Boost mobile hotspot...

[galladanb]

While waiting for the snow to melt and temps to come up a bit,
We were chanell surfin, and ran onto hsn where they were hawkin the Boost Mobile Hotspot.

What caught my attention was the reboost plan of 1gb for 5 bucks and 2gb for 10 bucks.
And it's a 4g LTE service, so it might even be faster than our house wifi.

I know that may seem high, but I'm thinking for our use, we could be very comfie with that.

The hotspot comes with 5gb of prepaid data use, good for one year plan. Meaning we have up to a year to use the data up before we need to add more.

Our web needs are minimal, so the plan sounds great.

Question, do you all think the coverage of the Boost network will be ok, or does it not offer enough coverage, nationwide?

 

[jimindenver]

Boost is on the Sprint network

 

[galladanb]

And that means?

 

[jimindenver]

you should be able to check the coverage for Boost or Sprint in the areas you are interested in to see if there is coverage. Sprint is usually good near larger cities and at least 3G along interstates.

 

[galladanb]

Aw, thx! 

Yeah I looked at the coverage, and to my untrained eye, seems like it will work for us.

As of today, our needs are minimal, and we could always take a ride to an area that has coverage...
And in addition, we can turn on the hotspot from one of our iPhones with service via consumer cellular if we needed extra coverage. I think they use att networks...

As son as it gets here, I do a review for anyone that might be interested..

 

[galladanb]

Update / Review...

Well, it's here! Yeah!
Activation was easy and fast. Auto applied several firmware and software updates, rebooted.

Happy, Happy! 

2 bars inside the house, three out the front door. Same as the cell phone, vis Consumer Cellular service. Quite normal for our home region.

Impressions...
Seems to work fast, webpages load as fast it seems as our current xfinity!
Looks like the web page for admin is fast and easy to use.
Changed the network name and password with ease.

Later tonight, I will try again for peak time comparasions...

I'm anticipating this device will be very useable...

 

[galladanb]

What a difference a few days make...

We took the hotspot for a drive into The greater Nashville area and surrounds.

I saw 3 bars once, mostly just a single...
A few doubles...

But for the most part, not so good...

We seemed able to make connection easy enough.

I'm sending it back tomorrow.

Then we may look at the Verizon offerings...

 

[jimindenver]

With Sprint it isn't always how many bars you get. Sprint uses multiple bands and at time I can stream just fine with one bar of band 41 or be wicked slow on 3 bars of band 19.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

I had Boost for several months last year. I'll just say, that it sucked. I live near central tucson. I'm three miles from university of Arizona and you would think there would be decent service. There are dead zones everywhere. It's a pain to be in the car (as a passenger) and having to wait for the browser to load -one dead zone after another. I didn't even have reception at my house.

I threw away $300 on a nice phone when I cancelled my service with Boost because the reception made it useless. It was that bad. No problems with AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. YMMV.
Ted

 

[galladanb]

From what I'm hearing, Verizon is the Mac daddy for best coverage...

That's what we are gonna look into next.

Im definitely wanting coverage while  boondocking, ya know?

 

[LeeRevell]

My Verizon phone gets no service at my local outdoor shooting range, just a few miles from the highway in the National Forest. Bummer. Others use their phones.

 

[jimindenver]

Im definitely wanting coverage while  boondocking, ya know?

I don't have something on all four carriers just to make post about them. Coverage in the Rockies where I am use to being can be a challenge with one service working in one spot and another a short distance away. I'm in Ehrenberg right now where my Verizon 3G functions but my T-Mobile has a full signal and is balls to the wall fast. Sprint LTE blew them all away just outside of Algodones but barely connected a few miles away. Verizon worked in Quartzsite but became overloaded the night the big tent opened, AT&T was just fine. That's why I have smaller plans on all of them instead of spending the big bucks on just one.

 

[galladanb]

Thx Jim! That's the kind of info I need!

Not sure I can afford to have all of them, maybe my wifi withdrawal program will ween me off soon?

Lol!

 

[jimindenver]

Check my post in the communications forum. I have Sprint and AT&T in small amounts that literally does not cost me a thing month to month. My Verizon hotspot has unlimited 3G data for $5 a month.

 

[galladanb]

HI Jim...
Before we went with the boost POS, I did read thru your thread...
BUT, it seemed like getting the device, getting it ready, etc, was more complicated than I wanted at the time.

NOW, going back and trying to find where the thing is at escapes me, with over 52 pages of comments.

May I ask a favor? PLEASE? Could you repost a fresh link either here or over there on where to get one?
And maybe the steps getting it ready to use?

 

[DrJean]

When I went out to Philmont Scout Ranch (Northern NM) I had T mobile and had it all the way.... from FL to Denver and south... and I was the ONLY one of the hundreds who had service inside the camp.... ever. They even have that you have to go up to the top of the nearby mountain to make calls, on their flyers. hahahah T mobile blew them all away.

I'm again at crossroads as I have been with ATT since then. ugh.
I checked into Patriot Mobile since they do not fund political interests and politicians that I disagree with, but their coverage in midwest appears spotty...great in East.

I need a personal hotspot. I might have to stay with ATT... right now I'm thinking of doing so at my home before hitting the road before fall,,., cancelling comcast cable and internet. I can add the hotspot and get I think 10 gig unlimited for less than what I'm paying for att phone, cable and internet combined! (I think.. might be a fever.)

I had thought about boost. I won't now----thanks!