PrePaid Internet?

JC3

JC3

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Oct 6, 2006
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Kentucky
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Has anyone ever used a prepaid internet service? For my Daughters laptop as she and her mother travel. Any thoughts would be appreciated. JC
 
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I have a devise from verizon that I take on the boat and traveling, it works great from any location that has cell phone service. I pay a monthly fee (30 to $60 ) depending on the usage...Ric
 
I don't know about pre paid internet, but we have US Cellular Mobile Broadband and love it. This is as fast or faster than DSL Internet where we are. With mobile broadband you have a card that plugs in through a USB port and thats it. We use it w/ our laptop and normally use it at the house, but we have use it while driving and it works just as good. There are limits on how much material you can download a month, but we haven't come close to that since we got it. It costs us 50 bucks a month. I think most cell providers have this and it is probably more reliable than pre paid. Hope this helps.
 
We are on Sprint and have a Family Plan with Unlimited Data. As each of us has a Blackberry. We downloaded "Tetherberry" so when we are out and need an Internet Connection, we just use that. Sprint doesn't acknowledge support of this, but there are thousands of users, and it doesn't cost us anything extra, except for the one-time purchase price of $50 for Tetherberry from crackberry.com. Our connection speed is excellent.

Before we discovered Tetherberry, use used the Sprint Mi-Fi which cost us $100 to the hardware and $60/month for service. Luckily, we found Tetherberry before our 1-month trial service ended, so we returned the hardware for a full refund.

As with anything else, your mileage may vary...:smt001

Merry Christmas !!!!
 
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Hi Friends,
I just love the glowing reviews for there Broadband , at $100 for 6GB and No Rollover ability this truly is criminal.But i blame the government who sold it off ages ago_Only the well heeled need apply for this overpriced service.
 
ANYTIME said:
We are on Sprint and have a Family Plan with Unlimited Data. As each of us has a Blackberry. We downloaded "Tetherberry" so when we are out and need an Internet Connection, we just use that. Sprint doesn't acknowledge support of this, but there are thousands of users, and it doesn't cost us anything extra, except for the one-time purchase price of $50 for Tetherberry from crackberry.com. Our connection speed is excellent.

Before we discovered Tetherberry, use used the Sprint Mi-Fi which cost us $100 to the hardware and $60/month for service. Luckily, we found Tetherberry before our 1-month trial service ended, so we returned the hardware for a full refund.

As with anything else, your mileage may vary...:smt001

Merry Christmas !!!!
Click to expand...

This just hits me funny. A product called Tetherberry from a place called crackberry to use on my Blackberry… wow. How’d they come up with these names anyway, festive marketing dept?
 
ANYTIME said:
We are on Sprint and have a Family Plan with Unlimited Data. As each of us has a Blackberry. We downloaded "Tetherberry" so when we are out and need an Internet Connection, we just use that. Sprint doesn't acknowledge support of this, but there are thousands of users, and it doesn't cost us anything extra, except for the one-time purchase price of $50 for Tetherberry from crackberry.com. Our connection speed is excellent.

Before we discovered Tetherberry, use used the Sprint Mi-Fi which cost us $100 to the hardware and $60/month for service. Luckily, we found Tetherberry before our 1-month trial service ended, so we returned the hardware for a full refund.

As with anything else, your mileage may vary...:smt001

Merry Christmas !!!!
Click to expand...

That sounds great! I wonder if there is any way to tether my iphone in the same manner.....
 
JV in order to get your iPhone tethered you will need to jailbreak it. Not difficult to do. Then there is a great app call MyWi which is $9.99 and allows you to connect wirelessly to your iphone as a router and share its data connection. Have to warn you that it is most likely against the terms of service from AT&T so I would not use it on a regular basis where you would sucking down GB's of data. But for the occational use or from the boat it worked well for me.
 
If the use is only occasional I like the above posted idea of tethering the laptop to a cell phone.


Regarding prepaid wireless internet the below link gives a reasonable balanced overview of one option.
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/...-internet-a-great-idea-but-can-you-afford-it/


The next step up is to get a dedicated data device like a EVDO air card.

There is a relatively new device called a mifi, it’s a dedicated card that creates a mini-wifi signal. This allows multiple laptops or other wireless devices that can use internet service like a i-pod touch to have internet access.

I’m presently using a air card. I’m considering a mifi device.
 
Presentation said:
If the use is only occasional I like the above posted idea of tethering the laptop to a cell phone.


Regarding prepaid wireless internet the below link gives a reasonable balanced overview of one option.
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/...-internet-a-great-idea-but-can-you-afford-it/


The next step up is to get a dedicated data device like a EVDO air card.

There is a relatively new device called a mifi, it’s a dedicated card that creates a mini-wifi signal. This allows multiple laptops or other wireless devices that can use internet service like a i-pod touch to have internet access.

I’m presently using a air card. I’m considering a mifi device.
Click to expand...
If cost and the inconvenience of carrying another 3.5"x3.5"x0.5" battery powered device is not an issue, the MiFi is by far the best choice for this. For us, the cost was too much so we opted for the tetheredBlackberry solution. I am experimenting with Bluetooth to try to avoid having to use a tethering cable between my laptop and the Blackberry.
 
JVM225 said:
That sounds great! I wonder if there is any way to tether my iphone in the same manner.....
Click to expand...

This probably belongs in its own Thread, but I will keep it short.

We loved the iPhone and the convenience of its intuitive interface and all the applications. We just couldn't tolerate the PI$$ POOR networking services of AT&T. More than 50% dropped calls, of calls that couldn't be completed. Now, with Sprint and the Blackberry, I have superior phone/internet service at a significantly lower cost.

Okay, I feel better. I am stepping off of my Soap Box and turning programming back to the OP......
 
ANYTIME said:
.....I am experimenting with Bluetooth to try to avoid having to use a tethering cable between my laptop and the Blackberry.
Click to expand...



Please update us on how that goes. I love the concept of doing this, epically if you could be on the phone at the same time.

This technology is still evolving. My crystal ball is saying that in a few years we will see better, faster and less expensive alternatives. At least that is what I am hoping happens.

What are ‘they’ doing with all the extra bandwidth they got by making all of us buy new TV’s?
 
No experience yet, but I'm considering Virgin Mobile prepaid broadband with no contract. Purchase the USB device for about $100 once, then purchase one of three download amounts ($10, $20, or $40) that are good for 30 days. You can vary the amount each month, or skip a month. Operates on the Sprint network. Has anyone tried this yet?
 
Presentation said:
Please update us on how that goes. I love the concept of doing this, epically if you could be on the phone at the same time.

This technology is still evolving. My crystal ball is saying that in a few years we will see better, faster and less expensive alternatives. At least that is what I am hoping happens.

What are ‘they’ doing with all the extra bandwidth they got by making all of us buy new TV’s?
Click to expand...

I have a verizon blackberry and have added on the $15/mo broadband modem option. With this I can use the vzaccess software on my laptop, leave my blackberry in my pocket with bluetooth enabled, and it will kick into modem mode and I can get on the internet with relatively fast speeds (I can download at 150-300kb/sec). Only drawback is it will run your battery down faster (I can get at least 4 hours out of a full charge), and if you recieve or make a call your connection will drop (this only applies to verizon 3g)
 
I'm mostly tech stupid, so please excuse my ignorance here...

I was one of the early subscribers to VZW broadband access, and have unlimited service still under my old contract (not offered anymore, and I'm sure they wish I didn't).

I tried tethering my phone once, and once connected it required me to agree to the $60/month service agreement just as if I had the modem installed instead of a tethered phone.

Is there any way to tether the phone without that happening?
 
I use my I-phone tethered to my laptop, just have to "turn on" tethering function on the phone. Works very well here in Canada with Fido or Rogers. I have a data plan that costs $30 per month for 5 Gig thru Fido. excellent technology and easy to use :)
 
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