Another Mifi question

[Pixguy]

Sorry if this has been asked but I could not find the same question using the search area.

I currently use the T-Mobile hotspot unit and although it works well, their online recharging service has been down and it's a royal pain to call them. I've never had such a problem giving a company my money.

So, are there any other mifi/hotspot units that are under $40mo. for 3gb?? Good towers such as T-Mobile or Verizon? No contract?

I've researched Millenicom but don't need 20gb and won't pay $80mo.

I travel up and down the east coast but intend to cross this great country next year.

Thanks in advance.

[HappyKayakers]

jcpainter wrote:

freckles527 wrote:
We just went onto Millenicom's 20 GB for $69.99 and it is on 4G Verizon network. It has been fast and we are please so far. We are in the Orlando area, but heading to Ocala soon. That will be a real test for us working in a remote area.

We are switching to Page Plus cellular over the next few months with their 1,200 minutes, 3,000 text and 500 MB service for $29.99.

This are all based on positive reviews we have received from this forum.

Ocala shouldn't be "remote" for Verizon's coverage.

Ocala (the city) should be OK for coverage. Ocala (the national forest) is iffy for just about all carriers, depending on exactly where you're at.

[Redsky]

With the mifi from Millenicom we stream movies from Amazon and Netflix and no longer need Dish. This works at home and on the road equally well. Verizon has the best geographic coverage followed by AT&T.

[jcpainter]

freckles527 wrote:
We just went onto Millenicom's 20 GB for $69.99 and it is on 4G Verizon network. It has been fast and we are please so far. We are in the Orlando area, but heading to Ocala soon. That will be a real test for us working in a remote area.

We are switching to Page Plus cellular over the next few months with their 1,200 minutes, 3,000 text and 500 MB service for $29.99.

This are all based on positive reviews we have received from this forum.

Ocala shouldn't be "remote" for Verizon's coverage.

You say you are switching to Page Plus (which is a fantastic company for 3G cell phones usage) . . . you don't mean for data, so you? 500MG is nothing, plus it's only 3G.

[freckles527]

We just went onto Millenicom's 20 GB for $69.99 and it is on 4G Verizon network. It has been fast and we are please so far. We are in the Orlando area, but heading to Ocala soon. That will be a real test for us working in a remote area.

We are switching to Page Plus cellular over the next few months with their 1,200 minutes, 3,000 text and 500 MB service for $29.99.

This are all based on positive reviews we have received from this forum.

[Devocamper]

We have a AT&T mifi hotspot, and the only plan they offer is 5GB @$50 a month and $10 for each GB over the 5. Not to bad , you buy the hotspot outright or have a contract of course it is cheaper with a contract but i bought mine outright because I was not sure how it was going to work out for us and did not want to be locked in for two years but so far it has been ok, we do go over the 5GB a bit when at home but it still cost less than a service at home like we had (COMCAST) and something for when you travel . so far this has worked for us but dont plan on using this plan for anything like netflicks that will cost you in data but it is good for e-mail and some serching on the web.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

Verizon has prepaid hotspots $30 per month for 4GB of data plus line fee $20. They also have other plans that you can put on vacation when you're not using them. I have used Verizon Mi-Fi all over the US and am very pleased with it.

[Pixguy]

Thank you folks. I recently went over to Page Plus for my phones and they seem to work great using the Verizon towers but now as I travel away from home and then spend the winter in Florida, I wanted an alternative to the T-Mobile for my web browsing. I will look at what you suggested.

[jcpainter]

If you're going out west, be sure to check out the "Big 3"s coverage maps for both 3G and 4G. Some have very spotty coverage.

If good 4G is important to you, know that all 4G is NOT created equal. i.e. Sprint has two levels of 4G. LTE is the best and their older "4G" networks use something different that is much slower.

Virgin Mobile, Straight Talk and other "no contract" companies all piggy back off the big 3 towers. Within the same company their different plans will use different provider's towers. Millenicom uses both Sprint and Verizon towers, depending on which plan you choose. Straight Talk is the same. I believe I've read on forums that Straight Talk will even vary depending on what part of the country you buy their service.

If 4G is not important to you and you don't want to use your phone as a hotspot, check out Page Plus Cellular. They use Verizon towers and you can bring many (but not all) existing Verizon phones to their network. Their rates are very reasonable and they don't charge to reconnect (if you turn off the service for a while) like Millenicom does.

And be sure to ask about "throttling". Many of the no contract phones that advertise "free voice, text and data" will throttle your data speeds when you hit a certain point. When they do that, you internet access is almost useless.

Be sure to read the fine print on roaming. We traveled out west with folks that had a regular ATT service plan with 6GB data. What no one told them though is that ATT allows you to only use about 200 MB of data when you are roaming on another company's towers. Their smart phones got turned off with no warning because of this little known "gotcha" in the fine print. Fortunately we had Verizon and they do not do that.

The best places to get good info is the independent cellular forums. There's where you find out the "hidden fine print" Just spend some time with Google and you will learn a lot.

Hope this helps you with your due diligence.

[Traver8]

Take a look at Freedompop. I am currently using their 2gb plan for $20 month. They are using Sprint for this 3G/4G service. I have been using it for the past 6 months or so and have not had problems.

Terry