I now get FAP'd regularly with the 200 MB/day limit, so then I use the mifi.