Decision time for newbies on laptops/mifi/phones

[AlmostBoatless]

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]

Cool! That could work!

It doesn't say if StraightTalk uses Sprint or Verizon lines, and I can't get the service area map to come up. You might want to check that to make sure you will have service where you plan to be/go.

EDIT: It looks like StraightTalk offers two different ZTE hotspots:
Z289L is a GSM for use on AT&T lines
Z288L is CDMA for use on Verizon
END of EDIT

I haven't used StraightTalk, yet, but it sounds promising. I don't know if the ZTE is backwards compatible so that you could use 3G if 4G isn't available.

They offer 60 day plans, which is different. No more end-of-cycle binge watching of "Justified". 🙂

I noticed that in the small print it says the unlimited plans are throttled after 3GB of usage, but I don't see information of the other data plans and whether those are slowed down after 3GB of usage.

And your DH can get a flip phone with talk, text and a tiny bit of data for only $30/month.

Sounds reasonable. And if for some reason you're not happy with it, you're not out a huge amount of money and/or tied to a lengthy contract.

If you haven't already, you might do a new thread asking for information from anyone who has used the ZTE 4G hotspot. I'd like to know more about it, too.

[AlmostBoatless]

GMandJM wrote:

Or are you talking about getting a Straight Talk flip phone AND a Straigt Talk mobile hot spot?

yes, mobile hot spot and the flip phone! Thank you so much!

[GMandJM]

Are you talking about using a Strait Talk flip phone AS a mobile hotspot?

Or are you talking about getting a Straight Talk flip phone AND a Straigt Talk mobile hot spot?

[AlmostBoatless]

So using a flip phone through Straight Talk and the Straight Talk Hotspot will work if he uses it with his notebook computer (he uses little data/talk/text)?

And then I could get the Verizon mifi or just data plan with my new laptop through Verizon?

Does this sound like it will work? Again, thank you!

[GREGORYJ]

The Straight Talk Hotspot at Walmart is pay as you go and uses the Verizon network. We usually buy 4 Gig of data for $40 for 60 days also from Walmart or on line. It's speed is 3G but we found that plenty fast for what we need while traveling.
The TMoble Hotspot from Walmart also has affordable pay as you go rate but we found coverage in the western states was not great.

[keithhelms]

AlmostBoatless wrote:
Finally able to sit down for a minute and take a break from packing, whew, tough work.

So much wonderful concise, clear information from you people, thank you so much! Now for understanding and seeing what is available out there.

Well, I actually forgot that I do have a tablet and am now considering the hotspot through the tablet. What would be required for that setup? Going through Verizon again, I assume?

Thank you and bless you all!

You're not limited to Verizon. AT&T and Virgin also have "mifi" or "mobile broadband". I suspect all the major carriers have something similar, although they may call it by different names.

[GMandJM]

Is your tablet wi-fi + cellular?

My iPad Air 2 is not cellular, so it couldn't be used in place of the JetPack.

(Thanks for the reminder that I should be packing, too 🙂 )

[keithhelms]

GMandJM wrote:

Thanks for clarifying. If/when the JetPack dies I will definitely look into a tablet as a replacement hotspot. Just on more Q: Your tablet can also be used with other wi-fi (like library or such)? Or not?

I haven't run into an issue with the JetPack account expiring after 90 days. We went 5 months without using it and still had the same "phone number" and account. The only problem with it has been that the web interface is clunky on a Mac.

Edit: I just re-activated my JetPack for an upcoming trip and it did not require other wi-fi to do so. You could very well be correct about needing other wi-fi to register the device though.

Good to know about the timing of the PC updates. Thanks, Mr. Wizard.

Yes, that is correct. My tablet can also connect to wifi as well as the cell network.

[AlmostBoatless]

Finally able to sit down for a minute and take a break from packing, whew, tough work.

So much wonderful concise, clear information from you people, thank you so much! Now for understanding and seeing what is available out there.

Well, I actually forgot that I do have a tablet and am now considering the hotspot through the tablet. What would be required for that setup? Going through Verizon again, I assume?

Thank you and bless you all!

[GMandJM]

Not to confuse things, but I was just checking to see if my older VirginMobile wifi accounts were still active (1 yes; 1 no) and they seem to have a some new pay-as-you-go plans:



Anyone with info on VM's NetGear Mingle Mobile device?

Edit: Sorry that's so big! I used 1492's RV.net photo imager.

imaged resized by moderator

[GMandJM]

tomkaren13 wrote:
I have a Tracfone that is on a Value plan. Think they still offer that. How it works is each month I pay about$7, auto-pay by Credit card. Do not use it much and if I need more time I add 50 Minutes for $10 but my phone gets double minutes so that is 00. Some new phones get triple minutes for life. Might be a suggestion for DH.

And....TracFone has flip phones, which for some reason are wanted by both the OP's DH and the G-half of GMandJM. I think it might be a anti-butt-dialing kinda thing. 🙂

[GMandJM]

keithhelms wrote:
You can get tablets on a pay as you go plan....Pay as you go is convenient if you only use a device for a small number of months during the year. It can also be a bit of a pain. They set up an account for you and a "phone" number, you pay for whatever amount of data you want to put on the device for the next month, then you can use it. If you don't use the device again for (I think) 90 days after that setup, the account and number get deleted and you have to go through that whole process again the next time. You need internet access to register the device, so you have to have another way of accessing the internet to complete that setup (wifi or something).

Correction: The account gets deleted 90 days after the data expires, not after registration.

Thanks for clarifying. If/when the JetPack dies I will definitely look into a tablet as a replacement hotspot. Just on more Q: Your tablet can also be used with other wi-fi (like library or such)? Or not?

I haven't run into an issue with the JetPack account expiring after 90 days. We went 5 months without using it and still had the same "phone number" and account. The only problem with it has been that the web interface is clunky on a Mac.

Edit: I just re-activated my JetPack for an upcoming trip and it did not require other wi-fi to do so. You could very well be correct about needing other wi-fi to register the device though.

Good to know about the timing of the PC updates. Thanks, Mr. Wizard.

[Belgique]

Interesting thread. I'm trying to choose a laptop so will follow. It seems nearly impossible to comparison shop prices what with all the variances in memory, hard drives etc. Pick one model and compare and the prices are all over the place. Probably making it too hard.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

I have a Samsung Series 5 Ultra laptop (smaller one) and love it. Bought it on sale at Best Buy.
I use Verizon cell phones and jetpack mi-fi. Our phone plan shares talk, texts and data for all our cell phones. The Jetpack will allow up to 15 devices to connect and mi-fi. You can share up to 10 devices on the data plan. I have it set up so that I receive emails when I am approaching 75% of my monthly usage so I can manage it. If you go over, it's $15 for each 1GB. On the Verizon site they have a data calculator so you can get an idea of how much you will need each month. I also have used Verizon all over the US and even Canada with no problems. One place in Montana we had limited cell service so no mi-fi but did use Wilson Sleek booster and got online to check emails and also used the Wilson Sleek to make phone calls. If you travel extensively I would make sure the service provider covers the areas where you will travel.