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What cell phone & internet plan??


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Planning a several week trip this spring & summer. Mainly from Oh to NM then AZ, Las Vegas, then Ca coast  to Or, Wa, then across US 2 back toward Ohio. Tentatively staying on the 2 lanes. DW has Verizon and I have ATT(prepaid). We are rather technologically challenged and are wondering what we need. We would like to have internet. We don't watch movies or stream music. It will mainly be surfing web for news, CGs, fuel prices, weather, email, etc. Occasionally a youtube video. Was guessing 5gb(??) would fill our needs, but,??  Was looking at consumer cellular 5gb plan for $20 month(I would change my phone, DW would keep her verizion(she is on a plan with our daughter which has 8 phones already on it so we're going to leave that alone). I read about jet packs, hot spots, mobley, boosters, and get really confused. Any help here as to what to get?  Or is this a question along the line of "which is better, gas or diesel?".

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First you have to look at the carriers. I have been full time for almost 6 years now and travel around a lot. I have Verizon and most of the time can get a signal. Friends who have AT&T get a signal almost all the time too. I think Verizon is a little better but not enough to argue about. Kind of like Ford or Chevy. T Mobil, Sprint and the others are great within a city but when you get out in the country, National Parks etc they often are no good and have a very week on no signal at all. I would stick with Verizon or AT&T. 

As far as equipment, a jet pack still runs on a cellular signal so all the above applies. You have to have a good strong signal for it to provide a hotspot. You can get a cell booster, average cost about $500, but you still need a signal to boost. A jet pack just send a signal to your cell phone, laptop, or computer. I just use the data on my iPad, with out a jet pack or booster but sometimes have a poor week slow signal. I am presently looking into a jet pack and booster on Verizon to improve my data. Forget about 5g. It will be awhile before it is available nationwide and when it is available it will only be in the city. Outside the city limits you will still be on 4g. 

2015 Itasca Ellipse 42QD

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2021 Harley Street Glide Special 

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Twotoes, thanks for your reply. I wasn't looking for 5g, but what I meant was Consumer Cellular has a plan with 5gig of data. And I believe that they use ATT & T mobile towers. AT&T and I currently aren't seeing eye to eye, but I guess it's that way with most big businesses today. I do know that you have to have a signal to boost, and really don't want to spend $500 for one, but I will to keep from buying a piece of junk.  We really shouldn't be way out in the " boonies", so there should be some type of a signal.  If not I guess we read a book. Just not sure what direction to go because of our lack of knowledge.  Gary

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If you really think you only need 5GB of data a month - then look to see what options you have for enabling personal mobile hotspot on your phones. 

Not sure what Verizon plan you have, but AT&T's prepaid Unlimited plan offers an unlimited plan for $65/month (normally $85/month - but on special right now) that includes 10GB of high speed mobile hotspot. Consumer Cellular would also be on AT&T, and if you ask - they usually will turn hotspot on with their plans. 

Depending on your Verizon plan, you likely already have some hotspot included. 

This would be the simplest solution, and give you two carriers. 

 - Cherie

 

Cherie & Chris (and Kiki *meow*) / Personal Blog: Technomadia.com
Technomads (technology enabled nomads) since 2006

Our Nomadic Fleet:
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I have Verizon Above Unlimited, 70 gig data/20 gig hotspot before slowing down to a turtle (depending on tower traffic).  My wife has the same.  In the 6 months I've had this plan, I hit the wall once.  Still got my data but was like I was on a dial-up modem.  Sure but slooooow.  Turn on the other phone and back up to speed.  Actually I have 3, with the auto pay and military discount I think I'm paying $164/mo.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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Simply put, use Verizon for out West. If AT&T I hear is good but has more dead spots where you're going. I use Verizon and got a deal on a Moto Droid Z play a couple of years ago and we're waiting for a good deal to upgrade to the Z3. It can do mobile Hotspot and tethering as well as sharing Bluetooth. The Z3 also can be made into a 5G phone later with a Moto mod for much less than a new phone later. You could buy it outright for about $350 new: https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-XT1929-6-Factory-Unlocked-Smartphone/dp/B07DTYZXS9/ref=sr_1_4?hvadid=78134102804516&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvqmt=p&keywords=moto+z3&qid=1553314646&s=gateway&sr=8-4&tag=mh0b-20

Their unlimited is 40.00 each from what I read but do call and get the info from the horses mouth. I'm calling tomorrow because that is a better deal for us with both unlimited than we have now. When we switch from prepaid to post paid we qualify as new lines. But I will see tomorrow when they are open.

Edited by RV_

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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We haven't traveled in the west recently, but here in the east we've found it works best for us having both AT&T and Verizon services. Everywhere we've been recently, if one service didn't have a good signal, the other one did. We have phones and hotspots on both services, but for your needs, as said, using the tethering feature on your phones should work. 

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

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Good Luck with your trip Gary! We'll still be here when you get back or later. As well prices and offers change. Could be a savings because of delay.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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We use verizon and have for years.Coverage  gets better and better every year. We have the Hot Spot 40 Gig plan and have a hard time staying within 40 Gig. 5 gig is nothing. Verizon may not be the cheapest plan but for the last few years we have not been anywhere that we did not get a signal and that includes the south west. We can not comment on other plans because we do not have them.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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Back in the easy chair again. Just looked at my AT&T prepaid plan and I have unlimited data(shows how in the know we are). Now the big question is "can I use my laptop through this plan?" (through cell signal on the road) If so, what do I need to accomplish this? Gary

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32 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I'm guessing you have a phone plan, not a hotspot plan. Does it allow tethering by wire or WiFi?

don't know. How do I find out? When I said we were technologically challenged, this was no joke. I couldn't access pictures on my phone the other day, and a 10 yr old amish boy said he would get them up for me(really happened). Maybe it should be illegal for me to have a cell phone. :(

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I'm not surprised that an Amish child was able to help you. Cell phone use in the Amish communities is quite common, they're generally just not supposed to own the devices.

As I understand it, Verizon's current prepaid unlimited data phone plans, both the single line and family plan, do not allow hotspot/tethered shared connection use for Internet access by other devices such as PC's. Verizon's prepaid unlimited data Jetpack plan does allow shared connection use of course.

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

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I also recommend that if you go the route of having two plans, we also have both AT&T and Verizon, to get the plan dates as far apart as possible.  Our Verizon plan goes to the 25th of the month and our AT&T plan goes to the 8th of the month, 

Yesterday the local Verizon tower here in Mesa Arizona went offline and the further out tower(s) were then overloaded and had a very weak signal.  We still had AT&T, so I switched to it and everything worked, including my phone using wifi.  (This morning the Verizon tower is back online, with 5bars instead of the zero to 1 we had much of yesterday.)

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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I'm slowly learning this stuff. I REALLY!!! appreciate all the help and patience that is being shown here. What I see so far is that my phone is hot spot & tethering capable, but when I try to set it up I get a  message that says to go to myATT or call 611. So it looks like my plan maybe does not support hot spot. Guess I'll have to check with ATT. Right now our trip is kind of on hold until maybe later in summer, so not too much of a hurry. Plenty of smaller trips before then though.  Gary

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18 hours ago, routeforty said:

I'm slowly learning this stuff. I REALLY!!! appreciate all the help and patience that is being shown here. What I see so far is that my phone is hot spot & tethering capable, but when I try to set it up I get a  message that says to go to myATT or call 611. So it looks like my plan maybe does not support hot spot. Guess I'll have to check with ATT. Right now our trip is kind of on hold until maybe later in summer, so not too much of a hurry. Plenty of smaller trips before then though.  Gary

AT&T offers two different unlimited prepaid plans...  one is regularly  $65/month and includes no hotspot. The other is $85/month and includes 10GB a month of highspeed hotspot use. 

Here's their prepaid plan link:

https://www.att.com/prepaid/plans.html

 

They currently have both plans onsite for $20 off per month. 

Cherie & Chris (and Kiki *meow*) / Personal Blog: Technomadia.com
Technomads (technology enabled nomads) since 2006

Our Nomadic Fleet:
RVs:
Zephyr: 1961 GM 4106 bus conversion / Blooper: 2020.5 Winnebago Travato GL Boat: Y-Not: 1999 Bayliner 4788

Hosts of the Mobile Internet Resource Center
Mobile Internet Information for RVers, Cruisers & Nomads
Proud to be recognized as Escapee's Commercial Partners #773 / Escapees RVOU Instructors

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If you are willing to jump ship there are a couple of reasonable options.

Consumer Cellular would cost you $35 plus fees for 5Gb of data. $15 for talk and $20 for data. They use AT&T service. Their customer service is top notch. Your existing AT&T phone can probably be ported over.

Verizon has a new service called Visible. They offer truly unlimited data including hotspot for $40 per month with no added fees. They recently added service for Android phones. You can check their website to see if your existing phone is compatible. If not, they have an Android phone for $99.

Here's their website: https://www.visible.com/home/

Tom
—————————————————
2005 Born Free 24' Rear Bath
Towing 1978 VW Bug convertible
Minneapolis, MN

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We've got both AT&T and Verizon.  Out here (AZ, CA, NV) you will generally see slightly better coverage and speed on AT&T than Verizon, except that there are a number of rural areas with only Verizon service (or roaming on a local carrier, which Verizon allows).  I switched my phone to Verizon simply because when I'm boondocking and hunting, I'm more often in land that's only covered by Verizon.  Occasionally there will be a place with only AT&T, but that's more rare.

Forget about T-Mobile and Sprint; only useful in the cities.  I have a hunting partner with Sprint, and it almost never works.

So bottom line, your ability to use both Verizon and AT&T means you'll be as well covered as possible.

 

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1 hour ago, Carlos said:

AT&T may lead as an overall average, but individual speeds are still very much location dependent. Where we currently are AT&T and Verizon are both quite good, but Verizon speeds are consistently about 10 Mbps better than AT&T speeds. The park we were at last week, AT&T was very good, and Verizon was barely usable. A great overall average speed is irrelevant if that service doesn't work well where you are.

Edited by Dutch_12078
typo

Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F-53 Chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/brake system

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In our region (NW Phoenix and surrounding areas), it's the opposite.  But it's why we have both; every location varies.  Here's a copy and paste of a post I made this morning on another forum:

 

We have Verizon on two phones and one tablet. The speeds vary a lot between areas, even just a few miles. We also have an AT&T hotspot in one car, and that is nearly always over 30Mbps. Verizon could be 40 sometimes, but also falls below 3 often.

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Finally got it figured out. DW has Verizon with hot spot. That's what I'm using now as I sit in the MH in Tuckahoe SP. I have unlimited data on my ATT but no hot spot. Maybe when we get home next week I'll look into changing that. But thank you all SO MUCH!!!! for all your help and advice. I learned a lot. We now have a clue(albeit a small one) of what we are doing. Our daughter over here helped a lot too-telling me that I have no hot spot on ATT.  Looks like we are set. Thanks again :D. Gary

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