Those of y'all using phone hot spots... Coupla questions

[Tom55555]

How often do you find a place where it doesn't work?

-Don- Okeechobee, FL

I find most carriers have the same coverage anymore.

Satellite works everywhere but is expensive.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I find most carriers have the same coverage anymore.

Satellite works everywhere but is expensive.

Don't try using T-Mobile at the Salt Springs Recreation Area or Midway Campground in Florida. That would be 24 days of our winter stay with no service if we didn't have AT&T and Verizon as well.

 

[UTTransplant]

We now have two unlimited MiFi (Verizon and T-Mobile), and we use about 50-100 GB a month. That includes lots of surfing and such plus audiobook and ebook downloads with some video streaming. When we had only hot spots on our phone, we were much more conservative and used 15-25GB each. Generally I was the higher user. We have definitely found places where only one carrier could give reasonable data speeds which is why we have two devices.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Well, here's a report for you and a little history of our activities.

First, my wife and I both work for 2 different companies (Information Technology - Software development) and over the last year we have both worked exclusively from home. We decided to take "work" on the road, so we did. The only problem we had was AT&T did not play nice with my wife's work computer. After trying different attempts and services for mobile hot spots, we kind of gave up. My company computers (2 of them) worked just fine with AT&T.

We found a campground in Alabama that had a paid WIFI service, so in January and February we went there and stayed for 6 weeks. We still used our AT&T for streaming videos, as their service didn't handle our Roku televisions very well.

In April, we were in North Carolina. By now, we had discovered Visible, a truly unlimited .... TRULY unlimited service. We purchased a router that connected to the phone so we could run multiple devices all at the same time.

May through Steptember, we traveled all over Indiana, and Kentucky, still working from the camper. Visible responded flawless. AT&T was a good back up, and as always, any local campground wifi just sucked.

October, we travel Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and back to Indiana. Again, working from camper, streaming videos on our Roku televisions (almost endlessly). Flipping back and forth between Visible and AT&T.

November and December we are back home. The wife and I using exclusively our Visible phone for our work computers, and streaming video on the televisions is coming from our home internet service.

Now, again, Visible is 100'% truly unlimited. And we started using Visible in April 2021. I check our on-line monthly bill and no where does it record data usage.

However, our AT&T past bills does record data usage. We also have an unlimited data plan with AT&T (3 phones). And here's what our usage was for AT&T.

December 2020: 13.62 GB
January 2021: 30.04 GB
February 2021: 8.4 GB
March 2021: 8.74 GB
April 2021: 18.42 GB
May 2021: 17.25 GB
June 2021: 16.87
July 2021: 11.04 GB
Aug 2021: 20.04 GB
Sep 2021: 12.16 GB
Oct 2021: 19.76 GB
Nov 2021: 12.45 GB
Dec 2021: 8.78 GB

 

[Fweezal]

Well, here's a report for you and a little history of our activities.

First, my wife and I both work for 2 different companies (Information Technology - Software development) and over the last year we have both worked exclusively from home. We decided to take "work" on the road, so we did. The only problem we had was AT&T did not play nice with my wife's work computer. After trying different attempts and services for mobile hot spots, we kind of gave up. My company computers (2 of them) worked just fine with AT&T.

We found a campground in Alabama that had a paid WIFI service, so in January and February we went there and stayed for 6 weeks. We still used our AT&T for streaming videos, as their service didn't handle our Roku televisions very well.

In April, we were in North Carolina. By now, we had discovered Visible, a truly unlimited .... TRULY unlimited service. We purchased a router that connected to the phone so we could run multiple devices all at the same time.

May through Steptember, we traveled all over Indiana, and Kentucky, still working from the camper. Visible responded flawless. AT&T was a good back up, and as always, any local campground wifi just sucked.

October, we travel Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and back to Indiana. Again, working from camper, streaming videos on our Roku televisions (almost endlessly). Flipping back and forth between Visible and AT&T.

November and December we are back home. The wife and I using exclusively our Visible phone for our work computers, and streaming video on the televisions is coming from our home internet service.

Now, again, Visible is 100'% truly unlimited. And we started using Visible in April 2021. I check our on-line monthly bill and no where does it record data usage.

However, our AT&T past bills does record data usage. We also have an unlimited data plan with AT&T (3 phones). And here's what our usage was for AT&T.

December 2020: 13.62 GB
January 2021: 30.04 GB
February 2021: 8.4 GB
March 2021: 8.74 GB
April 2021: 18.42 GB
May 2021: 17.25 GB
June 2021: 16.87
July 2021: 11.04 GB
Aug 2021: 20.04 GB
Sep 2021: 12.16 GB
Oct 2021: 19.76 GB
Nov 2021: 12.45 GB
Dec 2021: 8.78 GB

THANK YOU! Extremely helpful!

 

[LarsMac]

So far, the most I've paid google Fi for data was for 15 GB one month. That was when I was binge-watching the Expanse on Amazon, and the Mrs was watching some Outlander something or other. We average about 6 GB when on the road and using the hot spot.

 

[DonTom]

if we didn't have AT&T and Verizon as well.

Do you find any / many places where AT&T works, but Verizon doesn't?

-Don- St. Cloud, FL

 

[NY_Dutch]

Do you find any / many places where AT&T works, but Verizon doesn't?

-Don- St. Cloud, FL

A few places, but most commonly it's places where AT&T gives us a better/faster service than Verizon. AT&T has been upgrading their towers for awhile now, and I can see the effects of the improvements when I compare my notes from previous visits to the same locations. I can say that when I check the Cell Mapper web site, it's T-Mobile towers that are more commonly missing or much farther away than AT&T or Verizon towers in the areas we typically visit.

 

[DonTom]

A few places, but most commonly it's places where AT&T gives us a better/faster service than Verizon.

OIC. I only rarely find a place my Verizon Hotspot doesn't work well. I can name the few places it didn't work. Big Bend of Texas. Belmont, NV (ghost town in the middle of nowhere) and Death Valley (where it did work fine a few years ago). I have a Verizon Hotspot ("unlimited" plan) and a PAYG Verizon cell phone.

In Death Valley, the cellphone worked perfectly, just no Hotspot at all. Strong signal shown on both, but no compatibility on the Hotspot.

In the Everglades, the Hotspot worked perfectly, strong signal. No cellphone at all. No bars. Nothing.

Here in St. Cloud, both work well.

-Don- St. Cloud, FL

 

[LarsMac]

Where we live, now, Verizon is the worst signal. ATT is a bit better.
T-Mobile is the only one of the big 3 reliable enough to depend on.

 

[garyb1st]

We have a Verizon Mifi with 30 gigs. I'll use that in 20 days while trying to be conservative. For me, much of my usage is from checking Google maps and sites like Campendium which uses a map program for camp site directions. That said, I also listen to music on youtube and a few news stories. Can't say how much is from maps vs the youtube stuff, but think the map usage can take a fair amount of data.

 

[Cameodon]

WOW! I guess you DO!

I wonder if he has time for anything else??? LOL

 

[jymbee]

In Death Valley, the cellphone worked perfectly, just no Hotspot at all.

In the Everglades, the Hotspot worked perfectly, strong signal. No cellphone at all. No bars. Nothing.

-Don- St. Cloud, FL

I know that the "bars" don't tell the whole story as many think but did not realize that one could have a strong cell signal but not hotspot or good hotspot and no cell??

Please provide a detailed, in depth explanation of just how that works. (KIDDING )

 

[DonTom]

Please provide a detailed, in depth explanation of just how that works.

I think my PAYG Verizon cell doesn't allow all the "extended" services that my Verizon Hotspot allows. Perhaps if my cell was NOT on a PAYG, it would have worked fine in the Everglades.

Verizon puts a lot of restrictions on PAYG phones. For an example, mine will NOT work in Canada where the non-PAYG Verizon phones work fine.

My cell gets used perhaps three times per year. And that is mostly during my RV trips. So that why I am on the Pay As You Go Plan. The places where it has no service are rare.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[CharlesinGA]

For anyone who depends on their connection for their livelyhood, watch this video.

It was an earlier video of Marc's from two or three years ago that convinced me to go to Visible. Its $40 per month. Now, if you join a "party" it drops to $35 with two phones on the "party" and then $30 for three phones on the "party" and finally $25 if four or more phones on the "party". The party can be one you create to include your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, total strangers, etc. You have no connection to them as far as billing or anything else. There are "parties" found on Facebook groups, that you can join, etc. (its kinda like a group discount or a corporate discount) I had been using it at $40 a month by myself, then I talked my travel buddy (former co-worker, I retired) into signing up and he created a party and we had both him and his wife, and myself in the party, at that point we were at $30 per month each. Then I talked a neighbor who is also a former co-worker, and still works with my travel buddy, into switching, and they put two phones on the "party" and also used my "friend" (referral) code that got me a $5 month and them a $5 month also, and now all five phones are at $25 a month each regular price.

Marc of also has a couple of good Starlink videos he has published recently. https://www.youtube.com/c/GrandAdventure/videos

Visible is a subsidiary of Verizon, so it runs on the Verizon system. I have noticed that once in a while, things get busy I suspect and the system prioritizes regular Verizon customers over the Visible customers, but the slowdowns don't last long and don't happen very often.

"We run on Verizon’s 4G* LTE, 5G** Ultra Wideband, and 5G Nationwide Networks, so it’s very likely you’re covered+. To check out your specific area, take a look at our Coverage Map.
*In times of traffic, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic.
*5G will be capped at 200Mbps. 5G currently available on select devices. 5G Ultra Wideband available only in parts of select cities. 5G Nationwide available in 1800+ cities."

If you have a rather new phone, there is a place where you can plug in info about the phone, IMEI number on the back of Android phones, or for iOS you use a drop down to enter your phone's information, it will tell you if the phone is compatible with Visible. If you need a phone, they have rather good deals on phones, and they are totally unlocked phones. When I got my new Motorola I was surprised to see that the FM radio in the phone actually worked. All of the phones from other providers lock out the FM radio. All you have to have is a set of wired ear buds to act as an antenna.

When I do travel, I hotspot to the tablet or the Laptop. They will throttle you if more than one device is hotspotted so you want to use the "travel router" mentioned somewhere above, here is but one example.....

GL.iNet GL-MT1300 (Beryl) VPN Secure Travel Gigabit Wireless Router, AC1300 400Mbps (2.4GHz) + 867Mbps (5GHz) Wi-Fi, Pocket-Sized Hotspot, IPv6, Tor, MicroSD Slot, USB3.0 for Wi-Fi Repeater

The travel router is the one device the phone hotspot will see, and everything else gets connected to the router, so you don't get throttled.

I know I sound like an advertisement for Visible, but after having paid so much in the past for phone service, and knowing others pay a lot now for service, I just gotta shout it out............

Charles

 

[8Muddypaws]

My wife plays games on Facebook. I've tried to get her to stop but had no luck. Her games consume 1-2 GB per day! No streaming. Between our two phones and a hotspot we have up to 45GB on Verizon.

I tether the phones to a travel router similar to the one already referenced in this thread.

I'm ready to switch to Visible but because we're on our son's family plan and pay 6 months at a time it's complicated.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I'm ready to switch to Visible but because we're on our son's family plan and pay 6 months at a time it's complicated.

You can get a Visible phone for less than $100 (scroll down their web page) and $25 a month for the service. Keep your present phone(s) and get a Visible phone just for the unlimited data hotspot. You can set up monthly autopay from a credit card.

I have a Visible ZTE phone I got a year or so ago (it was free with a trade-in of a bootable phone) and it works surprisingly well. The current version is the Blade A7 for $79. On this trip I discovered it can make a phone call while the hotspot continues sending streaming video to my laptop without interruption. And simultaneously run the app and Bluetooth link to the Victron Smart Shunt monitoring my battery bank.

 

[Lou Schneider]

If you go to sign up for Visible, you will need the "friend" (referral) code when you first place your order. For example my "friends" code is.......... <deleted>

It's not cool to post affiliate links on this Forum. Besides, Visible has their own "friend" code at the top of their website. "2FOR22" gives a new subscriber two months of service for $22. That's enough time to find and join a group to get $25 a month afterwards.

 

[CharlesinGA]

It's not cool to post affiliate links on this Forum. Besides, Visible has their own "friend" code at the top of their website. "2FOR22" gives a new subscriber two months of service for $22. That's enough time to find and join a group to get $25 a month afterwards.

fixed, sorry...................
Charles