Hotspot Data Connections

[NY_Dutch]

Hi Dutch ,
Does the hotspot pickup a better signal. I am using an S8 for my hotspot and a GL router.
The S 8 seems to get a better signal than the Visible phone I bought from them.
I also only use it for the hotspot

The 7730L hotspot I'm using does get a much better signal than the cheap phone I got on trade from Visible, but it was never my intent to use their phone anyway beyond initial testing. I'm currently using an aimable dual yagi antenna pair configured as a MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) set plugged into the hotspot. That makes a huge difference in signal strengths...

 

[Robert K]

Thanks Dutch

 

[NY_Dutch]

Thinking we want to go the Visible route.  Lots of research ahead 

Since Visible is a pre-paid month to month no-contract service, there's little to be lost if it doesn't work out for you.

 

[IBTripping]

I switched from Verizon to Visible and I'm happy with it. It has unlimited data including hotspot use. I've streamed a lot of TV with mine.

 

[phil-t]

Well, I dug out an old iPhone 6s that I had on ATT years ago, got it unlocked and ordered a Visible SIM.  Tested today in the campground I'm hosting in for the next 2 months.  Streamed a CBS show or two, a movie and DW did an on line meeting with Zoom.  Looking good.  Noe to get in on a Visible Party Group for the big savings.  If I do that and back off our two current Verizon phones to unlimited with no hotspot, the Visible service will be $5/month over what we are currently paying for 30 gig of hotspot data (15 each) with Verizon. 
Nor on to a SOHO router to get all of our "stuff" connected on a LAN.  Looking at the Pepwave Surf SOHO MK3 Router with 802.11ac WiFi for about $200.00 - it'll take the wifi hotspot from the Visible phone as an internet connection for the LAN. 
Maybe some sort of cell signal booster is in the future as well.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Well, I dug out an old iPhone 6s that I had on ATT years ago, got it unlocked and ordered a Visible SIM.  Tested today in the campground I'm hosting in for the next 2 months.  Streamed a CBS show or two, a movie and DW did an on line meeting with Zoom.  Looking good.  Noe to get in on a Visible Party Group for the big savings.  If I do that and back off our two current Verizon phones to unlimited with no hotspot, the Visible service will be $5/month over what we are currently paying for 30 gig of hotspot data (15 each) with Verizon. 
Nor on to a SOHO router to get all of our "stuff" connected on a LAN.  Looking at the Pepwave Surf SOHO MK3 Router with 802.11ac WiFi for about $200.00 - it'll take the wifi hotspot from the Visible phone as an internet connection for the LAN. 
Maybe some sort of cell signal booster is in the future as well.

Check here for available parties to join: https://www.reddit.com/r/VisiblePartyPay/

 

[phil-t]

Check here for available parties to join: https://www.reddit.com/r/VisiblePartyPay/

I got into a "Party", last one of the four, so good to go, for now.  Thanks for the link Dutch.  Another question, been reading about the 7730 hotspot and getting mixed comments on the usability on Visible - did you have to do anything to your hotspot other than insert the Visible SIM?

Phil

 

[jymbee]

To add another plug for Visible, I'm sitting here watching a movie on FX with my FireTVsick connected to a Verizon Novatel 7730L hotspot equipped with a Visible SIM. At $25/mo with Visible's "Party Pay" option, it's a heck of a deal for unlimited data even if you don't use the unlimited voice and text.

Hi Dutch-- for a long time, Verizon wireless was the only option in the rural area where we live. For better or worse I stuck with them for a number of years always thinking that well, they probably have the best national coverage and all providers have a "got'cha" caveat when it comes to "unlimited" data anyway.

Right now we have two phones and a tablet all under a Verizon unlimited plan. Also have a Verizon 8800L hotspot which hasn't been used for a year. 15 GB of hotspot data per month each for phones & tablet then it slows WAY down after than until the next monthly cycle kicks in. Certainly would be nice to have a bit more headroom as currently we have to be fairly conservative with things like streaming movies e.g.

If I understand what you're saying, we could put a Visible SIM in the Verizon hotspot, sign up with them-- single or their party plan-- and end up with unlimited data with no caps?

Right now we're paying Verizon around $120/mo. for all and if i works as advertised with respect to similar (same?) coverage from Verizon, might be time to make a move.

 

[phil-t]

FYI - Visible uses Verizon's cell sites, all of them.  The plan is unlimited (no caps, or slowdowns).  I am in a "not great" location right now and the data download speed I'm getting from Visible on an iphone hotspot is ~5MB/s or better.  Depends a lot on the particular cell site congestion, or lack of.  Pretty sure Verizon traffic is prioritzed over Visible but not sure.  So far, 2 days, I'm pleased with it.  I won't switch our phones off Verizon though, using Visible for a dedicated hotspot in the motorhome.  Visible does not support roaming, at all; so won't work for me at home, on the Canadian border.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Hi Dutch-- for a long time, Verizon wireless was the only option in the rural area where we live. For better or worse I stuck with them for a number of years always thinking that well, they probably have the best national coverage and all providers have a "got'cha" caveat when it comes to "unlimited" data anyway.

Right now we have two phones and a tablet all under a Verizon unlimited plan. Also have a Verizon 8800L hotspot which hasn't been used for a year. 15 GB of hotspot data per month each for phones & tablet then it slows WAY down after than until the next monthly cycle kicks in. Certainly would be nice to have a bit more headroom as currently we have to be fairly conservative with things like streaming movies e.g.

If I understand what you're saying, we could put a Visible SIM in the Verizon hotspot, sign up with them-- single or their party plan-- and end up with unlimited data with no caps?

Right now we're paying Verizon around $120/mo. for all and if i works as advertised with respect to similar (same?) coverage from Verizon, might be time to make a move.

Visible is a prepaid plan and it works well on Verizon's towers. If you have a Visible compatible phone, signing up with them won't tie up much money to find out how well it works for you. Visible will not supply a SIM directly for a hotspot, but so far they haven't complained about moving one there after signing up.

 

[Lou Schneider]

FYI - Visible uses Verizon's cell sites, all of them. 

Technically right, but there are several areas around the USA where Verizon uses third party towers, and Visible doesn't.

Take a close look at the Visible vs. Verizon coverage maps and you'll see them.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I got into a "Party", last one of the four, so good to go, for now.  Thanks for the link Dutch.  Another question, been reading about the 7730 hotspot and getting mixed comments on the usability on Visible - did you have to do anything to your hotspot other than insert the Visible SIM?

Phil

My apologies for the late reply. Been on the road and somehow missed your post, Phil. When you install the Visible SIM in the hotspot, go into the "Advanced" Jetpack settings with the administrative login on your PC and change the APN to "VSBLINTERNET" (without quotes). That's the only change needed...

 

[phil-t]

Technically right, but there are several areas around the USA where Verizon uses third party towers, and Visible doesn't.

Take a close look at the Visible vs. Verizon coverage maps and you'll see them.

Thanks Lou, I remember that from travels in the recent past.

 

[jymbee]

Visible is a prepaid plan and it works well on Verizon's towers. If you have a Visible compatible phone, signing up with them won't tie up much money to find out how well it works for you. Visible will not supply a SIM directly for a hotspot, but so far they haven't complained about moving one there after signing up.

Thanks much for the details. I searched their site and one of our phones supposedly is compatible. So if I sign up, they send me their SIM and rather than put it in that phone, I could put it in our 8800L Verizon hotspot and hopefully it would work? I say hopefully as obviously there are no guarantees but given reasonable odds might be worth trying given not that much $$$ outlay.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Thanks much for the details. I searched their site and one of our phones supposedly is compatible. So if I sign up, they send me their SIM and rather than put it in that phone, I could put it in our 8800L Verizon hotspot and hopefully it would work? I say hopefully as obviously there are no guarantees but given reasonable odds might be worth trying given not that much $$$ outlay.

Yes, it's almost that simple. You will need to go into the 8800L's administration utility from your PC and change the APN to "VSBLINTERNET" (no quotes) in the "Advanced" settings.

 

[jymbee]

Yes, it's almost that simple. You will need to go into the 8800L's administration utility from your PC and change the APN to "VSBLINTERNET" (no quotes) in the "Advanced" settings.

Welllll... spent a LOT of time reading user's experience with Visible and as one might expect, testimonies range from the "greatest thing ever" to "my Visible descent into hell". 

Considering all options and curious as to what Verizon offered were I to reactivate our 8600L Hotspot, I called and they said they could activate with 30 GB/mo for fifteen bucks. So for the time being at least, I decided to go that route. I'll keep an eye on data usage and see if going this route gives us enough hotspot data to watch pretty much what we want. Given 15 GB x 3 devices + 30 GB with the hotspot, seems like that should be enough!

Wondering how in HELL my parents ever got by manually rotating the rooftop antennae in order to watch ONE of THREE television channels. Having to GET UP and walk over to the set to change those channels no less!  :

 

[NY_Dutch]

Welllll... spent a LOT of time reading user's experience with Visible and as one might expect, testimonies range from the "greatest thing ever" to "my Visible descent into hell". 

Considering all options and curious as to what Verizon offered were I to reactivate our 8600L Hotspot, I called and they said they could activate with 30 GB/mo for fifteen bucks. So for the time being at least, I decided to go that route. I'll keep an eye on data usage and see if going this route gives us enough hotspot data to watch pretty much what we want. Given 15 GB x 3 devices + 30 GB with the hotspot, seems like that should be enough!

Wondering how in HELL my parents ever got by manually rotating the rooftop antennae in order to watch ONE of THREE television channels. Having to GET UP and walk over to the set to change those channels no less!  :

I don't know what your data usage will be of course, but we regularly hit 150+ GB/mo.

My father had a convenient "remote control" for our TV back in the day: "Dutch, switch the TV to channel 6 please, and turn the volume up a little."

 

[Larry N.]

Wondering how in HELL my parents ever got by manually rotating the rooftop antennae in order to watch ONE of THREE television channels. Having to GET UP and walk over to the set to change those channels no less!  :

When I was 10 the first TV station came to town. A year later we got a set. It was so new that, though the station didn't come on the air until 5 PM my brother and I would sit in front of the TV (tiny screen, big console) about a quarter 'til and watch the test pattern until the first show came on -- Crusader Rabbit. It was an interesting change from listening to Tom Corbett - Space Cadet and The Lone Ranger on radio. And since that was the ONLY channel, we didn't have to get up to change channels, either.  And we actually had a cartoon that we could watch at home, not having to wait until Saturday morning to go to the theater to watch an hour of cartoons and then a B movie feature.

It was so very different from having to supply the visuals mentally while listening to the radio. Looking back, I wonder if it really WAS better...

 

[phil-t]

Technically right, but there are several areas around the USA where Verizon uses third party towers, and Visible doesn't.

Take a close look at the Visible vs. Verizon coverage maps and you'll see them.

And that's OK for voice, I am not changing away from Verizon for our phones.  Those third party tower connections work like crap for data anyways, be it Verizon or Visible.

 

[phil-t]

So, here's is what I have done to date - gets me by till I decide if I want more flexibility on the WAN side of connectability.
Old iPhone 6s with Viisible SIM (on Party Pay) $25/Mo. tethered to a "GL.iNet GL-AR750S-Ext (Slate) Gigabit Travel AC VPN Router"  from Amazon for $60.00. It will take the usb tether from the hotspot or iPhone.  I will be installing a Novatel 7730L hotspot, purchased off EBAY for $55 as soon as it arrives, the iPhone is a bit flaky.  The router is powered via a second usb port and powers the iPhone from it's connection to the router.  It's a very neat little, powerful, box.  I have the internal network, WiFi and ethernet ports, configured with my own settings and all equipment, laptops, printer, firestick, google chromecast, works great.
After changing our Verizon unlimited plans to NO hotspot data I am spending $5/mo. more for true unlimited from Visible.  Maybe add an external antenna for the hotspot in the near future.  My throughput on the Visible network has been anywhere from 5 to 15 Mb/s depending on time of day and tower congestion.  We are in a location that has access to only one tower right now.  We have been streaming our favorite TV shows and movies without any issues.
Thanks for all the comments, suggestions and help.  We are "Happy Campers", really enjoying our campground host gig; at least in the idle times of a South Carolina winter.