Milenicom vs. Verizon

[accrete]

my wife and i are not away from our RV home base but ~7 or so week-ish long trips a year at this point, but where we go, for better/worse we have no cell towers (we are grandfathered in with verizon unlimited 4G). We have looked at some satellite alternatives but YEIKS! Here in oregon direct TV is pushing internet but the set up on the road at camp is a chore (and a slight no-no i hear?).

For now we simply forgo any outside contact for ~5day stretches and hope no one really needs to contact us. Our camps are so far up in the bonnies that services are non-existent for now ,(

I'm contemplating rooting both our phones (contract is up in april so nothing to stop me from doodling with the phones) so we can use PDAnet type software on them, as they are now i can not stream/link to our tablet even though we have unlimited data.

[Mike Magee]

Your Verizon plan has unlimited data, but you mention wanting "increased data at lower cost." Well, it's hard to get more than unlimited data so I guess what you are really wanting is lower cost.

Best thing would be to sit down and make a list of what you really think you'll need. How many minutes, how many texts, how much data. Then make a list of the various services you are discovering, and what they provide at what cost. If you can put together a package of services that will save you money, great. If not, then you already have the best deal for your own needs.

I did this for myself a couple of months ago. I am a low user, though. I only use up to 30 minutes/month, a couple dozen texts, and next to zero data... but I want to be able to use more data during the summer months while traveling, and I'm not yet sure how much will be enough. So for me, the flexibility of Consumer Cellular won out over the others (about ten companies) I found and compared.

If you need a thousand minutes a month and a whole lotta data besides, I am not sure if you'll find a better package... unless you can be happy with MagicJack or PDA net or some other method of routing most of your minutes through wifi to make them part of your data.

[Jon Vermilye]

The only thing I would add to this is to determine what network(s) each plan uses, and what parts of the country they cover. A useful app to help is the Coverage? app. A good price is of no use if the plan does not cover the areas you plan to travel.