Millenicom Replacement ?

[Dutch_12078]

 

The dilemma is - what to do with the 40GB (20GB Doubled) I have at $150/mo. If I give that doubled account up, I can't get it back. Then, if this $47 unlimited goes away, I would be up the proverbial creek.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Verizon allows you to suspend your service for up to 90 days twice per year. I suspended my 20GB month to month account for the first 90 days as soon as I checked that the OmniLynx Jetpack was working properly. If needed I'll renew it for another 90 days, giving me almost 6 months to determine if the OmniLynx plan is a keeper.

[Jack Mayer]

Has anyone successfully suspended a double data plan and then picked it back up at the same price?

 

Bobsea, if you have 4G that close you likely have a weak signal where you are. An amp will help that, if you have any signal.

[mrschwarz]

I suspended the modem to save $20 per month. I didn't know you could suspend the data plan. What would you suspend it to? A lesser amount?

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

 

I suspended all our data plans while traveling in Canada and had extreme dificulty with billing during and months after we returned. So keep a close eye on you monthly bill afterward.

 

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

[Dutch_12078]

I suspended the modem to save $20 per month. I didn't know you could suspend the data plan. What would you suspend it to? A lesser amount?

 

I only have the one line for my 4620LE Jetpack on my Verizon direct account, so the suspension put the device and the data on hold. There was an option for suspending with or without billing, but that only appeared to affect contracts, not my month to month plan, so I chose "without." Will I have any problems restarting the plan? Beats me, but if the OmniLynx plan works out, I won't need to find out...

[vermilye]

I suspended my data plan for 180 days immediately after switching from Millenicom to Verizon. At 90 days I had to renew the suspension for another 90 days. No problem with billing or restarting - all on line...

[Dutch_12078]

That's good to know, Jon!

[Dustoff12]

Not surprised to receive this today. Oh well.

Dear OmniLynx Customer,

The wireless provider previously servicing the OmniLynx Program has recently expressed an inability or unwillingness to continue supporting the program. As a result ,and regrettably, we will be unable to accommodate your recent order. Within the next 48 hours, you should receive a full refund of your initial payment. This refund will be transacted through the PayPal portal. We are exploring alternatives for the continuation of the OmniLynx Program and will notify you immediately upon resolution to this issue. Thank you for your patience, support, and understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

OmniLynx Management

[Dutch_12078]

It will be interesting to see what Verizon offers the existing OmniLynx subscribers.

[Technomadia]

OmniLynx customers who had pending backorders got an e-mail this morning saying they would be getting a refund, and that 'the provider' was unwilling to support the program.

We called OmniLynx for a statement, and particularly how this impacts customers who DID receive their orders.

Here's what they said - 'current customers are good to go'....

More info:

http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/is-the-omnilynx-verizon-unlimited-data-plan-ride-over-already/

[Dutch_12078]

Thanks for the update! I'll just enjoy it as long as it lasts...

[champ_49]

No dilemma here. At $47 a month with no contract its a no brainer for me. But it isn't the same for everyone else. I'm keeping my 30G with Verizon and the unlimited OL both. I know its not the smartest thing, but my guess is that OL isn't going to last very long. It will last till they have to buy more data from Verizon and the price goes up as it probably did at Millenicom.

Who knows?????

Dave

[Biker56]

I thought it would be too true to believe.

 

I received this today.

 

Dear Larry

Huntsville City Schools just sent you a full refund of $47.75 USD for your purchase.
If you have any questions about this refund, please contact Huntsville City Schools.
The refund will go to the card you paid with.
To see all the transaction details, please log into your PayPal account. It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.

 

So that means I will take my DataStorm off vacation tomorrow.

[mrschwarz]

No dilemma here. At $47 a month with no contract its a no brainer for me. But it isn't the same for everyone else. I'm keeping my 30G with Verizon and the unlimited OL both. I know its not the smartest thing, but my guess is that OL isn't going to last very long. It will last till they have to buy more data from Verizon and the price goes up as it probably did at Millenicom.

 

Who knows?????

 

Dave

 

Me too.

[IRUNL8R]

I am so glad we took the risk and ordered on one of the first days... I am happy that they are letting those who already have their units to continue.

We are at campground tonight and it is working perfectly.

Note: make sure that your bill is paid on time each month otherwise I see that as a way for them to cancel as many "current" customers as they can.

I firmly believe they will not be able to find an alternative as good as this.

Problem is our RV community is getting larger and is very well organized. When deals get out like this did, it goes viral and companies like Verizon find they lose profit.

Again, I firmly believe the RV full time community needs to lobby for unlimited data plans from all service providers.

[Zulu]

I firmly believe the RV full time community needs to lobby for unlimited data plans from all service providers.

 

Tilting at windmills.

[Smitty77_7]

Sometimes the Dude on the Donkey wins a few:)!

 

X's 2 on ours working well, download speeds are about the same as our Samsun S6 Hotspot on Verizon. Will use it while it lasts:)!

 

Best to all,

Smitty

[Ronbo]

Verizon could give us all unlimited data and still make money. Check out what people in Europe are paying.

[Dutch_12078]

Sometimes the Dude on the Donkey wins a few:)!

 

X's 2 on ours working well, download speeds are about the same as our Samsun S6 Hotspot on Verizon. Will use it while it lasts:)!

 

Best to all,

Smitty

 

Yep, still working well here too. Our data usage rolled over to an October 25th cycle last night.

[DuffMan]

Verizon could give us all unlimited data and still make money. Check out what people in Europe are paying.

 

Sure they could - but to keep the service at today's levels, their pricing would have to skyrocket to pay for new infrastructure.

 

But, if you are saying that prices and package content should not be set by the free market but based on cost of supply - How do you implement that - Govt fiat?

 

With everyone's access to unlimited bandwidth, to limit exponential growth on usage, some controls on the customer usage would have to be proposed. If everyone gets unlimited bandwidth at prices based on today's usage experience, how do you keep Verizon in business when usage far outstrips the available bandwidth due to increased data hogs? Govt regulation of data usage? This is a very slippery slope.

 

The free market says if you don't like Verizon's packages you are free to go elsewhere - ATT & Tmobile have unlimited data packages - but then you get what you pay for.

 

If you were a Verizon stockholder, would you want them to do what you propose? You can't beat the Free Market Capitalist model that gives the latest and greatest to those willing to pay the price and lesser benefits to those that aren't!

[chirakawa]

Someone always brings up what people pay for something in another part of the world. There's just no way to compare based on a single item. You have to look at the whole package.

 

The population density of Europe is almost 2 1/2 times that of the USA. What is the cost of housing, food, transportation, etc.? How many Europeans are running around their country in Kenworths towing 40' travel trailers?

[Ronbo]

I have a grandfathered plan. My niece lives in England and pays a small fraction of what we pay for our service. Their companies still make a profit. They also have a better infrastructure than we have. I stay with Verizon because there is none better in the US. I don't know what the answer is.

[NJTroy]

They have a denser infrastructure than we do because they have a denser population. The technology is roughly the same underneath. I spent my career in telecom and have worked on both domestic US and European projects. It is easier to provide that infrastructure when your population density is higher. But if you have to cover areas like, for instance, East St. Mary, MT (which I know Verizon does, by accident I was there when it turned up), you're going to put out a lot of capital equipment to cover a very small population. East St. Mary has a year round population of 50, but is a big tourist destination as it is adjacent to Glacier National Park. To build the back haul for that location, you are probably coming from Browning, MT. Thirty miles away. Browning has a population of 1000. I used to know what the cost of building that backhaul per mile was, it's been a long time since I did that type of planning. Plus you have the ongoing maintenance costs. But I can assure you that this is an extremely expensive proposition. It's unlikely that you will find the equivalent in many locations in Europe.

 

So, you can have very deep coverage in areas of the country that are expensive to build to. Or you can have cheaper service. But really not both.

 

Sure, these companies are making a profit. That's what we expect them to do. And as long as no one figures out how to do it significantly cheaper, we will end up paying what the market will bear.

[G&K]

They have a denser infrastructure than we do because they have a denser population. The technology is roughly the same underneath. I spent my career in telecom and have worked on both domestic US and European projects. It is easier to provide that infrastructure when your population density is higher. But if you have to cover areas like, for instance, East St. Mary, MT (which I know Verizon does, by accident I was there when it turned up), you're going to put out a lot of capital equipment to cover a very small population. East St. Mary has a year round population of 50, but is a big tourist destination as it is adjacent to Glacier National Park. To build the back haul for that location, you are probably coming from Browning, MT. Thirty miles away. Browning has a population of 1000. I used to know what the cost of building that backhaul per mile was, it's been a long time since I did that type of planning. Plus you have the ongoing maintenance costs. But I can assure you that this is an extremely expensive proposition. It's unlikely that you will find the equivalent in many locations in Europe.

 

So, you can have very deep coverage in areas of the country that are expensive to build to. Or you can have cheaper service. But really not both.

 

Sure, these companies are making a profit. That's what we expect them to do. And as long as no one figures out how to do it significantly cheaper, we will end up paying what the market will bear.

Which is exactly why Canada has some of the most expensive mobile communications charges in the developed world.

 

Big place with very few people = huge infrastructure costs, huge maintenance costs and very expensive rates per person.

 

OTOH, Qatar had a state-owned telecom firm which gave them wonderful access to capital markets, plus 2.25 million people in a country 100 miles by 40, with most people living in one city and a couple of big towns.

 

I could get 65 down and 25 up in the middle of the desert on LTE advanced!!

 

You always have to make sure we are comparing apples to apples.

 

Geo

[skp093018]

IMO.....The old argument about population density no longer holds water...for examples of what can be done when customers come before shareholders, visit the C3BB site. They provide wireless broadband in rural So Indiana, using existing water towers as their antenna tower....at a very reasonable cost.

 

Visit MBC to see the fiber backbone they provide to very rural So Virginia...

 

Even Verizon provides 4G, 4 bar service to my home in a little town of 400 people...

 

These are just examples of what I have first hand knowledge of, there must be hundreds more in his country....if it can be done here, it can be done elsewhere, one has to wonder why it isn't being done....at a faster pace...'cause the demand is there.

 

Regards

Gemstone