Community Forums

Bob (WA0MQE) · 06-16-2008, 03:43 AM

For those of you who say you have unlimited, I think you better check with Verizon and Sprint. You may think you have unlimited service but according to information being discussed on EVDO Forum this may not be the case.

Some are saying they show unlimited but the few times they surpassed the 5Gb limit they were throttled down to below Broadband speeds. Apparently this seems to be more of a case on Gamers, because of hogging so much of the bandwidth.

johnwr · 06-16-2008, 05:21 AM

There's been a lot of talk here about the Verizion Air Cards, but no discussion about the AT&T (Cingular) product that I've seen. A friend and I both have been hauling around HughesNet satellite internet dishes and finally got tired of it and started looking at the air cards and went with AT&T and the Sierra Wireless 881U adapter. Our reason for this choice had nothing to do with our phone service, his is Sprint and mine Verizon, but that you can purchase the 881U from AT&T for $250, and then for $60/month you have unlimited service and can terminate it whenever you choose and restart it without any contract term restriction. We will travel with it for 6 to 7 months, and then terminate it this Fall, restarting it when we leave our Winter residence in the Spring. It's a little bigger front end expense, but the flexibility is worth it to us.

As a note, when we're in or near populous areas, we get 3G service at very high speeds. It less populous areas we usually get EDGE service, still good speeds. We're currently out in the corn fields in Nebraska but we've still got service, just GPRS which is like early dialup, limited by both the technology and the number of connections.

Overall, I'd see no problem recommending the AT&T service so far.

Baby Bear · 06-18-2008, 06:10 PM

We have the Verizon air card and it works well,BUT, DO NOT purchase from a Verizon agent. Go directly to Verizon outlets. Our wonderful agent flat lied to us about some services and Verizon would do NOTHING to correct the problems.

Route 66 · 06-19-2008, 02:21 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We have the Verizon air card and it works well,BUT, DO NOT purchase from a Verizon agent. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Excellent advice.

Always go to the company store.

wallynm · 06-19-2008, 04:03 AM

I use my Verzion phone as a modem and then National Access. That way I only pay for the days I want to use the computer. Per month charge is the same $60.00. You can call and turn the service off and on.

LindaH · 06-19-2008, 07:18 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Clay L:
Sprint recently announced a 5 Gb limit.
See SITE </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not only that, but if you're in a roam area, they limit you to 300MB per month!

"AND" Sprint says they have the right to terminate or suspend your service if you exceed those limits. I don't know how they can do that...I thought that's what got Verizon into trouble.

hrhuggie · 06-19-2008, 07:57 AM

Bob,
you are correct, most providers do not really provide unlimited access and that is why I put my statement in quotes. That usage as you state is because of bandwidth hogs such as gamers and those that frequently download huge files such as videos, music, etc.
We often work while on the road sending pictures of properties that we are evaluating to our investors, excel sprad sheets, slide shows, etc, etc and have yet to run into a problem with reaching our limit. I think for the typical person on the road "unlimited" is not going to have a problem.
We have run into some areas where we get near dial up speeds but most times find almost as fast speeds as when we are wireless at home off our broadband wireless router (Verizon Fios).

dgerstel · 07-04-2008, 05:24 AM

I just thought I would add a related note to this topic. I agree with Barb about using the EVDO website for information and the 3G Store. When I bought my USB card for Verizon internet access, I also bought an external antenna and a Cradlepoint wireless router. This may not be the best at this time as I got it a year ago.

cradlepoint info link

Do to all of my other projects and the card working great by it self, I just got around to installing it. I have it installed in the bedroom closet. While parked at home, I could pick up signal in the house, next to the coach. It did give me a slight problem while parked RIGHT next to the building at the Cummins shop in Ventura, they had a powerful wireless of their own going, that I think was in conflict with mine. The advantages to this system are: Dixie and I can both access the internet at the same time, computer can be operated without card sticking out of computer, better signal in fringe areas from the external antenna and no issue as to where you sit in the coach, as to signal strength.

Roam America · 07-04-2008, 07:34 AM

I went to a Verizon agent as was told that:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>I cannot combine the aircard bill with my cell phone bill<LI>I would get free E-Mail from Verizon<LI>I would get up to 10 E-Mail addresses[/list]
Now I never considered going thru an agent but was in a mall, I was in research mode, and the store was there, so I stopped in. When time came to get the aircard, I went to the local Verizon store. Not only did they simply add the aircard to my current wireless account (as a 3rd number) but I got the aircard free. While I knew it was B.S., I asked them about the e-mail. The clerk smiled and shook his head and we agreed that the "agent" was full of **it.

dgerstel · 07-04-2008, 09:39 AM

While the 3G store is an "Agent" they are specialist in the wireless field and are not tied to one carrier. They gave me as good or better a deal on the card and much better info than I was able to find from the many Verizon stores I tried, I was on the road and didn't get it right a way. They only deal with this, where as, some company stores have informed staff, others don't. I research all of my purchases thoroughly before hand. I found them while researching this subject on the Escapee forum, I thought these people should have good experience, as their source for internet would be limited, compared to us with homes. I did have to contact Verizon after the purchase to have the wireless account added to our phone account, but had no trouble doing so. I stopped using my service provider as my email source years ago. I find that if I change providers it is a real pain to change my email address with all that have it. I now use Gmail, there are many free ones out there.

offshore · 07-04-2008, 01:58 PM

I have two Verizon cards for $60.00 each per month with unlimited usage. This bill is also included on my cell phone bill. We also have two cell phones. S
o far I have gotten very good usage from the phone and the card.

ET · 07-16-2008, 04:25 PM

A bit late joining in but wanted to mention that we also have the Verizon 5 Gb at $60 a month and since inception it's been included in our Verizon monthly bill which also includes 3 cell phones/numbers. Extremely satisfied with everything and just upgraded to the USB727 since my SW595 air card wouldn't work with our newer laptop.