VERIZON UNLIMITED 9 MONTH REVIEW

[Dutch_12078]

Our AT&T Mobley hotpot's unlimited 4G/LTE Connected Car plan has served us well everywhere we've been so far, but we also have a couple of Verizon unlimited 3G flashed Jetpacks on board  for both extra portable use and as a backup to the Mobey. We typically hit around 70GB/month, and despite a previous post, have never been "throttled". Our plan is subject to temporary network management/deprioritization after 22GB on congested towers for the duration of that congestion, but we have not yet seen it happen, or at least been aware of it happening. 

[BlueLghtning]

13 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

That being the case, does your employer expense your work related data fees?

I remember once being brought into a video conference on a Saturday when there was a somewhat significant amount of data corruption and they wanted some suggestions as to the fastest way to do the disaster recovery. The first thing my boss said was "Eddie, either promise me you will remain seated during this conference, or go put on some pants."

How well they knew me.....

No, they used to cover internet fees but not now. I get a stipend for my cell phone, but that's it. I'm a work at home employee, but I don't push the fact I'm traveling so no biggie. 

[Biker56]

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For my RVing tastes, I have no problem with being a Walmart guy, where I know I can get wifi to stream TV, though the presence of Dish would render that consideration moot. Hopefully I can cobble together a Dish system from second hand parts and not have to pay them a million bucks for equipment. I do NOT want a dome on top of my RV. I know how to use a compass and by finding the correct azimuth and declination online I can aim a dish. Just need a southwest exposure and a tripod.

 So you are gong to set up a big tripod dish on a Walmart parking lot?

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It may also be worth investing in a Samsung Smart TV that I can stream to and not have it charged against my data. My pans now are for a 32" ProScan to go into the RV, but I can change those plans any time.

I have 2 Samsung smart TV's in my MH a 55" & 43" plus a 24" Vizio smart. Only streaming they have is from Campground WiFi, AT&T Mobley or Sprint iPhone 3GB hotspot on it. All data is charged to the Mobley & iPhone.
But I have done little streaming. Have did some Amazon Prime Time 4K movies just to see how they look. And the Mobley also updates the many apps on the 2 iPads, and updates on the 2 desk tops and 1 laptop in the MH

I do have a Trav'ler on the roof for DirecTV with a Genie & H25 receiver. Monthly at $145 that includes HD, DVR, E. & W. coast networks, Whole Home service and over 155 channels.

Sprint unlimited voice, text and data on phone plus 3GB hotspot. $64.80 a month.
Mobley unlimited data for $22.01 a month. For 10 months I average around 40-45GB a month with no slow downs so far.
With 14 days left I have used 20.6GB so far this month.
And it has worked at every place I have overnighted in the 6 different states so far.

Total per month for iPhone, TV and unlimited Internet is at $232

 

[eddie1261]

49 minutes ago, Biker56 said:

 So you are gong to set up a big tripod dish on a Walmart parking lot?

In a Walmart I have wifi from the Walmart.

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I do have a Trav'ler on the roof for DirecTV with a Genie & H25 receiver. Monthly at $145 that includes HD, DVR, E. & W. coast networks, Whole Home service and over 155 channels.

With 14 days left I have used 20.6GB so far this month.

My primary focus is TV. You have DirecTV, so your data must be used for things other than TV, mainly internet. My main thing will be retraining myself to not have the TV on in the background like I do a lot of now. I sit on the internet all day doing not much constructive, so that can be scaled back too.. It will be a whole new world for me to NOT have home internet at 100mb down. My heaviest data month ever was 228mb, and I have had some kind of smart phone since the day they came out. Blackberry, then iPhone, then Droids, then Windows phone, then Droid again. Now I have a Droid phone, a Droid tablet, and an iPad. And all these computers... oy. Once a nerd, always a nerd. Come a long way since the early 80s and 300 baud dial up modems. Thinking back to when I first started, running Unix and a program called Lynx that got me into the all text internet. Then Mosaic came out and we had a graphic internet. I love technology! I just finished writing a song with a guy in England. He sent it to me. I did my tracks and sent it back. He added some more stuff and asked for some vocal changes. Did those changes and sent it back. In 3 days we had a song done from 3600 miles apart. Now we are talking about internet and television in mobile vehicles.

I have a feeling I watch a lot more TV than you. And in fact I probably watch a lot more TV than most people. I want my data to be the absolute last resort for TV. That's why I am going to have to be very selective as far as where I stop. The wifi antenna and repeater I have on order does a good job when there is line of site. Add in buildings and dense trees and it drops off like they all do. This is why most of the SKP parks are not going to be good options for me. They are WAY too far from civilization. I tested what I bought (A friend has the exact system) and it worked very well to find and connect to open wifi up to 2 miles away. 1 McDonald's and one car dealership. I saw more networks but once I connected to those 2 I stopped playing so he could leave.

[jpcoll01]

9 minutes ago, eddie1261 said:

My main thing will be retraining myself to not have the TV on in the background like I do a lot of now.

Another option is DirectNOW with an ATT account, doesn't count toward your data usage and you can stream all day/night with NO impact to your plan.  I have had good experience with it and I just plug my iphone into the TV via a little HDMI dongle that I bought.  Works most places (as long as you can get a bar or two of LTE).

[eddie1261]

On 11/21/2017 at 11:30 AM, docj said:

To be very, very clear, Chromecasting requires that there be an active wifi network to which both the phone and the Chromecast device are connected.  Because the Chromecast device connects directly to the internet source it needs a hotspot to connect to.  This is why Chromecasting doesn't get you out from under the hotspot limits of either Verizon or AT&T.

In a true "duh" moment, with accompanying palm to the forehead, it occurred to me that the TV will be fed by a computer connected to it by HDMI, so there will no longer be a need to cast anything. If I can get it to stream it on a laptop or a table, I can also get it on the computer and not need to stream it. Again, "duh".

And again, this may all be moot if I go the Dish route. I am strongly leaning that way because it would extremely inconvenient to be finding Browns Backers clubs 16 weeks every year, and drive potentially long distances to the bar where they meet to watch the games. Dish with NFL Sunday ticket will bring those Browns games right to my RV. Hopefully by the time I can afford all this stuff and get on the road they will be good enough to win a game or two. Though the way it has been looking, I may have a couple of 2-14 and 3-13 years in there..... What kind of team is it when 2-14 is progress?