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AlmostBoatless's avatar
AlmostBoatless
Explorer
Jul 04, 2015

Decision time for newbies on laptops/mifi/phones

Would appreciate any advice and suggestions. The sticky on 'Cell phones and internet access' has been educational but we have a couple of questions and would love your input.

We are spending the winter in warmer climates in our 32' fiver. Three questions we would appreciate your advice on.

We will be purchasing 2 laptops, one slightly more powerful and one for surfing the net and the weather. I will be working some on the internet. We have a WD passport for backup. I have CDs for Quicken and MS Office 10. I will be transferring all pics, shortcuts, Quicken, Excel and Word info from an HP tower (I know, old school). The other laptop will be used for surfing the net and the weather, no gaming or need for alot of memory. He will replace an old Toshiba notebook. Any advice on brand or what to watch out for?

Second question is about internet access. It sounds like Verizon and a mifi - or jetpack, is the way we should go. We will be banking, email, storing and sharing pics and some work related internet if I get lucky. Which jetpack or mifi for internet access and when I go to the Verizon store, which questions should I ask and what to be wary of?

Last question is about our phones. I have a Droid mini on PagePlus (a reseller of Verizon) and it works great. DH has a tracphone and it needs replacing. He is better with a flipphone. We will probably need to go with unlimited access for me but hubby is very rarely on the phone and does not need much.

Would love any advice and suggestions from the experienced people on this wonderful forum! Thank you!
  • GMandJM's avatar
    GMandJM
    Explorer
    Jul 04, 2015
    Nice to hear you're almost there. Did you find the right TV yet?

    Wi-Fi: As for the Jetpack, make sure it is compatible with 4G AND 3G. I've read others post that if there's not 4G lte signal, they're out of luck, although I have no first-hand knowledge on this and wonder if that information is correct.

    BestBuy also sells Verizon JetPacks. Not sure if they're less expensive or not. The new ones supposedly have way better battery life.

    Computers: We recently picked up a HP Pavilion with an i7 processor to replace an older laptop with an AMD processor. Haven't had the opportunity to play with it so don't know if it is a good choice or not. One possible problem is that it's a plastic case (heat issues? durability? Who knows).

    Windows 10 comes out later this month, in case that makes a difference in your time table. I've read that it might or might not have Office built in.

    MS Office (if you need that) now has a buy once version and a subscription-based/pay yearly version (Windows 365). Everyone on earth probably knew about this except me since, like the cleaning ladies, I don't do Windows.

    Phones: TracFone has been good for us. We have one CDMA phone and one GSM. The GSM picks up old analog signals so once in awhile, in rural areas, it gets a signal when the other phone doesn't.

    G-half is also saying he wants a Jack-Bauer-style flip phone. (Go figure).

    Happy shopping!
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Jul 04, 2015
    the only recommendation i can add, is shop for the most data at the least price
    generally/currently data runs about $10 per GB
    those two and three GB plans are not enough for the avg user, expectantly if work and/or pictures are involved
    get a 10 or 20GB plan IF you can..yes it will cost more $$, more that your old cable or dsl or fios etc..
    but its easier to downsize your plan if not using the data, than to up size at increased cost or to pay for overages

    get the biggest you can get and try it for 'SEVERAL' months
    BTW turn off automatic windows updates .. when your setting up the new PCs
    turn it totally off,, you can set it to NOtify if you want,,but absolutely NO downloads, not even DL now install later
    use free or paid wifi for windows updates.
    updates can eat your data allotment
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Jul 04, 2015
    I recently bought a new ASUS tablet/laptop (removable keyboard, love it!) and the updates right out of the box was over 1.5 GB. Luckily I was at the end of my monthly data and still had 5GB left to use. As Mr. Wizard mentions, watch out when hooking up anything new!
  • GMandJM's avatar
    GMandJM
    Explorer
    Jul 04, 2015
    MrWizard wrote:

    BTW turn off automatic windows updates .. when your setting up the new PCs
    turn it totally off,, you can set it to NOtify if you want,,but absolutely NO downloads, not even DL now install later


    How, exactly does one do this on a PC? As stated before, I rarely use Windows and when I requested that a certain someone turn off all updates he said he couldn't/didn't know how (meaning he didn't want to).

    Does turning it off effect Norton's and its updates, do you know?
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Jul 04, 2015
    Have a laptop and two tablets. Next trip the laptop will stay home. For me the tablets do 99% of what we need. If you think you can survive with limited band width a mifi is OK. Personally when my contract expires I will probably cancel my mifi and use my phones wifi hotspot feature. Does the same thing with one less item to pay for. Remember, any cell technology is going to cost. 10GB on Verizon is 80 dollars a month. And 10GB can go pretty fast.
  • rr2254545's avatar
    rr2254545
    Explorer
    Jul 04, 2015
    I have had a 15 inch HP laptop since January it is 6 GB memory and 750 GM hard drive and a Intel 13 processor - no problems with it - currently 429.99 at Best buy

    I use a I pad for my e-mail and other things

    I have had a Verizon Mifi for over 6 years now and love it - have had service in 98% of the places we have camped - the Mifi (trademark) is the only one I will ever have I think the current one they are selling in model 6620
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Jul 04, 2015
    When setting up your Windows pc
    One of things in the initial setup is Windows wanting to do an update
    Click no..later..etc..Not yes...well if your on cable data and want to wait the extra time during setup you can do the update

    After everything is up and running,
    You goto the control panel to turn OFF automatic Windows updates
    This does not affect Norton anti virus getting it's updates
    Windows has large monthly updates every month, something that can eat a lot of mobile data...something you want to avoid when using a MiFi hotspot or phone hotspot
  • GMandJM's avatar
    GMandJM
    Explorer
    Jul 04, 2015
    MrWizard wrote:
    When setting up your Windows pc
    One of things in the initial setup is Windows wanting to do an update
    Click no..later..etc..Not yes...well if your on cable data and want to wait the extra time during setup you can do the update

    After everything is up and running,
    You goto the control panel to turn OFF automatic Windows updates
    This does not affect Norton anti virus getting it's updates
    Windows has large monthly updates every month, something that can eat a lot of mobile data...something you want to avoid when using a MiFi hotspot or phone hotspot


    Thanks for the info. Updates (and not shutting them off) turned into quite a "discussion" in our camper when we were using the JetPack.

    Isn't there some schedule for big MS updates? I think I read that somewhere - that they generally come out on, like, the first what-ever-day of the month?

    Sorry if this off tracks the original thread. It's good info for anyone/everyone with limited data to know this stuff.
  • DallasSteve's avatar
    DallasSteve
    Nomad
    Jul 04, 2015
    Prepaid Wireless Guide

    I found this website which claims to have current info on wireless Internet plans. About the best plan I see for massive data is Millenicom's offer of 20 GB for $70. I've never heard of them. T-Mobile looks to have the best offer of the majors: 10.5 GB for $70. Walmart is also on the list but their offers are disappointing to say the least.

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