The HUGE difference with me switching to Virgin Mobile, is that it's an unlimited plan for the month. When your month is up, you can renew right away, or wait a few days or weeks, or months, there is no contract that forces you to pay for it every month. For people like me, on the move, this is fantastic. I recently hit the road again unexpectedly.
Virgin Mobile finally fixed their map, so that you can check for coverage by addresses etc. Since I often stay in budget friendly parks, this is important for me to be able to check for coverage ahead of time, since I need internet for work. I don't need it for play, other than the movie download is lovely, in my situation.
I've been able to do all my work, plus download some movies for fun. Typically, I set mine to download the movies in the middle of the night, while I am sleeping. Then I can watch them at my leisure. I don't own a TV, I know that sounds insane, but none came with my old motorhome. The guy kept removing things from the motorhome before we finally closed the deal, and the TV left one day before I bought it, but it wasn't the newfangled digital kind, and it wasn't installed, so it didn't really matter.
I know TV's are cheap, but mounting one is really expensive, so I've not been able to afford all that. There really is no where to put a TV in my motorhome without mounting it with a bracket to drop down from the ceiling or an angle bracket in the bedroom. The brackets and installation is what seems so expensive. So being able to download some movies with Virgin Mobile without the hassle of paying a bloody fortune (per AT&T and other carriers that limit your monthly quota) has been a nice bonus for me.
Some RV parks provide internet for free, but some have this horrible plan where you pay extra fees that aren't budget friendly. Also one park was snooping at my usage and complained about my use, until I told them I was a travel writer, who needed to upload pics etc, then they unblocked me, still it gave me the creeps they were monitoring my usage.
Of course I am used to the budget parks, I can't just show up and pay ridiculous rates at the fancy RV Resorts, because they offer free Wifi.
On a funny side note, on several occasions when I contacted AT&T about coverage or the fact my internet was dropping every few seconds, they repeatedly suggested I go to McDonald's and use their free WiFi.
I thought that was hilarious, why would I pay for AT&T if I was going to camp out at McDonald's to use their free Wifi?
Besides, there is nothing on a McDonald's menu I would ever eat, though I once let the dog eat a hamburger from there.
I don't think McDonald's wants me or anyone to camp out there using their Wifi without spending money with them, but it's funny (to me) that AT&T told me on several occasions to go there for free Wifi, since their system rarely worked in the areas they promised it would.
I just hate being tied to a contract, when I travel so much and could end up out of range of the contract.
So Far, I've been able to find budget-friendly parks and campgrounds where my Virgin Mobile worked fine.
There are a few parks I would love to go to, but their coverage doesn't extend there, so that's an issue sometimes, as I often travel down the less beaten path.
Currently I am in Florida, which is notoriously expensive for RVing in the winter. I found a budget park at $17 a night where my Virgin Mobile works fine, so I am one happy camper with this new arrangement with Virgin Mobile.