When will we get truly unlimited data from cell providers

[mikestock]

I has a solicitor from Spectrum/Charter trying to get me to move from DirectV to their tv service. I already use them as my home internet provider. I argued that I use DTV because of the rv. She tried to sell me on the idea that I could take it with me to wherever WIFI was available and I would have access to all Spectrum hotspots.

Primary thing that prevents my from trying this is that I only get 30 GB of data, to use as a hotspot for the month, and I know this would not last very long. Of course there are coverage issues with the phone that need to improve. Campground WIFI providers aren't pleased with campers trying to stream video.

This is likely the way we get all of our tv, in the future. Just wondering how far away from this, as the norm and if any areas of the country is making progress in this direction.

[magicbus]

2oldman wrote:
OK, so that's in a car?

I have an adapter and use it in my house plugged into an outlet.

Dave

[GordonThree]

2oldman wrote:
OK, so that's in a car?

I believe the service is tied to a SIM card which is originally installed in a hot-spot that connects to the OBD2 port in an automobile. The SIM can be installed into an AT&T or unlocked hotspot as well. Probably violates the terms of service, but what does these days?

[2oldman]

OK, so that's in a car?

[GordonThree]

No one will answer if that $20 is stand alone, or added on to existing plan?

[lryrob9301]

Irover wrote:

lryrob9301 wrote:
I get unlimited, non-throttled, data for $22.06 per month with AT&T. Currently I have used 106GB this billing period all non-throttled and last billing period used 122GB.

:Sounds like a Whopper of a story! How???

Do the research "Mobley" " AT&T Connected Car Unlimited Plan". Too bad you were asleep when this was offered last year for a six month period. It is no longer available, but those of us that were awake got a hell of a deal.

[T18skyguy]

When 5G gets here there's going to be a sea shift in capability, and the carriers are going to make huge money from industrial user's. 5G will be controlling robots in factories, autonomous cars, drones, and enable robotic surgery from a continent away, ships at sea. There will be no latency. When fully implemented, we'll look at the current situation like we look at dial-up now. As phone user's, we're going to be a much smaller part of their portfolio eventually. Changes will be very profound, and that's why the current administration is talking about nationalizing 5G to protect it. Their worried that failure could bring a lot of the nation to a halt.

[magicbus]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
... The Mobley SIM has been in a Netgear Unite hotspot for the several months

Can the Netgear Unite stay plugged in? I am always on the lookout for a new home for my Mobley SIM for the day when the Mobley passes on to the great electronics recovery field in a foreign country.

Dave

[wa8yxm]

Rumor has it that we will soon have a new space based service which can offer unlmited data for a very low price.. I will believe it when I subscribe to it but hey..

I have unlimited data to the PHONE.. No throttling, truly unlimited (T-mobile 55+) but my "Hot Spot" data (to this computer for eample) is throttled after 10 Gigs, gotthe 8 Gig warning yesterday. 12 or 13 days to reset. I think I might not have many throttled days this month.

That said .. Even if I'm only getting Snail rate T-mobile says "first 10 Gigs of HIGH SPEED" and I don't get high speed here ever, in fact when they "Throttle" me.. I do not even notice as the fastest connections are sub-throttled speed.

[MrWizard]

In this companies ultimate wisdom when you do not have all 3 services, TV, phone, internet but only internet, even though you're paying for 1TB of data as advertised, that changes to 200MB of data when you drop the other services, so forget any massive streaming like 4K movies @ 100MB each

I think that is 100GB each

DVD 4GB TO 8GB
BLU-RAY 50GB
4K ????

[2oldman]

jrobe wrote:
This is like asking when will we get unlimited electricity or unlimited water or unlimited natural gas..

*like*

[Irover]

lryrob9301 wrote:
I get unlimited, non-throttled, data for $22.06 per month with AT&T. Currently I have used 106GB this billing period all non-throttled and last billing period used 122GB.

:Sounds like a Whopper of a story! How???

[GordonThree]

Looking back at the old promotion it says you need an existing account with ATT to add it. The folks that have it, you have it as a stand alone device, on its own bill not added onto an existing plan?

If it's added then how much are you really paying?

[lynndiwagon]

2oldman wrote:

tinstartrvlr wrote:
I pay for 30 gigs of data, but after 10 gigs, I get punished with slower speeds

Something wrong in that. I pay Verizon for 24gigs, I get 24 gigs at full speed. Mind sharing what you pay for "30 gigs" of throttled data? I bet it's a lot less than I do.

It would be interesting to know where you live. I bet you're in an area of high user concentration. I'm not sure anyone can prove that they've been slowed down on an AT&T "Unlimited" plan due to going over the 22gb per device "limit." I have a vacation property on a big lake and EVERYONE is slowed down during high usage situations such as weekends and holidays. Once everyone goes home the speed goes back up. This is mainly due to the cell site limitations, not going over a limit. Cellphone companies cannot afford to build out a particular area just for special events. When I'm in a high population area, where the cellphone company has more towers there is never any slowdown. The problem is probably infrastructure, not going over a "limit."

[Dutch_12078]

Well, as others have mentioned, I have the no longer offered AT&T unlimited 4G/LTE Connected Car plan for $22.01/month including all fees and taxes. The Mobley SIM has been in a Netgear Unite hotspot for the several months with usage usually in the 100-150GB/mo range with zero throttling. I also have two Verizon grey market 3G only hotspots at $5/mo each, but we are finding more locations where Verizon is repurposing their 3G towers for the 5G expansion. At least for the AT&T plan, the "cold, dead hands" reference does apply... 😉

[Ralph_Cramden]

DutchmenSport wrote:
You have to admit, for all the advances "technology" has come through promising to make things better for all of us, but at the same time making this world more and more dependent upon it, it sure can be a pain in the neck. It seems they give "us" a token offering to get us hooked, and then yank the cord and next thing we know we're paying big bucks when we've become dependent upon it and forgot how to get by without it. They give it to us, only in limited amounts so we are forced to pay even more. As we pay more, we become dependent more, and the vicious cycle continues on.

Direct TV is satellite driven and you can get it anywhere you can see the sky. There are some hoops you have to go through when you move from state to state to get local stations, but in general, the system is self-standing and self-reliant.

Add yet another complex layer of television viewing on top of the already complex layer of the Internet and WIFI, and the whole things is doomed to become a real pain-in-the-neck eventually ... guaranteed!

Personally, I don't have DirectTV or DishTV any more, because of the constantly rising prices. But ... opposed to "streaming video" that's dependent upon the Internet for normal television viewing .... well, I'll stick with the clear skies!

(we do have Netflix and Hulu... But Hulu freezes up too much, and you don't get normal television, so we do have over-the-air antenna viewing, and pay a premium for our cell phone data plans, If you REALLY want it .... you've just got to pay the price!)

Here is the local slant our one and only cable provider, Armstrong Cable, has now days.

We have business class fiber optic internet @ 200mbps download, 15 mbps upload and 1TB allowance for $79.95

Add to that the TV which totals out to $126.95. That's two HD boxes and a third SD, but with no HBO's or such.

Then add in phone, basically a re purposed Vonage thru them for $29.95.

Add in all the BS such as regulatory fee (state), tax (state), FCC user fee (Feds), franchise fee (State/County) and the whopping total is $230.98 per month. That' $10.40 discount in there for having all 3 so you could call it $241.38
Now I'm a moron as I also have Dish..... which is another $111.00 a month LOL.


The current thought is to kill off the TV and phone portion and just keep the cable internet as that is our only choice. That would knock the cable company portion down to in the range of $85.00 I think, but here is the kicker.

In this companies ultimate wisdom when you do not have all 3 services, TV, phone, internet but only internet, even though you're paying for 1TB of data as advertised, that changes to 200MB of data when you drop the other services, so forget any massive streaming like 4K movies @ 100MB each. They will however be happy to bill you an additional $10 per month for every 50GB you go over that 200GB limit. So if I wanted to stream a full TB that now costs me $245.00, $85.00 plus 800GB overage @ $10.00 every 50 LOL........

Back to square one. Its always going to cost $245.00 a month, and will go up at least $5.00 a year.