docj

Speed test sites each use their own algorithm to rapidly test and calculate the results. It's not all that surprising to see variations between their reported speeds Furthermore, there are minute to minute variations in a cellular carrier's effective speed so the fact that I didn't do these tests simultaneously means that some differences result from normal variance. As for whether there are other explanations, the "small print" in my online terms and conditions for my prepaid unlimited plan clearly states that streaming is limited to 720p. On forums and Facebook, some people had challenged this and were claiming that they were getting 1080p resolution. Since I don't know of a way to obtain resolution from a video directly, this was the best way I could think of to try to measure the actual streaming speed. I'm not an expert in this. I posted it with the hope that someone more knowledgeable than I am might provide a more complete explanation.

Because I'm a "techie" and have nothing better to do this morning (it's cold and overcast in south TX), I just ran back to back speedtests using several well-known test sites. What I was after was validation or disproof of the contention that the new Verizon unlimited prepaid plan limits streaming to 720p.Here are the speed test engines I used and their respective measured download speeds:Fast.com 9.5 MbpsSpeedtest.net 23.4MbpsTestMy.net 18.3MbpsSpeedofMe 22.6MbpsNote that there is reasonable consistency between all the tests except Fast.com which was developed by Netflix and, presumably, provides a measure of how good your internet connection is for streaming video.To test that assumption I then switched to my Verizon Pixel's hotspot and repeated the tests:Fast.com 30MbpsSpeedtest.net 21.8MbpsTestMy.net 25.7MbpsSpeedofMe 29.58MbpsNotice that Fast.com is no longer an outlier, in fact, it's showing the fastest measured speed in the group. This rather large difference leads me to believe that Fast.com'ssured speed is being constrained by a restriction on streaming resolution and, hence, speed. I don't know enough about how "streaming" is detected compared to other data uses, but there seems to be a difference and it is very repeatable.As for the fact that the average speed measured using the phone hotspot is significantly faster than with the hotspot on the prepaid plan, I assume there are two explanations, both of which may have some validity. First of all, my Pixel 2XL is a relatively new device which may be inherently faster when used as a hotspot than my 7730l Jetpack. In addition, it may be that Verizon doesn't give the prepaid plan full access to maximum network speed even when it isn't being used for streaming. Either or both of these could contribute to the measured differences. Joel (AKA docj)

We own property in TX but retain our SD residency. We are not employed in TX nor have we done anything else to compromise our SD domicile status. Owning property doesn't constitute an intent to become a resident. If you have the means you can own homes in as many states as you wish, but you're still a resident of just one of them.

I'm also seeing periods of slow service for brief periods of time in the afternoon and evening. The last time it happened I switched to my AT&T hotspot for a while. The next time I notice it I'll try to remember to see if my post-paid phone is suffering anything similar. Verizon's website seems to say that pre-paid plans are lower in the prioritization scheme than post-paid ones, which would result in them being slowed more than postpaid during times of network or tower congestion. When I use Fast.com to speedtest I notice that it takes quite a bit longer and "jumps around" a lot before reaching a "decision" as to what the speed is. I'm wondering if the speed is more erratic because it's being throttled a bit?

My WiFiRanger keeps track of usage by each device on my network.

In my limited experience MH manufacturers will stand behind the belts they installed in a vehicle, but will fight hard to prevent you from adding any additional ones. I have a hunch (but no proof) that if you install a seatbelt in a vehicle you manufacturer then it has to comply with NHTSA/DOT rules. One time, when we had a Class C, the manufacturer had a "kit" for adding belts to the sofa and had no hesitation about selling it to us. But neither the manufacturer nor any RV dealer we spoke with would install it because those seating positions hadn't been properly tested and certified. As for MH seats not having the LATCH stuff, many of us are old enough to remember when the LATCH system didn't yet exist. Car seats could be secured even then; it sometimes took a bit of effort to secure the top tether, but it could be done in most vehicles.

I just purchased a ~$12 "smart outlet" on Amazon. It's designed to turn things on and off and doesn't even need a "hub" in order to operate. Instead of tethering the 7730l to my WiFiRanger I'll use a wallwart plugged into it. All I need to do is figure out how many hours it needs to be charged and how often.

The 7730l doesn't like being plugged in continuously. But it only cost me ~$20 to buy a replacement battery on Amazon. I'll probably put it on a timer so it gets charged for a number of hours then have the timer turn off.

That is what we have. I can check both accounts online.

If you move one Jetpack to the new plan and cancel the other, you would decrease your costs by $40 which would offset much of the $65 cost of the new plan ($5 discount for automatic payment). As for using the smartphone to connect to the TV, I don't know how you do it, but my experience with Miracasting (Samsung Smart View) was never all that satisfactory with my particular phone (S7) and our Samsung TV. Neither of our phones has an HDMI output port so that approach doesn't work for us; maybe you have a port which would be a very different situation. So far, our use of the new plan continues to provide excellent results. We've used ~28GB in two weeks on it. I'm pretty convinced that the streaming is limited to 720p so the data usage is less than I might have anticipated. Joel

Verizon's initial 5G offering is for fixed home installations. Yes, the 5G router will create a local wifi network in your home that your phone and Jetpack can connect to, but to call that "automatically taking advantage of" is a bit of a stretch IMO. As noted in this article Verizon's fixed 5G is using a 28GHz signal that no existing devices can receive. https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/verizon-gives-some-hints-about-how-5g-home-selling-and-performing

Sorry, didn't realize that you were discussing the smartphone plans. I've never seriously considered them because of the 600kbps hotspot limitation.

And your screenshot clearly shows the statement "Excludes the $70 Unlimited Plan" which is what most people here have been talking about.

At MyDakotaAddress I routinely used "Apt" instead of PMB for >7 years and no one objected. During my scramble to change all our addresses I discovered that some address fields aren't set up to take the # character even though you would think they should be. Bottom line, when USPS says that "Use of any other identifier is prohibited" exactly who is going to enforce that? USPS operations sure doesn't care; my mail gets there just fine the way I address it.

When we switched to YourBestAddress after MyDakotaAddress closed precipitously, I was faced with a problem because the use of PMB is implicit in how YBA does its addresses. For those who aren't familiar with YBA, the company is located in Suite 214 at a particular address in Sioux Falls and each mailbox has a unique PMB number. As I switched all our credit, medical and other accounts over to the new address (what a time-consuming job!) I became intimately familiar with the differences between different banks and credit card issuers. Some had no problem at all with PMB-1234 on the second address line; others wouldn't accept the letters "PMB" anywhere in the address block. For those I adopted the practice of using "Suite 214-1234" since YBA doesn't care as long as your PMB box number appears somewhere in the address. Of course, this doesn't preclude an entity from using a PMB-screening database to identify the address, but if that were to happen we can now use the physical address of the RV lot we own in south TX. I normally don't have mail delivered there, but we could, and it is most definitely a physical address that belongs to us.

FWIW, after binging on some shows last night we have now passed the 15GB threshold by quite a bit, according to our WiFiRanger, and this morning Fast.com reports we have a download speed of 9.0Mbps. So I guess this plan really isn't throttled at 15GB like most other Verizon plans.

Everything in life is relative. The cheap regulator I'm using provided a lot more flow than the POS one that was built into my Beaver. So replacing it seemed like a huge step forward! 😀 Eventually, I'll probably replace it with a really good one from Watts. But until then, the flow rate is a lot better than what I'd been accustomed to!!

There's been some discussion in this and other threads as to whether the Verizon unlimited prepaid plan is actually limited to 720p streaming resolution as the small print in the online terms and conditions state (actually, as shown in the attached screenshot the t's & c's actually state "up to 780p" whatever that is!) Last night we streamed a show on Acorn that was recorded in 2017 which appears to have been shot in an HDTV format. The Verizon stream was good and my WiFiRanger showed consistent peaks in excess of 10Mbps during the streaming. The data usage was almost exactly the 1.2GB/hr that would be calculated for 720p video. (See this article for more detail on that topic: Bit rate vs resolution ) This doesn't by any means prove that my streaming was limited to 720p but it is strong supporting evidence. I'm not complaining; the video had a very acceptable quality IMHO. FWIW it's also worth noting that the online Verizon account for this prepaid no long says "No Data Usage". It now states "you have unlimited data remaining!"

FWIW I may have experienced my first deprioritization on the prepaid plan. This afternoon during a severe rainstorm I noticed that my internet response seemed slow. I checked the download speed and found that it was ~2Mbps rather than the 5-10Mbps that I had been experiencing. I did several tests and the results were consistent. Of course, rain fade could have contributed to the speed reduction but one explanation was that everyone was home using the internet because of the rain! This evening, with the rain having let up the speeds are back to normal. I can't prove this was deprioritization but that's what it seemed like.

I've been using this one for a year now and it works well: pressure regulator It looks similar to the Watts regulators but is a bit smaller and a lot less expensive.

I've also been using fast.com to check download speeds and my results are totally consistent with yours, typically in the 5-10Mbps range. We've streamed several hours of video using it, but we tend to watch older European shows and the image quality is often <1080p to begin so those aren't good ones to make judgments about! 😄

Derek: With all due respect, your first link is for a prepaid plan that has no hotspot provision. It was, indeed, the current state of prepaid plans until 11/6/18. Your second link is for the "normal" postpaid Verizon plans that have a "hard cap" on their hotspot usage at either 15GB or 20GB (depending on the plan). I have one of those plans on our phones and that's what I used to have on my Jetpack. The hard cap on Verizon is <600kbps which brings you down to 3G speed. The buzz over the past couple of weeks has to do with the fact that there is now a new prepaid plan, with a plan number of 28366, that is only for Jetpacks and which doesn't have a hard cap. When I called to get it I had to argue with a CSR who told me that there was no such plan, but, after he looked at his own resources, he eventually apologized and said that I had taught him something. The plan does have a 780p streaming resolution limit, but, for the TV screen sizes we have, that's acceptable. I think that all Verizon prepaid plans have a lower network prioritization than do its postpaid plans, so one might experience deprioritization slowdowns, but so far that hasn't been an issue. Furthermore, at present I have another 100GB/mo of unthrottled AT&T data which I will probably retain as a backup and for locations where AT&T is better than VZW. Joel

From what I can see of the fine print on my account, it does say that streaming is limited to 780p. That doesn't bother me; it's a lot better than the 480p that many plans limit streaming resolution to.

It's not necessary to change SIMs to transfer an existing Jetpack from a prepaid plan to the new post-paid one. All it takes is a CSR with a sufficient knowledge base. I'm currently using the same SIM and phone number on my Jetpack as I did when it was post-paid.

I signed up for one of these today. It took >1 hour on chat and eventually on the phone to transfer my 7730l from my postpaid account to a new prepaid account. It can be done, but I ended up working with a total of 5 people before getting it done properly. Be prepared to have to argue about the plan's specs; the person who eventually got me up and running told me at the outset that there was no such plan. That's even with citing the plan #28366. Be persistent but patient. The CSR who challenged me eventually thanked me for teaching him something he didn't know. My speeds using Fast.com are in 4-8Mbps range. The CSR did warn me that there was always the risk of network deprioritization, but I told him that was a risk I was prepared to take.