Virgin Mobile & Verizon Mifi broadband service review

[thatguy]

We have been fighting horrible DSL service at our house for 4 yrs now - constantly dropping signal and slow speeds due to being too far from the box.. Our only other options are cellular broadband or satellite

We got a Verizon MIFI (wireless router for up to 5 users) about 3 weeks ago and it was great.. Excellent 3G coverage (at home and across the country).. But its $60/mth with a 5GB usage cap.. We got speeds between 1.0 mb/sec and 1.4 mb - and if you hooked it up as a usb modem downloads were pushing 2 mb/sec (our dsl average only 400 kbs to 600 kbs speed)

I have been analyzing our usage and came to realize that 5GB is not a whole lot of usage for 2 ppl (plus possibly needing to use it for work as well in the future).. On average we got 160mb per day to use - but i would use 50 to 70 mb just browsing several forums once, and sometimes i do that a couple times a day.. Add in some music download and youtube videos you could easily hit 300mb in a day..

Realizing that 5gb could be pushing it and overage charges would get very expensive I decide to check out Virgin Mobile MIFI (they use the Spring 3g network) - they offer unlimited usage for $40/mth, but you have to buy the MIFI ($150).. We can still take the Verizon mifi back with 30 days with no early termination fee

So far the VM Mifi has been very good since we have great coverage at our house.. Its not as fast as the Verizon mifi - VM is getting 700 kbs to 1.4 mb/s downloads with the average in the 800 kbs range.. But for unlimited I think we have a keeper..

So if you are on satellite or dial up and can get 3g coverage, I highly recommend the Verizon broadband (as long as you can keep it under 5GB/mth) or the Virgin Mobile MIFI (assuming you get sprint coverage which is harder to find than Verizon coverage)


just wanted to share

Brian

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm surprised you use 50-70mb per day browsing forums each day. Unless you are downloading lots of graphics that is pretty high.

5gb per month is generally plenty for internet surfing etc. It becomes restrictive if you are into downloading movies but otherwise is pretty good for family use IMO.

 

[thatguy]

I'm surprised you use 50-70mb per day browsing forums each day. Unless you are downloading lots of graphics that is pretty high.

5gb per month is generally plenty for internet surfing etc. It becomes restrictive if you are into downloading movies but otherwise is pretty good for family use IMO.

I was also shocked how much we are using.. someone on another forum mentioned the 5gb cap as an issue and I was like "i wont be anywhere near that limit' - boy i was wrong..

As an example - I have been online for 45 min this afternoon so far (ar15/TBN/dsl reports/email/facebook/some misc web pages - no movies or music or extensive graphic website though) and I have used 30 mb already and I just started reading here..

I have had the Virgin Mobile mifi for 4 days and already have used 700 mb..

I did find another company that I wish i had found previously - since I could keep the verizon with them

Millenicom | High Speed Wireless Broadband offers 5gb and 10gb plans thru Verizon and unlimited plans thru Sprint - the 10gb and the 5gb are $60/month and include nationwide roaming the unlimited plan is $70/mth. you do have to buy the usb modem from them though..

brian

 

[thatguy]

follow up to usage... been online for 1hr 20 min and used about 48mb of data.. This would be one session of 'normal' of web browsing.. the problem is i may do this a couple times a day..

Brian