Verizon Wireless Card

[honda03842]

Ginny and I just upgraded our phones to 3G/4G Samsung Galaxy S3 phones. It appears we'll have to return to college (or enlist our 12 year old niece) to figure out these phones...immense capability.

We are also planning to upgrade our 3G wireless hotspot to 3G/4G hotspot. It appears that if I pay full price for the hotspot, $269, I'll maintain my unlimited data capability.

The driver for leaping on to 4G is the very high up and download speeds available. As well Verizon has the fastest and biggest network, planning a totally 4G network by mid 2013.

[BigLew]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Ginny and I just upgraded our phones to 3G/4G Samsung Galaxy S3 phones. It appears we'll have to return to college (or enlist our 12 year old niece) to figure out these phones...immense capability.

We are also planning to upgrade our 3G wireless hotspot to 3G/4G hotspot. It appears that if I pay full price for the hotspot, $269, I'll maintain my unlimited data capability.

The driver for leaping on to 4G is the very high up and download speeds available. As well Verizon has the fastest and biggest network, planning a totally 4G network by mid 2013.

------------------------

Thanks for that info, Norm. This past week I have really started giving Verizon a look, also Samsung Galaxy at Costco.
Have a great day, Norm!

[CindyL]

We invested in a Verizon hotspot this year. Kevin and I were guest lecturers in an online class while camping in our Uhaul camped just outside the Amana Colonies that was even piped to China. Worked great (except for China's Internet connection), although of course, we were not in the boonies. It is not unlimited data, but we have yet to use up the capacity we pay for. It is easy to use, easier than syncing our phones and convenient to have when we are traveling. That being said, we are guarding our unlimited status on our phones too.

The only thing is, we still don't have coverage for Pine Ridge Reservation when we volunteer out there.

CindyL

[Dennis Clinton]

My daughter and I got the same phones over the summer. So far, no problems. I like verizon as I almost never have a dead spot on coverage. I will by trying the phone as a hotspot soon. I don't think I need a dedicated one(but not on the road like you guys(I'm jealous).

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by CindyL

We invested in a Verizon hotspot this year. Kevin and I were guest lecturers in an online class while camping in our Uhaul camped just outside the Amana Colonies that was even piped to China. Worked great (except for China's Internet connection), although of course, we were not in the boonies. It is not unlimited data, but we have yet to use up the capacity we pay for. It is easy to use, easier than syncing our phones and convenient to have when we are traveling. That being said, we are guarding our unlimited status on our phones too.

The only thing is, we still don't have coverage for Pine Ridge Reservation when we volunteer out there.

CindyL

Yes, Pine Ridge, Interior, Scenic are all dead zones for phones, I guess they are not important enough to the back East bigwigs!!

[Raz]

If we want internet, Verizon wireless or dial up are our choices. As such, we re-upped with Verizon. They gave us the new mifi 4620 card which is 3G/4G compatible. Both the old mifi 2400 and this new card are a bit quirky but for the most part work fine. The 4G is noticeably faster but not blazing. The 5 gigabyte data limit is still there but if you go over you pay $10/ GB. ( Note: One byte over and you've bought another gigabyte.) The old plan was $.05/MB or $50/GB. While Verizon provides a current usage number it is not in real time. As such you really don't know how much you have used at any point in time. This coupled with the increased speed and higher data content per page makes staying under the data limit difficult for us. That said, the coverage on the road is hard to beat. Raz

p.s. Norm, try the 4G card before paying the price. If you can re-up with out additional cost you might find your present 3G card good enough.

[CindyL]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Yes, Pine Ridge, Interior, Scenic are all dead zones for phones, I guess they are not important enough to the back East bigwigs!!

I agree, Cpa. Also complicating the issue is that the Lakota were given their own system by President Clinton. It is inactive outside the reservation, but used inside. I am also guessing tribal politics and the mess that the federal government made of land ownership makes it tough to put up a tower too. Happily, Pine Ridge has added a couple of fast food places in the last few years, so you can go enjoy ice cream while you catch up on school business using their wifi.

Some of our students phones worked though. I think they had ATT, but we were also on the edge of the rez, so farther in, it might have been an issue. Verizon was a problem for us there.

CindyL

[honda03842]

I have spoken with 7 Verizon wireless people about converting my unlimited 3G plan to an unlimited 4G plan. All have said I could do it yet when we go to do it we (the Verizon people) are told it's not possible. As a result I plan to keep my 3G unlimited plan because it's grandfathered in.

For the last year we have averaged 5.8 Gigabytes of data a month.

I plan to make one more pass at a higher level in Verizon to see if it's possible. It would be nice to have unlimited 4G in the future.

One nice thing about the 4620 hotspot is that it can be locked to 3G only, reducing drops in those 3G/4G boundary areas.

[CindyL]

Kevin did the transfer online and is now on 4G with unlimited. Our daughter gave him her 4G phone when she upgraded. They were able to make the change online themselves. Neither bought a new phone though. I am not sure if that is what you are trying to do or not.

CindyL

[honda03842]

Cindy,

We did get 4G phones and it is possible to get a 4G phone with unlimited 4G. It is difficult if not impossible to do it with the 4G hotspot. I have not given up and will give it one more try.

[Jon Vermilye]

If you do want to go to 4G data on the Verizon network & can't get Verizon to do it with a hotspot, Millenicom will provide 20GB per month on the Verizon network using a Novatel MiFi Hotspot for $70.00 per month.

[ericw]

Norm, have you considered using your phone as the hotspot using foxfi or some other application rather than the 4620? Just curious if it was the speed or some other factor.

Thanks for all your posts. I enjoy them.

[honda03842]

We considered using our phones as a hotspots but have received advice to keep our unlimited data 3G hotspot, at least for the time being. I will say the new phones are nearly unbelievable in their ability.

We have 4Gigs of shared data on our phones.

We like having an always present hotspot for our many summertime guests since they always come with computers and pads.

Our Verizon 3G hotspot has worked well everywhere we've gone; in 315 days last year there were only 2 days on Idaho's Salmon River buried in a Mt. valley and 3 days at Texas Seminole Canyon State Park were we unable to get a data connection. Fortunately both places had open wireless.

Even in the Ruby Mts, buried in a valley, we were, surprisingly able to get 3G data where most people couldn't get phone service.

We're not massive data users at 5 gigs but I expect it will grow.

Right now it's costing us $60 a month for the 3G hotspot. Though when I look at the total package, it's expensive, but it's our only Internet.

[John Fazio]

We have a Verizon Novatel Jetpack 4510L MiFi that has an antenna port. I've purchased a Cellphone-mate 4G LTE amplifier and antenna and cannot say enough about them. Recently we were in the mountains of NC and couldn't get a reliable 3G or 4G signal. I attached the amplifier and antenna which resulted in a strong 4G connection for the entire 10 day stay. Our speeds were 10mbit/s down and 3 up. I didn't even need to place the antenna outside, I just placed it on it's side on the table next to the window.

I highly recommend getting a MiFi that has an antenna port if you can. There are different amplifiers for cellular services so the cost of expansion can rise rapidly. We use this for our business when we are traveling so to us it's necessary.

We went directly through Verizon but will probably switch to Millenicom once our contract is up in a few months. They currently have a bring your own device (BYOD) unlimited plan for $69.99, albeit usage over 50GB will raise a flag with their investigations team.

-John