dustytrailhead
Active member
I bought a tablet with WiFi + cellular, so I went shopping for a carrier. I have Verizon for my phone, so to enhance my coverage, I wanted to go with another carrier. Since I’m primarily in the western states, there are virtually only two carriers: T-Mobile or AT&T (including resellers). I wanted to like T-Mobile, but comparing coverage maps, there are more gaps with T-Mobile than with AT&T. Verizon is king, but there are significant Verizon coverage gaps that AT&T fills. (I’m thinking about the I5 corridor, particularly in the PNW. It’s been like this for years. Wonder why? But, never mind; that’s a different topic.) I chose to go with another carrier, for better or worse, until I decide otherwise.
I was leaning towards AT&T, but I had to go shopping. If unlimited data is $100 per month, I will be looking at T-Mobile or just sticking with Verizon. I had no idea what to expect. I was very surprised to be quoted $20/month for unlimited data at AT&T.
Ok. I don’t want that. You’re going to throttle me after 10GB, right? [No throttling.] Oh. I’m sorry you can’t say “throttling” when it’s an Unlimited Plan. Do you de-prioritize at the individual cell tower, based upon an individual’s data usage in the current billing period? [No. It’s unlimited.] He went on to explain that the hotspot is limited to 10GB, and the hotspot is throttled once 10GB is exceeded. (My Verizon Unlimited has a similar hotspot limit, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten close to the limit.) Unlimited data on the device is my priority, so I took the plan.
It’s called simply Unlimited Tablet. I got my first bill. There is a onetime activation fee of $30, so it seems as though I should expect a monthly bill of around $26 (see attachment). That doesn’t seem right. Phones have a line charge and additional fees and taxes. Why? You have to have a phone, but you don’t have to have a tablet. They have you.
Regarding service, I’ve been mostly satisfied. I have not had one pause, in 10 days of hard usage. However, I drove to a different location and had trouble connecting to two of my three streaming services (it also affected YouTube). I was able to do Speedtest while this was happening with dazzling 5g speeds. I remembered a review about this plan. It said they had turned off Stream Saver in the My AT&T app. I did that and rebooted. Problem solved. This is not to say that Stream Saver was the cause. Of course, this “solution” means that 4K videos will play without being down converted to 1080p. If you don’t have bandwidth, there’ll be pauses. When the need arises, I’ll turn Stream Saver on. I really enjoy 4K video!
So, why do this? I was tired of downloading movies at Starbucks. And, it seems as though the downloads take longer there. Even if download and upload speeds are fast, actual downloads of movies seems to have a consistent slowness now. I don’t think it’s an accident. There’s probably only one pipe out to the internet to be shared by the business and customers. Deprioritizing the customers makes sense. It’s a guess. I don’t know. One thing that’s hard to dodge is software updates. Those take up to an hour now….but I digress.
I’m interested in how people on this forum are getting content from the internet. Buying a tablet with a cellular radio adds about $200 to its price. Then there’s the plan—a cheap plan compared to one for a phone—which adds up. So, my way might be considered (unnecessarily) expensive. What’s the best way to get content? MiFi? Starlink? Xfinity hotspot? Starbucks/McDonald’s/Walmart/etc. WiFi? Public Library WiFi? RV park WiFi? ???
I was leaning towards AT&T, but I had to go shopping. If unlimited data is $100 per month, I will be looking at T-Mobile or just sticking with Verizon. I had no idea what to expect. I was very surprised to be quoted $20/month for unlimited data at AT&T.
Ok. I don’t want that. You’re going to throttle me after 10GB, right? [No throttling.] Oh. I’m sorry you can’t say “throttling” when it’s an Unlimited Plan. Do you de-prioritize at the individual cell tower, based upon an individual’s data usage in the current billing period? [No. It’s unlimited.] He went on to explain that the hotspot is limited to 10GB, and the hotspot is throttled once 10GB is exceeded. (My Verizon Unlimited has a similar hotspot limit, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten close to the limit.) Unlimited data on the device is my priority, so I took the plan.
It’s called simply Unlimited Tablet. I got my first bill. There is a onetime activation fee of $30, so it seems as though I should expect a monthly bill of around $26 (see attachment). That doesn’t seem right. Phones have a line charge and additional fees and taxes. Why? You have to have a phone, but you don’t have to have a tablet. They have you.
Regarding service, I’ve been mostly satisfied. I have not had one pause, in 10 days of hard usage. However, I drove to a different location and had trouble connecting to two of my three streaming services (it also affected YouTube). I was able to do Speedtest while this was happening with dazzling 5g speeds. I remembered a review about this plan. It said they had turned off Stream Saver in the My AT&T app. I did that and rebooted. Problem solved. This is not to say that Stream Saver was the cause. Of course, this “solution” means that 4K videos will play without being down converted to 1080p. If you don’t have bandwidth, there’ll be pauses. When the need arises, I’ll turn Stream Saver on. I really enjoy 4K video!
So, why do this? I was tired of downloading movies at Starbucks. And, it seems as though the downloads take longer there. Even if download and upload speeds are fast, actual downloads of movies seems to have a consistent slowness now. I don’t think it’s an accident. There’s probably only one pipe out to the internet to be shared by the business and customers. Deprioritizing the customers makes sense. It’s a guess. I don’t know. One thing that’s hard to dodge is software updates. Those take up to an hour now….but I digress.
I’m interested in how people on this forum are getting content from the internet. Buying a tablet with a cellular radio adds about $200 to its price. Then there’s the plan—a cheap plan compared to one for a phone—which adds up. So, my way might be considered (unnecessarily) expensive. What’s the best way to get content? MiFi? Starlink? Xfinity hotspot? Starbucks/McDonald’s/Walmart/etc. WiFi? Public Library WiFi? RV park WiFi? ???
