OmniLynx Unlimited Data from Huntsville City school changes coming

[Sehc]

Yes. No surprise it has been canceled. It was meant for students and family of one school system and our RV community killed the goose.

[chirakawa]

Yes. No surprise it has been canceled. It was meant for students and family of one school system and our RV community killed the goose.

 

I wouldn't be so hard on the RV community. The administrators of this plan knew they were shipping these units outside of Huntsville. I believe they also knew this was violating the spirit of the original agreement which was a model program to help out the Huntsville school community.

 

Also, this plan was highly publicized on several websites. There were more than just RV'ers involved.

[champ_49]

Millenicom all over again. Huntsville didn't get the time Millenicom did. Lets face it, if Verizon is selling the service they are in control period!

[deecee]

 

I wouldn't be so hard on the RV community. The administrators of this plan knew they were shipping these units outside of Huntsville. I believe they also knew this was violating the spirit of the original agreement which was a model program to help out the Huntsville school community.

 

Also, this plan was highly publicized on several websites. There were more than just RV'ers involved.

 

The RV community (and some non-RVers lurking for "free internet advice" in the RV Internet groups) is a good part of it, and quite a number of people were (and still are) severely abusing the privilege of "unlimited data".

Like the several RVers just yesterday in an RV group on Facebook yesterday announcing how many hundreds of GB they have been downloading, and how they are going to download the whole Internet before the OnmiLynx service shuts down on 11/30.

That kind of people are the reason that 'unlimited' service does not officially exist anymore, and why nothing good/cheap can ever exist for long.. (Whether they are RVers or not. :-) )

 

But generally you are correct.. Its not just RVers.. There was even a high-school entrepreneur in California (lurking in "Internet for RVers" FB group for free info he can announce), that grabbed onto the offer and started advertising it as a product in his "ventures", pushing people to use his "Referral number".

 

You are also correct, that the OmniLynx things was a clear violation of not only the spirit, but also the contracts.. The fools in Huntsville School District even applied for a Business Process patent on how to abuse government contracts with the stated purpose of claiming license fees from other school districts that might get the same bright 'buy low, sell high' idea. On the local news declared as something like "All school districts across the country will want to get in on this. Now they must pay a fee to us. "..

Patent application in extreme detail describing how to order as many devices/product as possible into their single governmental business account, and resell them to the public for profit.

 

The school district suddenly switched from a good, low-key program for under-privileged school kids, that everyone (even Verizon) could support, to be in it for profit.. For money to spend on totally unrelated projects.

That's what killed OmniLynx.. Not Verizon.

 

 

[IRUNL8R]

Millenicom all over again. Huntsville didn't get the time Millenicom did. Lets face it, if Verizon is selling the service they are in control period!

 

I agree with this statement. As for violating the spirit well as with any business or taxes or anything else "Loopholes" exist such as Social Security 'File and Suspend" and so forth.

I do not blame RVers or any other entity other than Verizon. Verizon is making hand over fist on data charges. I understand they have much invested in their network but either a plan is good for everyone or it isn't good for anyone. Don't just offer a few unlimited data (grand fathered plans or government/school unlimited plans) but make it available to everyone at a reasonable price. I am one who would spend up to 200-250 monthly for a truly unlimited plan.

I am all for capitalism and for business to make a profit, but Verizon and other companies violate the spirit of fairness and take greed to sometimes top shelf priority. Sometimes you have to do what is right by the consumer/customer. Verizon/At&t/Sprint/Tmobile that is truly your MONOPOLY at work or Oligopoly if you will. Unfortunately they will ensure that NO ONE encroaches on their business set up. Those 4 control the wireless community for now. I still keep my verizon plan although I disagree with their business model ( as I need connectivity like everyone else) so I guess I could be guilty of enabling verizon as well.

Sooner or later prices will come down for whatever reason..just like when that new TV is now cheaper than it was 10 years ago and so forth. Problem is most of us don't want to wait for that time to arrive for the wireless industry.

Also don't think for a minute Verizon and other companies don't troll all the forums to get information. Social media can be used to influence both positive and negative. I say hit them on Every social media outlet there is. From their facebook pages to Youtube to twitter, instagram .. Bad press is all it takes at times to make companies change attitudes not just dollars.

[Pat & Pete]

Greed ... showing it's 'power' , again .

[deecee]

I do not blame RVers or any other entity other than Verizon. Verizon is making hand over fist on data charges. I understand they have much invested in their network but either a plan is good for everyone or it isn't good for anyone. Don't just offer a few unlimited data (grand fathered plans or government/school unlimited plans) but make it available to everyone at a reasonable price. I am one who would spend up to 200-250 monthly for a truly unlimited plan.

 

Personally, I am into facts, rather than an emotional thought that it must be all them rich companies doing it to me.

 

a) Verizon is a public company.. They file all their financials (10-Q and 10K statements) with the SEC, available for all to see.. Their margins, given the extremity of equipment cost investments, wireless license fees to the government, and other selling costs are not out of line with what any other business. The percentage margin is no different from any other product you buy. Actually it is seems to be lower.

 

b ) The government contract the Huntsville folks started abusing was negotiated and signed (as a 50-state common contract) yearssssss ago, back when we ALL were offered "Unlimited Data" accounts.. It was the norm back then. Before the carriers figured out that offering anyone "Unlimited" was a poor, poor, idea because it makes a certain segment want to stream every thing. Watch all their movies online, ..., ... Or like the guy in the "Internet for RVers" group yesterday, that proudly announced that he just downloaded 200 GB of old baseball playoffs. Since that original State Government contract was signed, all Unlimited (non-throttled) offers have gone the way of the Dodo.

 

c) Omnilynx (the school district ) only had that opportunity because they a) latched on to an old contract, and b ) violated the contract, which specifically state as a requirement on the vendor, that ALL non-state used accounts must be created as separate "Individual Liability" accounts.. Not bunched up into the common "phone bill" for the school district. Kinda obvious, that you don't want the State of Alabama to neither take on the liability of people's personal accounts, nor be paying these personal accounts out of the State's bank-accounts. :-)

The "Must be Individual Liability accounts" was BTW a State requirement in the original RFP, before Verizon was even picked as the vendor of choice.. Not a Verizon requirement.

And these individual accounts getting discounted service for personal devices under the contract was limited to STATE EMPLOYEE personal accounts.. Not the general public all around the country.. :-)

[IRUNL8R]

 

Personally, I am into facts, rather than an emotional thought that it must be all them rich companies doing it to me.

 

a) Verizon is a public company.. They file all their financials (10-Q and 10K statements) with the SEC, available for all to see.. Their margins, given the extremity of equipment cost investments, wireless license fees to the government, and other selling costs are not out of line with what any other business. The percentage margin is no different from any other product you buy. Actually it is seems to be lower.

 

b ) The government contract the Huntsville folks started scamming was negotiated and signed (as a 50-state common contract) yearssssss ago, back when we ALL were offered "Unlimited Data" accounts.. It was the norm back then. Before the carriers figured out that offering anyone "Unlimited" was a poor, poor, idea because it makes a certain segment want to stream every thing. Watch all their movies online, ..., ... Or like the guy in the "Internet for RVers" group yesterday, that proudly announced that he just downloaded 200 GB of old baseball playoffs. Since that original State Government contract was signed, all Unlimited (non-throttled) offers have gone the way of the Dodo.

 

c) Omnilynx (the school district ) only had that opportunity because they a) latched on to an old contract, and b ) violated the contract, which specifically state as a requirement on the vendor, that ALL non-state used accounts must be created as "Individual Liability" accounts.. Not bunched up into the common "phone bill" for the school district. Kinda obvious, that you don't want the State of Alabama to neither take on the liability of people's personal accounts, nor be paying these personal accounts out of the State's bank-accounts. :-)

The "Must be Individual Liability accounts" was BTW a State requirement in the original RFP, before Verizon was even picked as the vendor of choice.. Not a Verizon requirement.

And these individual accounts getting discounted service for personal devices under the contract was limited to STATE EMPLOYEE personal accounts.. Not the general public all around the country.. :-)

 

Yes but still a Monopoly or Oligopoly no matter how you dress it up. And No matter how you describe what is available to the public via Quarterly/Annual earnings they are still making a ton of money from the American public. SO if they can take advantage of Tax Loopholes and so forth, the general public can take advantage of anything that saves them money.

Next step may be Regulation by the Federal Government. Not saying I am for that but I could see it happening at some point.

[deecee]

 

Next step may be Regulation by the Federal Government. Not saying I am for that but I could see it happening at some point.

Government deciding that we should all have "wireless data" could of course be.

 

However, they cannot decide to have any company run at a loss, nor even make any company stay in business.. So the only way "public wireless" could happen is through taxes.. (The one right the government DOES have, taxation.)

But is guaranteed to be expensive, guaranteed NOT to be "unlimited data", because such a thing is limited by laws of physics. There is only so much data you can shove through the lines, the routers, the towers, .. before they grind to a halt. If we all had "Unlimited data at a fixed low price", that really means that it would become unusable for most of the things people love to use "Unlimited" for.. Too much competition for a limited resource.

 

The "government" decision to regulate HealthCare just proved the "cannot make a company run at a loss" thing. As we all know from our Escapee newsletters, for example BCBSTX has announced that as of next year, PPO plans are no longer offered, as they under "regulation" produced a $450 Mill loss..

So, now we only get HMOs offered. The equivalent of "limited, throttled data" on wireless. :-)

[IRUNL8R]

Government deciding that we should all have "wireless data" could of course be.

 

However, they cannot decide to have any company run at a loss, nor even make any company stay in business.. So the only way "public wireless" could happen is through taxes.. (The one right the government DOES have, taxation.)

But is guaranteed to be expensive, guaranteed NOT to be "unlimited data", because such a thing is limited by laws of physics. There is only so much data you can shove through the lines, the routers, the towers, .. before they grind to a halt. If we all had "Unlimited data at a fixed low price", that really means that it would become unusable for most of the things people love to use "Unlimited" for.. Too much competition for a limited resource.

 

The "government" decision to regulate HealthCare just proved the "cannot make a company run at a loss" thing. As we all know from our Escapee newsletters, for example BCBSTX has announced that as of next year, PPO plans are no longer offered, as they under "regulation" produced a $450 Mill loss..

So, now we only get HMOs offered. The equivalent of "limited, throttled data" on wireless. :-)

I am a disabled vet so all my healthcare is provided by the VA. Yes many have bad things to say about the VA but I haven't had any problems whatsoever.

I am not asking for any business to operate at a loss, but at the same time there has to be a happy median somewhere. I am all for making profits for business as I still run my own small business and provide a service for a reasonable price. Key word is reasonable here. Like I said, I do not mind paying $200-$250 monthly for an unlimited plan. However, I understand that only so much data can be absorbed through the networks. I am sure all outlets are very afraid of the "everyone streaming everything" that this world is coming to. But things are evolving and change will come as it always does.

[G&K]

You are in the "happy medium" you describe now.

 

Prices are fairly reasonable considering network size and population distribution. Performance is way improved by new technology.

 

The US and Canada are very expensive places to build national networks. Vast areas with no to low population, govt regulation up the wazoo and some of the highest labor costs in the world.

 

If you want lower prices, the only way you're likely to get it is by government interference of one kind or another.

 

Geo

[2gypsies]

This really shouldn't come as a surprise. When the offer came out many were skeptical about getting something for nothing.

[HSVBamaBob]

Here's what I don't understand. When we lived in Europe, data was unlimited and unthrottled. Voice calls, however were metered. So everyone got around THAT limitation by using Facetime or Skype. The company (T-Mobile) knew what was going on and apparently did not care.

 

So if the countries in Europe can have unlimited wireless data, what's the big deal in the USA/Canada?

 

T-Mobile (US) is offering unlimited talk/txt/data and I would switch to them in a New York minute if their coverage was as good as Verizon...I guess we can only hope that they vastly improve coverage so we can all make the switch someday.

 

Hmmm.. I wonder. Has anybody checked out their coverage map lately? Their site "Claims" virtual coverage USA wide (some dead sppots in the far west). Is this ground truth or marketing BS?

[DuffMan]

T-Mobile (US) is offering unlimited talk/txt/data and I would switch to them in a New York minute if their coverage was as good as Verizon...I guess we can only hope that they vastly improve coverage so we can all make the switch someday.

 

Can that T-Mobile data be shared/teathered via a hotspot enabled phone or is it available to that specific device only?

 

Can we swap sims in our Verizon MiFis with a TMobile unlimited phone's?

[dougdogs]

T-mobile is "sort of" unlimited. Once you have hit your plan limit, they do throttle you.

 

 

But, at least, they don't charge you for overages

[Sehc]

Move to Chattanooga. Verizon is not a monopoly. They are a successful business with a valuable product. We customers can chose to pay for any amount of band width we may need. Or, we can change to a competitor and live with a less valuable service.

[Dutch_12078]

I emailed OmniLynx asking about the status of our Jetpacks, and the brief reply signed by the "OmniLynx Staff" simple said, "You may keep the Jetpack." When the service finally dies, I'll take my Verizon 20GB Millenicom replacement plan off of suspension, and switch the 4620L SIM to the newer more featured 6620L.

[mrschwarz]

So...SInce texting and voice are unlimited,who's going to come up with a device that converts data to voice (you know, like a modem)/

[NJTroy]

Very shortly, voice services will begin to be carried as data using VoLTE. So besides the inefficiency, it won't even be possible anymore.

[Ramblin Reck]

Huntsville City Schools fires back at Verizon

http://whnt.com/2015/11/10/huntsville-city-schools-fires-back-at-verizon-over-omnilyns-wi-fi-service-cancellation/

 

 

 

[Dutch_12078]

Huntsville City Schools fires back at Verizon

http://whnt.com/2015/11/10/huntsville-city-schools-fires-back-at-verizon-over-omnilyns-wi-fi-service-cancellation/

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting... Thanks for the link!

[Biker56]

As it stands now, services for OmniLynx are being pulled on November 30th.

Huntsville City Schools says they’re looking for alternative options, but there could be a lapse of service for 1,900 users.

[pjstough]

Looks like Omni-Lynx over stepped the bounds of their contract with Verizon.

[Dutch_12078]

As it stands now, services for OmniLynx are being pulled on November 30th.

Huntsville City Schools says they’re looking for alternative options, but there could be a lapse of service for 1,900 users.

 

My OmniLynx service was due to expire on Nov 8th since they were no longer accepting payments, but so far it's still working. Maybe they'll let it run right to the bitter end...

[Dutch_12078]

Looks like Omni-Lynx over stepped the bounds of their contract with Verizon.

 

Verizon certainly thinks so, but of course Huntsville CS doesn't. As usual in these things, the subscribers get caught in the middle...