Okay, how RELIABLE really are wireless Internet services? And high bandwidth options?

[MikeRuth]

If it's part of your job, your company should pay for your data package, or at least part of it.

I am the company

 

[MikeRuth]

In my case I should say that I would not need to transfer anything in that size(80g) but then again in a single day I may do something like a windows 7 install along with all of it's up dates. Close to a gig now.

and maybe a netflix movie in the evening. That's a big maybe.

 

[highdesertranger]

as far as satellite internet goes, when I last looked into it you needed to get a permit from the feds to use it. the way I understood it you can use a mobile antenna to receive satellite data but you need a permit to send satellite data. has this changed? highdesertranger

 

[steveh2112]

would it work to get a pay as you go package like the t-mobile thing for email, general web browsing and low bandwidth stuff, then go hang out in the library or some other free wifi spot for a couple of hours to download your files, or maybe a few youtubes or torrents, or skype?

would that work? do free wifis block anything?

 

[TMG51]

Okay... I still don't know a lot about hot spots, but on a whim I checked eBay for terms "unlimited Verizon data" (knowing some people sell accounts with grandfathered unlimited contracts) and this popped up. A hotspot with "unlimited data" as a service. So you're "renting" the hotspot, but paying the seller $128/month for the unlimited service.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Verizon-Wir...549?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c97fb3825

Is the service legit? Is it legal? Is it he same reliable service? I have no idea how the seller could be providing that without violating contracts. I'm also not sure I care; if it works as advertised, it's the best option by far.

Thoughts?

 

[blars]

Verizon no longer allows transfers of their "grandfathered" unlimited data plans. They never allowed reselling the data.

 

[TMG51]

Verizon no longer allows transfers of their "grandfathered" unlimited data plans. They never allowed reselling the data.

Does that stop people from doing it, simply taking over the account?

 

[pseudo_mccoy]

All of the unlimited data plans I've seen have limitations in regards to mobile hotspots.

T-Mobel is offering an unlimited data plan, but it tops out your mobile hot spot data at 5GB

T-mobile customer here. Good on you for pointing out those limitations. They always hide em in the fine print. I remember the first time I learned “unlimited data” means unlimited up to a certain point. I still get mad thinking about my conversation with the Virgin Mobile representative. She tried to tell me there was a “technical glitch in my area” before admitting that I had actually depleted my “unlimited” data allotment and was being downgraded to 3g for the remainder of the billing cycle. Yes, it was unlimited, but an unlimited trickle.


So I switched to T-mo but like Matt71 said they have restrictions on piping your unlimited phone data to anywhere outside your phone. Such restrictions are nothing but money generators. It's wrong for US carriers to charge for these hotspot "services." Only in America do they ask you to pay for permission to connect two of your own devices with data you've already paid for. It's like if Sony charged you to burn music to a CD. You own the phone, CD, and music like you own your phone, laptop, and internet data. You pay the carrier to get X amount of data but they try to sell it to you twice with a hotspot.
 
The good news is there are workarounds for both android and iphone. I'm not very computer smart but I've also never paid a carrier for a hotspot and never will. I've had no problems doing this and get truly unlimited broadband data on my phone and laptop.

 

[Hereandthere]

Because I got a membership at Chris and and Cheri's http://www.technomadia.com/ I learned enough that I was able to get us an unlimited data plan on Verizon this past autumn, just before Verizon stopped letting people take over those plans. With a 5510 Jetpack I got on ebay and a cellphone I got there too, we set up a system in our rig... we got lucky that the SIM card for the phone was the right size for the jetpack, didn't have to adjust it (which can be done). I don't even know where the phone is, must be around hee somewhere but we never take the SIM card out of the jetpack. We added a booster that we have rarely used. We have Tracfones on a different account for phoning.

Left home in Colorado mid-November, will be back there soon, so gone about 5 months. Most of that time in NM State Parks or on our land near Deming. One week in AZ.

A very few times we didn't have 4g and 3 or 4 bars... once at Clayton Lake, a NM state park, once by the side of the road at a Natl Forest campground down in a valley near Glenwood, NM, and once on the Navajo Nation near Canyon de Chelly. Had internet at that last place but a bit iffy. EVERYWHERE else, we have watched Netlfix most nights with dinner and my husband has watched the Daily Show. Plus of course the business reasons we got the system, tons of email, sending files to customers, uploading book files to Amazon, and all the rest. We pretty much need to be online every day to check for orders at least.

Cost: about $80 a month for the Verizon setup. Two-year contract.

 

[TMG51]

For any who were interested, I signed up with Verizon and a 4G LTE Jetpack. I went with 10GB of data for $80/month. I thought I was going to need more than that, but working for two weeks so far has used less than 2.5GB.

I've had access everywhere and it's been consistent and reliable, including for conference calls. The display on the device reads out an easy display of signal strength and data usage.

I expect anywhere within Verizon's network coverage will perform similarly, though you should check coverage in your area before taking my review as a guarantee.

 

[offroad]

Video streaming is what eats bandwidth.