Our trailer
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Wilson Sleek signal booster
Now that I have all four carriers it is time to optimize the signal I get. I know that up in the mountains will be a challenge but even here at home it can be a pain getting a decent signal. The towers are either distant or shielded by buildings and high power lines. There is also a lot of congestion due to a large neighborhood and three expressways near us. On their own the devices function but can be slow at times, occasionally getting knocked off completely even though it shows a signal.
Enter the Wilson Sleek cradle booster that was $109 including shipping on ebay. It is a refurbished, discontinued model that covers the same bands as the newer more expensive WeBoost units.
It showed up right before rush hour so I was able to test it in the worst of times. The improvements were not huge but it did improve things.
On TMO it gave full bars, lowered the dBm and kept the device online through rush hour. Switch it to 4G and it will even stream.
The Verizon 3G got a full signal, a lower dBm and it's speed double from pitiful to not so pitiful.
On Sprint it says it doesn't cover the high speed band 41 but I have seen the dBm change as I pulled the device from the cradle. It is either boosting it or the mere connect to the antenna is. It does boost the other two LTE bands as well as 3G and while the signal doesn't look like much, it is usable with just one bar.
On Cricket it lowered my dBm, raised the signal but being capped, the speed never goes above 8 Mbps.
So for $109 it really does improve your signal. it wont take a pitiful signal and turn it into full speed, nor will it create a signal where there is none. It is just being able to use a weak signal that matters, especially up in the mountains.
The improvement during off peak hours was wonderful. Streaming became easy on all of the devices.
Next is to find a directional antenna to improve things even more.
Enter the Wilson Sleek cradle booster that was $109 including shipping on ebay. It is a refurbished, discontinued model that covers the same bands as the newer more expensive WeBoost units.
It showed up right before rush hour so I was able to test it in the worst of times. The improvements were not huge but it did improve things.
On TMO it gave full bars, lowered the dBm and kept the device online through rush hour. Switch it to 4G and it will even stream.
The Verizon 3G got a full signal, a lower dBm and it's speed double from pitiful to not so pitiful.
On Sprint it says it doesn't cover the high speed band 41 but I have seen the dBm change as I pulled the device from the cradle. It is either boosting it or the mere connect to the antenna is. It does boost the other two LTE bands as well as 3G and while the signal doesn't look like much, it is usable with just one bar.
On Cricket it lowered my dBm, raised the signal but being capped, the speed never goes above 8 Mbps.
So for $109 it really does improve your signal. it wont take a pitiful signal and turn it into full speed, nor will it create a signal where there is none. It is just being able to use a weak signal that matters, especially up in the mountains.
The improvement during off peak hours was wonderful. Streaming became easy on all of the devices.
Next is to find a directional antenna to improve things even more.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Unlimited Verizon 3G hotspot for $5 a month.
The last feather in my multi carrier cap was Verizon, the carrier with the best coverage and highest rates. I was drooling over unlimited grandfather unlimited Verizon plans on ebay when I happened along several sellers on flashed hotspots that cost $5 a month for unlimited Verizon but 3G only. For me 3G is fine as it is what Verizon has in the mountains where were camp.
The unit I picked up was a Verizon MiFi 4510 for $84.99 and then also a MiFi 4620 for my mother in law.. They both work well and pick up signal where my Sprint, T-mobile and Cricket devices will not. Verison 3G is faster than Sprint and TMO 3G and in speed test show between 1 and 2 Mbps, easily enough for low res streaming and most other applications.
with each hotspot I received two pages with the info and how to pay for it.
You can find the flashed hotspots by simply searching Verizon unlimited 3G on ebay. The seller I used seems to be having some issues so I have no one seller to suggest.
I did have to re up the sevice this month and it was pretty simple. I had the option of using a $5 prepaid card or paying the $5 on a credit card that I did for convenience. $10 won't get you two months, it's one month at a time.
The unit I picked up was a Verizon MiFi 4510 for $84.99 and then also a MiFi 4620 for my mother in law.. They both work well and pick up signal where my Sprint, T-mobile and Cricket devices will not. Verison 3G is faster than Sprint and TMO 3G and in speed test show between 1 and 2 Mbps, easily enough for low res streaming and most other applications.
with each hotspot I received two pages with the info and how to pay for it.
You can find the flashed hotspots by simply searching Verizon unlimited 3G on ebay. The seller I used seems to be having some issues so I have no one seller to suggest.
I did have to re up the sevice this month and it was pretty simple. I had the option of using a $5 prepaid card or paying the $5 on a credit card that I did for convenience. $10 won't get you two months, it's one month at a time.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Internet on the road
So you my be wondering why I have been posting about all of these cell services. While it would be easiest to find a unlimited AT&T or Verizon plan and be done with it, those plans are expensive and have their own limitations. My plan is to have a little something on each carrier so that if there is a connection to be had, one of the devices will get it. Be the device that gets the signal or be the fastest at any given location and you will be lavished in extra data while we are there. Otherwise you will sit in the drawer until needed.
Now having something on each carrier can be expensive. That's why the services I use are not the all mighty unlimited plans. I call it affordable versatility.
On AT&T I have my Cricket Phone with 10 gigs of high speed and then unlimited 2G afterwards. It's my main phone as AT&T has good service here. Up in the mountains it is 2G in the mornings and TnT all of the time. This plan cost me $65 a month on auto pay with the use of the hotspot.
FreedomPop and Ringplus are my free Sprint solutions. After buying the devices there is no monthly cost. I get a gig of data on each the Freedompop hotspot and RingPlus phone. Sprint is the weakest of the big four but if their signal is best, you can get some blazing speeds out of them.
4gas is my T-Mobile solution and while not free, at $19.71 a month for 5 gigs is a affordable solution for T-Mobile. ( $17 a month for service, the rest in fees)It also includes Binge on for free watching of the services listed, most are pay services though. T-mobile says they cover the southern half of our boondocking areas, I really hope to get a band 12 4G signal up there.
Up there you may get service from one carrier on one side of the ridge and another on the other side. This also happens at times from one side of a sky scrapper to the other downtown.
Honey also has a Cricket phone so before we hit the road, one of them will be switched to a Verizon account so that we have all four carriers.
So for me it's 17 gigs of data and two phones for $85 a month. At home we get service from all of the carriers so I will combine them to make it possible to kill off the xfinity internet. I thought I needed the unlimited high speed until I started paying attention to how much data I really use. In reality 17 gigs is more than enough for cruising the forums, checking emails, playing pogo games and even occasional streaming of a hockey game.
So that's Jimmys get online anywhere plan.
Now having something on each carrier can be expensive. That's why the services I use are not the all mighty unlimited plans. I call it affordable versatility.
On AT&T I have my Cricket Phone with 10 gigs of high speed and then unlimited 2G afterwards. It's my main phone as AT&T has good service here. Up in the mountains it is 2G in the mornings and TnT all of the time. This plan cost me $65 a month on auto pay with the use of the hotspot.
FreedomPop and Ringplus are my free Sprint solutions. After buying the devices there is no monthly cost. I get a gig of data on each the Freedompop hotspot and RingPlus phone. Sprint is the weakest of the big four but if their signal is best, you can get some blazing speeds out of them.
4gas is my T-Mobile solution and while not free, at $19.71 a month for 5 gigs is a affordable solution for T-Mobile. ( $17 a month for service, the rest in fees)It also includes Binge on for free watching of the services listed, most are pay services though. T-mobile says they cover the southern half of our boondocking areas, I really hope to get a band 12 4G signal up there.
Up there you may get service from one carrier on one side of the ridge and another on the other side. This also happens at times from one side of a sky scrapper to the other downtown.
Honey also has a Cricket phone so before we hit the road, one of them will be switched to a Verizon account so that we have all four carriers.
So for me it's 17 gigs of data and two phones for $85 a month. At home we get service from all of the carriers so I will combine them to make it possible to kill off the xfinity internet. I thought I needed the unlimited high speed until I started paying attention to how much data I really use. In reality 17 gigs is more than enough for cruising the forums, checking emails, playing pogo games and even occasional streaming of a hockey game.
So that's Jimmys get online anywhere plan.
4GAS T-Mobile service
4Gas- 4gantennashop.com is a business reseller of T-Mobile services. I am on the $17 for 5 gigs plus unlimited 2G and binge on. They have packages ranging from 5 gigs and up. I did buy a hotspot from them for $89 and had it 5 days later.
The hotspot I choose first was the Rocket aircard because it could be used on the 10 and 20 gig plans if I decided to upgrade. I am swapping it for a ZTE Z915 because it supports the 700 mhz band T-Mobile deployed in Colorado. When I enquired of the swap, the answer was of course we can. Just send back the Rocket when the 915 gets there.
Like with most carriers, T-Mobile has good coverage in Denver and I even have a tower near my house. Where I am really hoping to see a advantage is from the 700 mhz ( band 12) in the mountains. The lower the spectrum, the farther it carries and better penetrates buildings. I hoping to see something better than 2G up there.
You can call and get a real person 24/7. My account managers email is nicholas@4gantennashop.com and I have spoken with the owner twice. All very kind and helpful.
Again I have no connection except as a happy customer.
The hotspot I choose first was the Rocket aircard because it could be used on the 10 and 20 gig plans if I decided to upgrade. I am swapping it for a ZTE Z915 because it supports the 700 mhz band T-Mobile deployed in Colorado. When I enquired of the swap, the answer was of course we can. Just send back the Rocket when the 915 gets there.
Like with most carriers, T-Mobile has good coverage in Denver and I even have a tower near my house. Where I am really hoping to see a advantage is from the 700 mhz ( band 12) in the mountains. The lower the spectrum, the farther it carries and better penetrates buildings. I hoping to see something better than 2G up there.
You can call and get a real person 24/7. My account managers email is nicholas@4gantennashop.com and I have spoken with the owner twice. All very kind and helpful.
Again I have no connection except as a happy customer.
RingPlus free phone. text and data service.
RingPlus is another carrier like Freedompop where you buy the device, set up the account and pay nothing there after. They are on Sprint so make sure you have service . The deal I have with them was called the Leonardo 4 plan, comes with 1400 mins talk, 1400 text and 1200 Mbs of Data including using the hotspot for free a month. I did have to put $20 into a account in case I went over. Extra gigs are $8 a gig.
Unlike FreedomPop, RingPlus does not have hotspot only plans. I bought a Sprint Prepaid LG Tribute Duo on sale at Best buy for the service. I ran it through the MEID checks and signed up in minutes. You can buy and even lease phones from them if you wish or switch one over from another service.
Besides paid plans, they make their money using music and ads instead of a ring tone while you call someone. Sometimes when you sigh up for a promoted plan, it will have a survey or you will need to link to social networks. Those promotions are paid for by the company wanting the survey. Each promotion usually only last for days so keep watch for the kind of plan you want. Some are heavier in TnT, others include more data or free use of the hotspot. There is a set of paid and lower tier free plans that are constant.
As for the service. I have had good luck using the phone for calls and text. The signal and data speeds are the same as with my Mingle Hotspot, weak when the signal is, blazing fast when the signal is good. (up to 33 Mbps so far)
So if you need a emergency back up, something to connect when other services may not or just a extra bit of data a month, RingPlus may be for you.
You can check them out at RingPlus.net and I am happy to answer any questions I can but I have no connection except being a happy customer.
Unlike FreedomPop, RingPlus does not have hotspot only plans. I bought a Sprint Prepaid LG Tribute Duo on sale at Best buy for the service. I ran it through the MEID checks and signed up in minutes. You can buy and even lease phones from them if you wish or switch one over from another service.
Besides paid plans, they make their money using music and ads instead of a ring tone while you call someone. Sometimes when you sigh up for a promoted plan, it will have a survey or you will need to link to social networks. Those promotions are paid for by the company wanting the survey. Each promotion usually only last for days so keep watch for the kind of plan you want. Some are heavier in TnT, others include more data or free use of the hotspot. There is a set of paid and lower tier free plans that are constant.
As for the service. I have had good luck using the phone for calls and text. The signal and data speeds are the same as with my Mingle Hotspot, weak when the signal is, blazing fast when the signal is good. (up to 33 Mbps so far)
So if you need a emergency back up, something to connect when other services may not or just a extra bit of data a month, RingPlus may be for you.
You can check them out at RingPlus.net and I am happy to answer any questions I can but I have no connection except being a happy customer.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Freedompop
I bought a Freedompop mingle hotspot for $44 shipped. It is a refurbished Virgin mobile hotspot that does 4G/LTE and 3G. I got it to toss in the trailer for when we are out and about and either needed more data than the two Cricket phones offer or if they could not connect on the AT&T network. Freedompop uses the Sprint network, I'd also like something on Verizon too.
Freedompops basic plan is 500 mbs of 4g/LTE data a month for free. Having it be free month to month means it can be a back up, turned on when needed and extra data is $10 a Gig. They give you a 2 gig plan for the first month, so I have been giving it a good test.
The Mingle took a week to get here. They start your account the day it ships so that it is ready to go when you get it. It started right up and caught a 3G signal that while not as fast as the high speed, wasn't bad either. The 4G started connecting after joining their forum and listing it as the reason. In seconds I had a email and 100 mbs free for the inconvenience. Minutes later I turn the Mingle back on and it connected to 4G even though I am a half a block from the coverage area. 4G is faster to load than 3G most of the time.
The connection was 1 bar at best as I live 20 miles from downtown Denver. Even so most web pages loaded fine like on the high speed. You tube and videos took longer to load but ran fine after that. Even Pogo games loaded up and ran, the only website I have issue with was photobucket and it happens on my Cricket phone too. Switching the Mingle to the much stronger in my area 3G signal seems to allow photobucket to load.
The ability to use 3G on the free account cost $4 a month. Worth it if you don't get 4G or you travel a lot and need the expanded coverage of 3G
I was worried about Sprints coverage as I know it isn't the same as AT&T or Verizon. Sprints 4G map shows strong in major cities which I can attest to here in Denver. I have also had it out to the sticks in Michigan and got 4G out there too. Places like Quartzsite don't have 4G but do have 3G.
Freedompop has monthly plans including 3G that work out to the same $10 a gig in 2,3,4,5 and 10 gig sizes. You can roll over 500 mb's a month for $4 up to 20g. They have all the same plans for smart phones but I don't use them.
In testing out the Mingle and the Cricket phone hotspot I have been able to closely watch just how much data I use doing various things online. I was surprized to find out that checking email, cruising the forum and playing pogo hardly uses any data at all. I can Pogo bowl all day everyday and not use up the 500 mb's I get for free on the Mingle, not to mention the 20 gigs the phones give us.
Streaming, now that takes up some data. I have streamed hockey and football games and three games took up 5 gigs of data. Just listening to them isn't nothing but it eats up data much slower. Looking at pictures can eat it up too, I still need to attempt to upload a picture on photobucket to see what happens.
So what started out with me trying to find alternative connections for while on the road has turned into the realization that we don't need to pay $130 for high speed internet and cable TV or the land line that anymore is only used to keep the security connected. The hotspots will provide the internet. We get 30 usable channels OTA and the alarm will be switched to wireless for a small fee. That's $200 a month not going down the drain for nothing. That kind of money would allow me to upgrade the trailer for free and still be saving $200 a month after it's paid off.
Now up in the mountains there is no OTA signals and so far the internet has been only early in the day. We do use a Tailgater satellite system them but occasionally paying for that or some extra data here and there is still a lot less than paying for it all here all the time.
You can go to Freedompop.com to see their offers on phones and hotspots. I think it is a good service so far if you are in their coverage area and do not use huge amounts of data. I looked last night to get a Mingle for my mother in law that rarely uses internet but the only offer for her was a more expensive MiFi 500 that is going for $69.
I wanted to add a few things.
Freedompop friends is a program where you add list of emails of other freedopmpop users and get a free half a gig of data a month. You can also share you data back and forth between these friends up to 100 mb per friend and 500 mb shared or received.
Like ringplus, you have to watch the deals. They have run free plans for phones with unlimited talk and text and nearly 2 gigs of data.
Freedompops basic plan is 500 mbs of 4g/LTE data a month for free. Having it be free month to month means it can be a back up, turned on when needed and extra data is $10 a Gig. They give you a 2 gig plan for the first month, so I have been giving it a good test.
The Mingle took a week to get here. They start your account the day it ships so that it is ready to go when you get it. It started right up and caught a 3G signal that while not as fast as the high speed, wasn't bad either. The 4G started connecting after joining their forum and listing it as the reason. In seconds I had a email and 100 mbs free for the inconvenience. Minutes later I turn the Mingle back on and it connected to 4G even though I am a half a block from the coverage area. 4G is faster to load than 3G most of the time.
The connection was 1 bar at best as I live 20 miles from downtown Denver. Even so most web pages loaded fine like on the high speed. You tube and videos took longer to load but ran fine after that. Even Pogo games loaded up and ran, the only website I have issue with was photobucket and it happens on my Cricket phone too. Switching the Mingle to the much stronger in my area 3G signal seems to allow photobucket to load.
The ability to use 3G on the free account cost $4 a month. Worth it if you don't get 4G or you travel a lot and need the expanded coverage of 3G
I was worried about Sprints coverage as I know it isn't the same as AT&T or Verizon. Sprints 4G map shows strong in major cities which I can attest to here in Denver. I have also had it out to the sticks in Michigan and got 4G out there too. Places like Quartzsite don't have 4G but do have 3G.
Freedompop has monthly plans including 3G that work out to the same $10 a gig in 2,3,4,5 and 10 gig sizes. You can roll over 500 mb's a month for $4 up to 20g. They have all the same plans for smart phones but I don't use them.
In testing out the Mingle and the Cricket phone hotspot I have been able to closely watch just how much data I use doing various things online. I was surprized to find out that checking email, cruising the forum and playing pogo hardly uses any data at all. I can Pogo bowl all day everyday and not use up the 500 mb's I get for free on the Mingle, not to mention the 20 gigs the phones give us.
Streaming, now that takes up some data. I have streamed hockey and football games and three games took up 5 gigs of data. Just listening to them isn't nothing but it eats up data much slower. Looking at pictures can eat it up too, I still need to attempt to upload a picture on photobucket to see what happens.
So what started out with me trying to find alternative connections for while on the road has turned into the realization that we don't need to pay $130 for high speed internet and cable TV or the land line that anymore is only used to keep the security connected. The hotspots will provide the internet. We get 30 usable channels OTA and the alarm will be switched to wireless for a small fee. That's $200 a month not going down the drain for nothing. That kind of money would allow me to upgrade the trailer for free and still be saving $200 a month after it's paid off.
Now up in the mountains there is no OTA signals and so far the internet has been only early in the day. We do use a Tailgater satellite system them but occasionally paying for that or some extra data here and there is still a lot less than paying for it all here all the time.
You can go to Freedompop.com to see their offers on phones and hotspots. I think it is a good service so far if you are in their coverage area and do not use huge amounts of data. I looked last night to get a Mingle for my mother in law that rarely uses internet but the only offer for her was a more expensive MiFi 500 that is going for $69.
I wanted to add a few things.
Freedompop friends is a program where you add list of emails of other freedopmpop users and get a free half a gig of data a month. You can also share you data back and forth between these friends up to 100 mb per friend and 500 mb shared or received.
Like ringplus, you have to watch the deals. They have run free plans for phones with unlimited talk and text and nearly 2 gigs of data.
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