Verizon Unlimited / No throttle Jetpack

[RogerD]

Heard about this the other day and did a little searching and found a good review on YT.

There is no hard throttle at some set GB use limit. It uses what they call network managed with a priority tier.

 

[John61CT]

For those that don't watch videos, any link to read about the specific plan, costs etc?

 

[becida]

I didn't watch the 13 min video either.  I did a search on "VERIZON Jetpack UNLIMITED Data" (I copied that off the video title) and didn't have any "no throttle" options options come up.

 

[John61CT]

It looks like in congested areas, people in the top 3% of GB usage - which seems to be 22GB per month ATM - are still subject to "network optimization", IOW deprioritization, bandwidth throttling.

And it is very common in population centers for things to get so congested even normal users at less than 22GB of data are still getting deprioritized.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.howardforums.com+verizon+jetpack+OR+hotspot+unlimited

obviously just add other keywords like

bandwidth throttle congestion deprioritize

either one at a time, or with capital OR in between.

If anyone knows the current total cost for these plans for someone new to Verizon without a Verizon phone, I'd appreciate that data point, or a link to the plan even better.

 

[RoamerRV428]

I don't know 'jetpack' stuff and ain't watching no vid. on this junk, but our Verizon Unlimited plan is 4G on all phones. No limits or changes. That holds.

Hotspot for use with computers, tv streaming, phone use with hotspot etc......4 GB with a limit of 15G on each phone.....then it is dropped to 3G on each phone/linked devices as unlimited.

Honestly we haven't had any slow setbacks when this 3G kicks in and our 4G 'goes out' with our unlimited hotspot situation. Every now and then it slows on a tv situation but other than that, our Verizon Unlimited plan is friggin' tops when out and about in a bad wifi situation and we rely on that hotspot ALOT and get great service from it.

I hope some of what I wrote applies to this post LOL

 

[John61CT]

Jetpack is VZW for dedicated hardware hotspot, give WiFi broadband access to all your devices through one SIM, no phone necessarily involved

our Verizon Unlimited plan is 4G on all phones. No limits or changes.

You are correct, but only until you start using so many GB that VZW calls it "abusing" their bandwidth.

We use 100+GB almost every month, so I always need to check on the details.

With the higher cost per month plans direct from VZW, they may only throttle you when you're on a congested tower.

With MVNOs and reseller plans, it starts much sooner.

That throttling can happen by keeping you on 4G, switching you to 3G (not so bad! or even dropping down to 128kbps for low-value accounts, which is basically unusable for anything but plaintext.

 

[GotOldEarly]

https://www.verizonwireless.com/pre...IvSTXbM_TB1gR9L82AhoCjgwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is the link to the plan on Verizon's web site.  Be sure to scroll down to find it in "Tablet and Jetpack Plans". I have it and so far it is working fine for me.  Been playing with it for about 2 weeks now.  I had it activated on one of the new 8800L Jetpacks.  I guess time will tell.

 

[RoamerRV428]

luckily we never had troubles no matter what state we were in 'so far' about it being slow. I love Verizon unlimited. We blow thru tons of data per month! My kid makes sure of that one HA
2 phones and unlimited talk, text, data is $100 per month for us as a plan charge.

 

[John61CT]

$65 / mo

 

[RoamerRV428]

John is that one person...65 just for you?

 

[John61CT]

That is what that linked page says

 

[GotOldEarly]

The cost is $65 per month (with autopay) for each Jetpack.  Each Jetpack can support several WiFi connections at the same time.

 

[StarEcho]

If you move to a post paid plan (still no contract if you buy your phone outright) there are three types of unlimited with progressively higher monthly prices per month.  40/mo/line gives you unlimited but low person on the totem pole in times or places of congestion.  Almost unusable.  We went from an 8gb/mo plan to unlimited and it was a step backwards because before we had at least 8gb before speeds slowed.  Now speeds slow just when you want to use it!

That said...it's the cheapest unlimited plan.  

For 50/mo/line we could get unlimited 4g lte speeds for the first 22/gb then back to the bottom in "times of congestion "

For 60/mo/line we can get up to 75gb of 4g lte speeds before going to the bottom.

Don't forget military discounts....they are also good for retired military and families.  15%

The above prices are also based on auto pay....I think it's add 5/line without auto pay.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/plans/unlimited/

If using your phone as your hotspot though, the highest plan only gives you 20gb at 4g lte speeds for your hotspot connected devices.  Still 75gb/mo for the phone itself.  The small print will kill you.

The jetpack/tablet plans are ridiculously expensive.  For John's 100gb/month through a jetpack, they charge over 700! There is NO unlimited plan for post paid jetpacks.

That prepaid jetpack plan talked about in this thread is basically the same as the lowest tiered unlimited plan for post paid phones.

Bottom line is verizon is going to give you the choice of crappy speeds when you most want to use it or pay out the butt for guaranteed video streaming speeds.  And they DO NOT want anyone to use 100gb+ data per month on a jetpack.  So they won't ban you....just price you out of existence.

 

[B and C]

And they DO NOT want anyone to use 100gb+ data per month on a jetpack.  So they won't ban you....just price you out of existence.

Seems it would be a lot cheaper to have several jetpacks and swap to another one when it slows too much.  Next day try the first slow one again to see if it is back up to speed.  Just a thought. Set the WIFI name and password the same on all of them to make swapping easier.

 

[GotOldEarly]

Seems it would be a lot cheaper to have several jetpacks and swap to another one when it slows too much.  Next day try the first slow one again to see if it is back up to speed.  Just a thought.  Set the WIFI name and password the same on all of them to make swapping easier.

Redundancy is never a bad plan.  May cost a bit more but if you need it ......... well then. 

I have not experienced any slow downs on the prepaid plan so far.  This may be because I spend, and plan to continue spending, the majority of my time in more remote locations that may not be as subject to data congestion problems like those so typical of higher populated areas.  Once I am rolling full time I will likely add another MiFi type device that is on the AT&T network (possibly NetBuddy) just to be sure I am more able to do as I please whenever I please.

Everyone has different needs and the best solution for each may be a bit different.  Best not to take anyone's word as gospel.  Set down, list what you want and list what you need.  Spend some time thinking through how you will use the services and where you will predominately need them.  Then Do Your Own Homework.  Take your time and ask lots of questions.  There is, by design, a ton of confusing information out there.  I will not debate opinions with people but am happy to share what I have learned from over 35 years working in the telecommunication industry.

 

[John61CT]

This thread is about hotspotting, no data needed for any one phone in particular, mostly PCs and tablets with no SIM card installed.

For 60/mo/line we can get up to 75gb of 4g lte speeds before going to the bottom.

> The jetpack/tablet plans are ridiculously expensive.  For John's 100gb/month through a jetpack, they charge over 700! There is NO unlimited plan for post paid jetpacks.

So forget postpaid, no advantage to that over prepaid right? Except maybe roaming, but so far that's been irrelevant to me.

> That prepaid jetpack plan talked about in this thread is basically the same as the lowest tiered unlimited plan for post paid phones.

How so? confused. . .

You mean getting deprioritized when the towers get busy?

As long as rarely in congested urban area should be fine?

In my case can choose the timing of heavy bandwidth use as well.

We don't stream much video other than low-rez YT so going to 360p's not end of the world.

Hi-rez video all downloaded to local storage then viewed sometime in the next few days.

> And they DO NOT want anyone to use 100gb+ data per month on a jetpack. So they won't ban you....just price you out of existence.

But given the above usage patterns, I might be OK, right?

 

[John61CT]

Seems it would be a lot cheaper to have several jetpacks and swap to another one when it slows too much.  Next day try the first slow one again to see if it is back up to speed.  Just a thought. Set the WIFI name and password the same on all of them to make swapping easier.

Best to do with different provider networks so you get a wider sort of redundancy.

 

[GotOldEarly]

This thread is about hotspotting, no data needed for any one phone in particular, mostly PCs and tablets with no SIM card installed.

> The jetpack/tablet plans are ridiculously expensive.  For John's 100gb/month through a jetpack, they charge over 700! There is NO unlimited plan for post paid jetpacks.

So forget postpaid, no advantage to that over prepaid right? Except maybe roaming, but so far that's been irrelevant to me.

> That prepaid jetpack plan talked about in this thread is basically the same as the lowest tiered unlimited plan for post paid phones.

How so? confused. . .

You mean getting deprioritized when the towers get busy?

As long as rarely in congested urban area should be fine?

In my case can choose the timing of heavy bandwidth use as well.

We don't stream much video other than low-rez YT so going to 360p's not end of the world.

Hi-rez video all downloaded to local storage then viewed sometime in the next few days.

> And they DO NOT want anyone to use 100gb+ data per month on a jetpack. So they won't ban you....just price you out of existence.

But given the above usage patterns, I might be OK, right?

My best guess, out on a limb here, Yes, you should be fine as your expectations seem reasonable.

 

[B and C]

I have two jetpacks, a Mobley on AT&T and a Verizon 7730L. These are post pay. My phone has the hotspot feature as well and it is on Verizon. My Mobley costs about $23 a mo with taxes and is unlimited 4g. I think about 15-17 GB of data before throttling on congested towers occurs. My Verizon (VZW) phone is about $80 mo on the Above Unlimited plan and the tethering is 4g for 20 GB before throttling in congested areas. My jetpack is an additional $20 mo and is capped at 600 Kbps (3g) all the time (no throttling or deprioritization).

I found that 3G (600KBPS) is sufficient for DVD quality streaming without buffering from the old $5 a mo for unlimited 3G days. I do not need 4G speeds and really cannot tell much difference in page loads.

 

[John61CT]

I think Jetpack is a VZW only brand name, generic term is jus "a hotspot"?

Is the Mobley SIM intended by ATT to be for use by in-car systems, or would they be OK for general use, say for broadband in a home?

Do they throttle only when the network is congested, even if past 80-100GB in the month?