Cheapest internet

[becida]

With the death of the Verizon 3g & the obvious problems with the cheap 4g many of us need a way to get online. Sure there are a lot of ways to do that but most of them are fairly spendy or they do not work without regular hoop jumping. (Changing sim cards every few days? THAT is a hoop!)

I'm looking for suggestions on what to use for on-the-road internet, cost IS a factor.

Right now it looks like Cricket (ATT network), using one of their phones set up for hotspot can get you a reasonable amount of internet for $70/month (includes the $10/month hot spot fee). They say the hot spot slows down after 10gb... https://www.cricketwireless.com/ 

Anyone have any other ideas for regular internet? There are 2 of us here on the road & we have to do something..

Looking for suggestions.

 

[urbankid12]

Mint Mobile
15 a mo. for 2G
20 a mo. for 5G
25 a mo. for 10G

and after your monthly data usage you get unlimited slow speeds about .1mbps  

If you start stockpiling content like shows you watch over and over, music download instead of streaming constantly and try to use less data, and more data when your on public wifi I think it could work comfortable.

Otherwise MetroPCS unlimited plan $60 or for 2 people is $90.

I was able to teather my phone internet from my device using the usb cable to charge it to the computer and use my internet on my desktop probly work with a laptop too.  Plus the sim card worked in a verizon hot spot as well.  So win win I'd say, only catch is that you gotta prepay. new customers pay 3mo. to try it out. Then you gotta prepay 12mo. to get those rates. A bit higher in price if you want only another 3 or 6mo. but not having to pay a montly bill is very nice

 

[lenny flank]

My Internet is totally free. I've never been anywhere that I could not find a free connection at a mall or library or fastfood. I make my living online, and have found libraries are best for high bandwidth things like uploading or downloading the files I need.

Of course I am almost completely urban. It becomes a lot harder out in the boonies.

 

[becida]

Mint Mobile
15 a mo. for 2G
20 a mo. for 5G
25 a mo. for 10G

and after your monthly data usage you get unlimited slow speeds about .1mbps  

I've never heard of Mint mobile, who's towers does it work off of?   The same for metroPcs, who's towers?

 

[becida]

My Internet is totally free. I've never been anywhere that I could not find a free connection at a mall or library or fastfood.  I make my living online, and have found libraries are best for high bandwidth things like uploading or downloading the files I need.

Of course I am almost completely urban.  It becomes a lot harder out in the boonies.

I can download for later & get internet at lot's of places, that's not what this thread is about.  I did go to the library yesterday to get on the internet & do something I would have done from here before the 3g was chopped.

I'm looking for day to day internet from right where I'm sitting.

 

[Riverman]

I pay Verizon and AT&T monthly for quality internet service. It's not cheap, but I get what I pay for in the long run.

 

[Blanch]

I have Cricket for my phone. AT&T towers and unlimited for $55 a month.

My remaining working hotspot is USCellular. 2gb and then unlimited 2G is $15 a month. At 2G speeds I still have Pandora.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[urbankid12]

Mint and MetroPCS both run off the T-Mobile network. They are the best in my area. Also T-Mobile and AT&T both are "open" and more plug and play while sprint and verizon are more locked in.. Meaning my Mint sim card will work in my Verizon hotspot just fine even though it's for my cellphone. Plus I can use my iphone to open a tethering / wifi hotspot and use it that way to get me online on my desktop. even after the 2GB plan I have ran out I can still use it for my desktop even though speeds are only .1mbps.

MetroPCS is cheaper than T-Mobile directly and they have an unlimited plan if you want to try to get more faster data speeds.

Granted you might get more out of a mint sim plan on your phone so you can make calls and txt. but if you want to just put it in a verizon hot spot and use that it gives you more flexibility.

Provided you can live with the T-Mobile coverage areas..

 

[bLEEp]

For streaming i am using my iphone with netflix and the adapter cord to watch it on TV as netflix just changed over to allow this. Other than that we are in the same place as many others with the loss of the 3G verizon thing. I am trying to learn if there is a hack for my iphone, i have unlimited, to turn it to a hotspot.

 

[RVTravel]

The ATT mobley is $20/month if your vehicle is 2017 or newer. Most of ours won't be that new. The netbuddy.co has $60/month ATT unlimited after buying the hotspot and you can get $10 knocked off the SIM purchase by going through an affiliate link of a person who is on this forum. I won't name who so you can pm me for that.

 

[becida]

The ATT mobley is $20/month if your vehicle is 2017 or newer. Most of ours won't be that new. The netbuddy.co has $60/month ATT unlimited after buying the hotspot and you can get $10 knocked off the SIM purchase by going through an affiliate link of a person who is on this forum. I won't name who so you can pm me for that.

That netbuddy.co looks good! Att works for me & the price is in the "well, ok" range.

I do have a couple of questions. 
Do you use the mifi?   Can I just plug it in to power, leave it on & just walk away?

 

[Banjo]

NetBuddy looks really good. Full At&T, no slowdowns true unlimited?
I`ll keep this on reserve in case my current $30 plan gets tiresome (It has frequent slow downs over 22gb)

 

[John61CT]

Google Fi

For where TMO or Sprint have good coverage.

Pay only for the data you actually use, maxes out at $80 total bill, never throttled.

Would have a per GB PAYG MVNO for VZW and/or ATT like Tracfone as backup for boondocks, about $10/mo then $12/GB.

 

[skyl4rk]

Unlimited Verizon 4G still works, although it could be shut down.

 

[becida]

Unlimited Verizon 4G still works, although it could be shut down.

I've been following the $5 4G thread, if that's the one you're talking about it's not working well yet. I'm not worried about it being shut down, that 3g deal was going for years and it's just now starting with the 4g.

 

[skyl4rk]

Beware of disinformation campaigns.

 

[becida]

Beware of disinformation campaigns.

I was hoping this thread was for ways that people are actually getting the internet, I'd like to keep it useful.

 

[urbankid12]

NetBuddy looks really good. Full At&T, no slowdowns true unlimited?
I`ll keep this on reserve in case my current $30 plan gets tiresome (It has frequent slow downs over 22gb)

That looks like a REALLY good option.  No throttling, and unlimited mobile option.  Really nice to finally see a rather affordable option.  Before all this I was paying 90 bucks for Comcast the bundled cable and internet together to "save me money" but a new carrier moved into my area so I think I might go with them 50mbps for about 35-45 a  month.  Although that NetBuddy is a great mobile option I might have to switch over to in time..

I even think my Verizon hot spot SHOULD work with the Netbuddy sim card.  At&t and T-mobile sim cards are pretty plug and play so it's likely they would work.. if not then just gotta pay another 100 bucks and your good to go!

If anyone is tight on money I would suggest Mint mobile I tried putting my sim card in there the other day and it worked just fine.  Granted I ran out of my 2G data so my speeds were really slow but I could still do alot of basic stuff.  Plus if you use it with internet browser of Opera it can help ya sure the internet using less data so that slow speed don't feel as slow.  A temporary fix if your short on money, or a long term option if you can supplement other things like using less internet.  I think Imma try making a thread about good ideas on using less data!  Maybe others have other good suggestions..

 

[John61CT]

There is no one "cheapest" internet.

Hundreds of vendors, each has many plans that are best / cheapest for a given range of usage patterns.

For those looking for 10's og GB streaming video, best to have a thread for them.

Those OK with Sprint's or TMO's geographic coverage, ditto.

If the Netbuddy setup seems great for many people here, someone in the know should start a thread just for that, give us the pitch.

Otherwise such a general topic will go all over the place, less useful than ones with well-defined boundaries.

 

[becida]

There is no one "cheapest" internet.

Otherwise such a general topic will go all over the place, less useful than ones with well-defined boundaries.

I tried, it's all I can do in a community like this.  

I'm hoping we can keep on taking a look at what's there, I think we may find something worthwhile if we look.