MiFi instead of cable or DSL?

[schoaty]

I have hispeed cable at the house and DSL at a small farmhouse that has been in my wife's family for years. We now have a truck camper and will be on the road more, so I'm wondering if I should look into MiFi. The plans seem to offer around 5 GB for $50. Since we don't use netflix, I'm wondering if I should drop the cable and/or the DSL.

Any words of wisdom from those who have used MiFi a lot?

Thanks!

(FWIW, we are in the southeast US and plan to do most of our camping in this area for a while, so the lack of service in some areas is not a concern, yet.)

[jcpainter]

AkJason wrote:
The biggest dis-advantage of mifi is shared bandwidth and higher latency / jitter delay. Mifi is a good alternative to some people that typically only check e-mail and browse web sites. However for voice / video calls a land line will win every time.

It's all about what your expectations are. Mifi hotspots have VERY limited monthly usage compared to land lines. As an exmaple I have used 18GB on my home connection this month doing very little use based on my normal usage (sometimes excess of 80GB).

When you have multiple devices using your home connection, how do you monitor your usage?

Thank you,
Jean Painter

[Kalabin]

The biggest dis-advantage of mifi is shared bandwidth and higher latency / jitter delay. Mifi is a good alternative to some people that typically only check e-mail and browse web sites. However for voice / video calls a land line will win every time.

It's all about what your expectations are. Mifi hotspots have VERY limited monthly usage compared to land lines. As an exmaple I have used 18GB on my home connection this month doing very little use based on my normal usage (sometimes excess of 80GB).

[nitrohorse]

I use T-Mobile Mifi. It has 4G speed where available and is $35.00 for 3.5g's. The plus is that the
3.5g's are good for 2 months vs. many of the non contract provider's one month window.





Edited for spelling

[lat471]

sdianel wrote:
We got rid of cable TV and went with DirecTV in the stick house and the RV.
We got rid of the landline phone and went with one cell phone.
We got rid of the DSL and got the Verizon Mi-Fi. Speed difference minimal for most things except if you're downloading large files which I don't do.
We have used Verizon Mi-Fi all over the US with zero problems except Sam A Baker State Park in Missouri. They have limited cell signal. I bought the Wilson Sleek and used it last time there and got better (not good) cell signal. The park had wi-fi so I just used theirs while there.

I'am about to do the same as above. I don't download large files and usually only use my internet to surf and e-mail. We are not on the road and it's between the house and the onsite 5er. I'm not sure if I'll even take the Direct tv to the camper.

[stillthinking99]

Thanks JC painter, mine is a 4510. I will look for a replacement fix at Verizon.

[schoaty]

MrWizard wrote:

I only have a "dumb" cellphone, so tethering is a non-starter.

not really
I was tethering a verizon dumb phone 6 yrs ago
many vzw dumb phones can be tethered
and you can turn the feature/service on or off as needed
you won't get 4g speeds
but it will work for email & web browsing

Wow - did not know that. I'll have to check with my carrier, T-Mobile, and see.

[MrWizard]

I only have a "dumb" cellphone, so tethering is a non-starter.

not really
I was tethering a verizon dumb phone 6 yrs ago
many vzw dumb phones can be tethered
and you can turn the feature/service on or off as needed
you won't get 4g speeds
but it will work for email & web browsing

[1492]

schoaty wrote:
Although I don't hog a lot of bandwidth, I would hate to return to the aggrevation of dial-up.

Has anyone used a Magic Jack with MiFi?

No you definitely don't want to go back to the horse and carriage, but unfortunately, the only option for many rural users.

Yes, I've used Magic Jack with my hotspot device connected to my computer. I just got Magic Jack Plus for $35. deal for existing users. Doesn't require a host computer, but needs a RJ45 network connection. Since I don't have one built into my hotspot, I'm going to set one up using one of my Goodwill configured ROM routers to see how it works. :B

[schoaty]

Lots of great information and options - Thanks folks!

I only have a "dumb" cellphone, so tethering is a non-starter.

Clear looked interesting, but they do not offer service in my area.

Millenicom looks like a good alternative to Verizon, and they offer at least 3G service in locations I spend some time at.

The Wilson Cradle is also a good idea - I had not heard of them before. I was worried because my flip-phone does not have an external antenna jack, but it appears to "couple" the signal and then re-amplify it.

The words of caution about MiFi data rates vs. cable and DSL are also very valuable. Although I don't hog a lot of bandwidth, I would hate to return to the aggrevation of dial-up.

Sounds like I might want to try it in a variety of places before canceling any other service.

Has anyone used a Magic Jack with MiFi?

[1492]

I switched over to using Clear 4G mobile hotspot for both home and travel. I would make sure you have a strong 3G/4G signal in your primary location before you cancel your current net connection. In any case, it's worked out fine with me, and I don't notice a difference in speed from my old cable connection.

Though I have more than one smartphone, I much prefer using a hotspot or MiFi device, and not use tethering, wireless or not. I need my phone primarily to function as a phone, and don't want further drain on my battery resources which is bad enough as it is on smartphones.

One advantage of Clear 4G is that it has no set bandwidth limits and doesn't resort to slowing down your connection speed. I've already used 47G so far this month at full speed, but know of others who use far more. It uses WiMax, which does not have the coverage of other 4G networks, nor the speed. But Clear's WiFi hotspot is very powerful, and I can receive a WiFi signal even on other levels in my house, though tends to be only one bar. But not too difficult to setup a separate router in repeater or bridge mode to boost the WiFi signal strength significantly higher.

In fact, I've seen many Linksys 54G series routers for sale at Goodwill for $4-6. These are workhorse routers that can be flashed with several different third party ROMs to turn them into repeaters.

Clear is phasing in their 4G LTE service which will take a couple of years. They've indicated that their LTE will offer the full speed range 60mbps+. But whether they will offer unlimited bandwidth with LTE is unClear? No pun intended.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We got rid of cable TV and went with DirecTV in the stick house and the RV.
We got rid of the landline phone and went with one cell phone.
We got rid of the DSL and got the Verizon Mi-Fi. Speed difference minimal for most things except if you're downloading large files which I don't do.
We have used Verizon Mi-Fi all over the US with zero problems except Sam A Baker State Park in Missouri. They have limited cell signal. I bought the Wilson Sleek and used it last time there and got better (not good) cell signal. The park had wi-fi so I just used theirs while there.

[paulcardoza]

Even a decent 4G wireless network cannot match the speed and reliability of your cable internet service. If you do ANYTHING at all that will require a good fast connection for decent bursts of bandwidth, cable is the superior option.

I have tried 4G hotspots AND 4G Air cards from both VZW and AT&T. When there is a strong 4G signal present, both work amazingly well in spurts, but are very inconsistent. You get a great, fast connection for 10-15min, then it'll hiccup for a few minutes. This happens over and over again. The Verizon Mifi unit is especially susceptible to this problem.

It can get to be very frustrating when downloading updates, or uploading photos, etc.... I breathe a sigh of relief when home, connected to my Comcast account.

[jcpainter]

LTCLarry wrote:

Eycom wrote:
I full time and use a dumb phone and a WiFi card. Both are Verizon. The WiFi works wherever I have a cell signal. Most of the time I'm on the 3G network. But, I'm constantly amazed at the increasing availability of 4G, particularly in areas I wouldn't expect. Wifi costs $50 for 5G. I've exceeded it on a few occasions, paying $10 extra in those months. Works very well in the east. Check coverage areas where you travel most often. Wilson is soon coming out with their newer version of the Wilson Sleek, a 4G booster for cell and WiFi devices. Should help in the fringe areas.

I also have "dumb" phones and have no desire to go to "smart" phones but do want to pick up a WiFi card...my question is will the WiFi card operate the same as a "Smart" phone from the point of view that a "Smart" phone can be used while in motion...can the WiFi card be used in the same fashion so that the laptop can access the internet and do all the stuff it does when standing still in the CG.

Yep, the MIFI works great going down the road. I use it all the time like that. As long as you are in your carrier's range of course.

[Traveler_II]

We bought the MiFi last year with the idea that we would replace our cable. Up to that time we were using our Smart phone and connecting it to our computer while on the road, works better than our MiFi unit. Ours is 4G and if you are in a location that is near 4G but not close enough it shuts down. The 3G and 4G for some reason don't like each other I've called Verison and they've not been a lot of help. That problem is at our home location, they tell me that the 4G service is just a few miles away. We have a 2 year contract and I think at the end of it we will cancel it.

[LTCLarry]

Eycom wrote:
I full time and use a dumb phone and a WiFi card. Both are Verizon. The WiFi works wherever I have a cell signal. Most of the time I'm on the 3G network. But, I'm constantly amazed at the increasing availability of 4G, particularly in areas I wouldn't expect. Wifi costs $50 for 5G. I've exceeded it on a few occasions, paying $10 extra in those months. Works very well in the east. Check coverage areas where you travel most often. Wilson is soon coming out with their newer version of the Wilson Sleek, a 4G booster for cell and WiFi devices. Should help in the fringe areas.

I also have "dumb" phones and have no desire to go to "smart" phones but do want to pick up a WiFi card...my question is will the WiFi card operate the same as a "Smart" phone from the point of view that a "Smart" phone can be used while in motion...can the WiFi card be used in the same fashion so that the laptop can access the internet and do all the stuff it does when standing still in the CG.