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Kahoona · 03-19-2020, 02:26 PM

I kept at it adding another letter or two to the chat windows required info section each time it opened briefly until, after about half an hour I got in line! Only an hour and a half. I waited here while it counted down until, finally when it got down to 10 I was disconnected for lack of activity and told to start over. Are there any other unlimited systems that will work as well? It sure seems like these folks just don't care what happens to us.

B52Rnav · 03-19-2020, 03:25 PM

It took me 2 days and about 3 hrs to get a response on their chat. I think their system is overloaded, so I am not being too critical. I decided to do the change to TM and also to see if they can unlock my hotspot. Meanwhile, looking for a good deal on a Netgear MR1100, and considering trying Visible for a while.

mike625 · 03-19-2020, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B52Rnav

It took me 2 days and about 3 hrs to get a response on their chat. I think their system is overloaded, so I am not being too critical. I decided to do the change to TM and also to see if they can unlock my hotspot. Meanwhile, looking for a good deal on a Netgear MR1100, and considering trying Visible for a while.

Just an FYI before you buy a MR1100 - It does not support T-Mobile band 71 "which is their rural/wide coverage signal", so I'm not sure how good it's going to be if you do a lot of camping in the boonies. I'm still working on getting my MR1100 switched over to T-Mobile so don't have any performance numbers yet.

docj · 03-19-2020, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike625

Just an FYI before you buy a MR1100 - It does not support T-Mobile band 71 "which is their rural/wide coverage signal", so I'm not sure how good it's going to be if you do a lot of camping in the boonies. I'm still working on getting my MR1100 switched over to T-Mobile so don't have any performance numbers yet.

Even though I live in a rather rural area, my modem is connecting to T-Mobile on Band 4. I'm not sure Band 71 has been rolled out on every tower.

NoDents4U · 03-19-2020, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

Even though I live in a rather rural area, my modem is connecting to T-Mobile on Band 4. I'm not sure Band 71 has been rolled out on every tower.

I have a nighthawk router from OTR. I dropped Visible for my backup internet for poor service. When it did work the speed was pretty slow. The last straw was over the last two months in Florida and Gulf Shores, It literally would not work at all, less than 1mbps. I switched to OTR about a month ago and now this change to T-Mobile. I am hoping the router will work with the new service, not wanting to buy another router.

Are you using a nighthawk router? Is anyone that has moved over to the new service using a nighthawk router?

Thanks all

docj · 03-19-2020, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoDents4U

I switched to OTR about a month ago and now this change to T-Mobile. I am hoping the router will work with the new service, not wanting to buy another router.

Are you using a nighthawk router? Is anyone that has moved over to the new service using a nighthawk router?

No, I'm not using a Nighthawk. I was using a ZTE MF279 for my AT&T SIM and it wasn't worth unlocking IMO. I now have a WiFiRanger Aspen router with integrated Cat-4 modem with Band 71 support.

Kahoona · 03-20-2020, 10:11 AM

I have a Nighthawk router which I bought from OTR in January. Sure hope it will still work because The Viral market crash has rendered us very poor. Just spent an hour getting my info into the chat window that comes and goes in 3-4 second bursts. Finally got it in and was 15 minutes into a one hour wait when I was closed for inactivity. How do I stay active??? Nothing I can do but wait. I am in again now by using my Verizon phone hotspot. Hope it will last till I get through. My place in line gets farther as I wait. Started at 55 now up to 82. They could have planned or even added to the system! I worry because we are distanced at a park along the Mexican Border and there is noplace to get fedex within a hundred moles now that the offices are closed. I can get USPS if they will send it, We just have to drive to Why,AZ and oick it up. Phone number is no longer shown.

Kahoona · 03-21-2020, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJMike

I have been thinking about switching from Verizon to AT&T since I think their coverage is pretty much the same and AT&T unlimited would cost less for us than we are currently paying. My only concern has been that I don't know how the AT&T coverage would be where we often camp and I wanted to get an AT&T SIM card to use in an extra phone to check the coverage, so your post caught my eye.

How does your annual plan work? What does it cost? How much data do you get? When I Google annual ATT SIM card all I get is the cost of the sim and no information about an annual plan. Do you have a link to post?

The deal that we are discussing is with OTR who buys a large chunk of bandwidth and passes it on to customers. We paid $250 for the card and a router/reciever and then we paid $60/month for service. The speeds varied from faster than cable to wretchedly slow or none depending on tower proximity and demand. It beat the heck out of satelite or campground wifi. It is truly unlimited. It has nothing to do with your phone.

What is happening now is that OTR is switching to T-Mobile, raising the price to $80/mo because of reasons unknown. We are hoping that it is better.

Kahoona · 03-21-2020, 09:20 AM

Yesterday I did get through on chat with Brandon. It was a slow process but he got our ATT modem unlocked and is having a new card sent to us free. We could have gotten one at Walleys or another store but there is like that around here. We are hours from "civilization" right next to "the border" so we are having it sent to Ajo for pickup at the nearest post office only an hour away. Hopefully we plug it in and are set to go. Brandon was very helpful.

docj · 03-21-2020, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kahoona

Yesterday I did get through on chat with Brandon. It was a slow process but he got our ATT modem unlocked and is having a new card sent to us free. We could have gotten one at Walleys or another store but there is like that around here. We are hours from "civilization" right next to "the border" so we are having it sent to Ajo for pickup at the nearest post office only an hour away. Hopefully we plug it in and are set to go. Brandon was very helpful.

I'm glad you were able to get your situation resolved. I presume you understand that your AT&T modem most likely doesn't have Band 71 support for T-Mobile, but that may not matter depending on where you are located. For instance, my OTR T-Mobile SIM connects using Band 4 at my home location. I don't even know for sure if Band 71 has been implemented on the tower nearest me.

Kahoona · 03-21-2020, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

I'm glad you were able to get your situation resolved. I presume you understand that your AT&T modem most likely doesn't have Band 71 support for T-Mobile, but that may not matter depending on where you are located. For instance, my OTR T-Mobile SIM connects using Band 4 at my home location. I don't even know for sure if Band 71 has been implemented on the tower nearest me.

Did not know but faced with our extremely limited budget since the market crashed we can't afford a new one anyway. As I understand it Band 71 will be what there is in the places I go but not for a while. I'll have to replace it in time but who even knows what it will be like in 2-3 years anyway.

docj · 03-21-2020, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kahoona

Did not know but faced with our extremely limited budget since the market crashed we can't afford a new one anyway. As I understand it Band 71 will be what there is in the places I go but not for a while. I'll have to replace it in time but who even knows what it will be like in 2-3 years anyway.

The T-Mobile Band 71 situation is a source of confusion and misinformation in the popular press and these forums. T-Mobile has made a big investment in Band 71 which is ~600 MHz. These low frequencies can penetrate buildings much better than do higher frequencies. It is ideally suited to more rural areas where there are larger distances between towers as well as trees, buildings and other obstacles.

My understanding that that T-Mobile has rolled out use of Band 71 nationwide but I don't think that it yet applies to every tower. For example, there's no evidence that it's operating on the tower that serves my home.

Adding to the confusion is that T-Mobile has reserved some of Band 71 for a roll-out of its "low frequency 5G" service later this year. It's my understanding that even if you do have a modem today with Band 71 capability it is unlikely that it will be able to receive the 5G signals when they start being broadcast.

When OTR Mobile says that its SIMs are "Band 71 capable" I don't think that applies to the future "5G Band 71" service, just to the service that has been already (partially) rolled out.

I hope this has helped explain things!

Joel (AKA docj)

txcpl · 03-22-2020, 07:26 AM

I just checked and the SIM card we purchased is not available anymore. We purchased it between Christmas and New Year's and may have been a special.

NoDents4U · 03-22-2020, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kahoona

Yesterday I did get through on chat with Brandon. It was a slow process but he got our ATT modem unlocked and is having a new card sent to us free. We could have gotten one at Walleys or another store but there is like that around here. We are hours from "civilization" right next to "the border" so we are having it sent to Ajo for pickup at the nearest post office only an hour away. Hopefully we plug it in and are set to go. Brandon was very helpful.

Really glad to hear that OTR got your Nighthawk router unlocked, Since I bought mine in February hopefully I will have the same luck.

Thanks for the feedback all, this is an awesome wealth of information.