mobile broadband

Hey, thanks for the quick responses! i had done a lot of research, and reading the tech blogs (when i could interpret what they were saying), i was seeing the same general consensus: Verizon. I know that we will be heavy users (online college classes, husband likes to play games), so i need to have a strong connection.

We had a Sprint aircard for the past 6 years. It normally works fine except when we are in some remote areas. We are in the process of switching over to Verizon as I type this. We purchased a refurbished Pantech UML 290 aircard from the 3Gstore for $59 plus $10 for a sim card. Then we activated it on a month to month basis (i.e. no contract) directly with Verizon under their Share Everything Data plan. $50 for the device and 4G of data. With the Share Everything plan, we can increase and decrease our plan each and every month depending upon our needs. Our usage depends upon whether we are in an area that has good coverage or if we are in a campground that includes good wifi coverage.

We decided to purchase through the 3Gstore because I value their advice as to which device will work with our roof mounted antenna (purchased from them too) plus not having a contract was attractive too. We did have to pay a $35 one time activation fee to Verizon but I believe that would be applicable even if you purchased your device from them directly.

Verizon Mi-Fi 4G. You can connect several devices, like Kindle, laptop, etc. We have used it all over the US with zero problems. 2 places we had to use a booster. We have Wilson Sleek for that. When I'm at a campground that has fast wi-fi, I use theirs for email and non-secure type transactions. That is few and far between. Most campground wi-fi is slow if it even works at all. I always use my Verizon for banking, paying bills, etc. They have many different data plans. I think mine is $60 per month. If I go over, it's about another $10. No biggie.

There is no other network with the coverage Verizon offers, NONE. Sure they have holes, as cellular service only covers 75% of the US and even less of Canada and Mexico. However, Verizon offers the most extensive coverage available.

Millenicom offers the most broadband for the best price of any of the resellers and also the largest variety of cellular companies, by one company. We use the hotspot plan, which is with Verizon and the hardware says Verizon right on it. We pay ½ of what Verizon wants for the same amount of bandwidth and have the same right and privileges as any normal Verizon customer, without any contract or taxes.

Discussed regularly in the Technology Forum. The consensus of many who travel extensively is that Verizon's network has the broadest coverage, but the best deals for buying no-obligation data service might be re-sellers like Millenicom, depending on just how much data you need and whether you might be buying other services too.

Be aware that Millenicom re-sells services from more than one carrier, so one plan might be on Verizon, and different plan on Sprint.

From my viewpoint, Verizon doesn't work because they aren't licensed to sell me service, and I live and travel in some of the holes in their network. People who travel the Interstates from metro area to metro area may have never found the holes.