Anyone have wireless Internet?

[diablo1]

I'm looking into getting wireless internet for my laptop. I'm running into plans only allowing 5gb of full speed access with prices that range from $39.99/mo w T-Mobile to $59.99/mo with AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile tells me that I don't lose access and there are no extra fees after I use my 5gb but that my speed will slow way down. Anyone know what way down means?

Anyone have AT&T or Verizon Wireless and can tell me what happens if/when they use up their 5gb a month?

I do a lot of browsing and watching baseball and football games online. Are these going to eat up my 5gb pretty quickly also?

Can anyone recommend something better for a laptop. I'd like to get unlimited access no matter how many gb I use at around a price of $60 max?

[jomni]

I'm not in the States. 
Based on your description, there's no additional charge if you use up the 5gb from T-Mobile.  It just slows down.  How slow?  I don't know.
5gb is a lot if you only do browing.  But streaming might take up more bandwidth.  Downloading stuff is the one that eats up quickly.
 
People who actally subscribe would have a better idea.

[bairdlander2]

wireless internet,about time you modernized.

[wesy]

I have Verizon for 59.99 - i travel for work and it comes in handy in locations where you might not have a free hotspot. I rarely (if ever) come close to my 5GB limit. Frankly if the company didn't pay for it, i don't think it's worth it per se. Also, if you're expecting fast (reset your expectations). Browsing and email etc. is fine, but streaming is not something i would recommend for both the amount of bandwidth you'll chew and the less than terrific user experience.

[jomni]

Oh yeah forgot to mention.  I suppose this is 3G technology.  So it's gonna be a bit slower than a Cable/ADSL connection routed through Wifi.

A bit pricey? Here in Singapore, I get 12gb for SGD 30 (USD 22) for my wireless plan (iPhone).

[NefariousKoel]

I used Alltel's unlimited plan for about 3 years before being grandfathered into Verizon's muggery.

I was getting between 1 and 1.5 Mb download speeds out in my flyover country home. However, there would be spans of time where it would cut out and give me some missing packets if I were doing anything realtime. Then it would clear up for awhile.. and back to misbehaving again later. I had called their CS at least seven times between the two companies when these often month-long stretches happened and they basically told me that if I hit the connect button on the software and it ways that I'm connected, that's all I get.

I felt good, after moving back to the city, being able to tell them to shove it. I had needed their EVDO wireless out where I had no real high-speed internet, but once I had a non-monopolized choice it was F-U Verizon. Although they did have much faster speeds than that the old GSM companies (AT&T, T-Mobile) and better coverage. In order to get a relatively flawless internet connection capable of realtime things such as most gaming and VOIP, you need a very good signal.. otherwise it's 'jumpy'. Since Verizon took over Alltel, nobody has an unlimited data plan now which is thinly disguised highway robbery. If you have the dough and the patience, then you're fine.

[diablo1]

I like the fact that T-Mobile offers no overage charges or fees just slows me down. I don't know what speed I'm even browsing right now on the net? Is that the download speed of the service? If so I've been used to 2.5kb per second with dialup and then upgraded to 729kb per second DSL and recently got offered 3.0mb for the same price as 729kb in some upgrade package deal AT&T has been offering this year to new subscribers and giving old subscribers sort of a deal on it that threaten to quit/leave their service haha. They are so easy to manipulate when you are going to quit them. Just like old AOL used to be.

So right now I'm getting 3.0mb per second for $15 a month and thinking seriously about T-Mobile now for $39.99 a month for mobile internet. I want to watch football games at work and my job just doesn't have a decent wifi connection like 1 line on the graph.

T-Mobile tech says about 20 hours of video streaming a month will eat up my 5gb and that would be about 6 games of football. Definitely no downloading PC games with it as one game could eat that up easily. One mainstream game that is not Matrixgames or the usual wargames. Just browsing and email though they say 250 hours and I'd never eat of that much.

I wonder how much playing an online MMO like Guild Wars would eat up?

[NefariousKoel]

Streaming video will go through your limit in no time. 6 games is very optimistic.

The "streaming" video would be kinda streaming up until you hit your limit.. after that, I hear that you may as well not even log on. [:(]

[diablo1]

Yeah you know what they say when it sounds too good to be true Nefarious? At least I get 20 days to try it out and if I don't like it I can cancel the whole deal. They will even pay for the return freight charges although it's nothing more than a usb device and probably a cd/dvdrom. Cheap. They call it the Rocket HSBC or something like that. It's suppose to use 4g technology on a 3g network and they also said I could get up to 21mb per second download speeds. I said to myself "sureeeeeee".

[NefariousKoel]

Even if it gets perfect signal, and you're cruising pretty good, that 5GB/month limit has to be painful.

If you think about it, that's like 2 or 3 good quality movie downloads. If you're desperate for access, I guess..

[shunwick]

I use the WI-FI at my local library. It's free and there is no limit..... [:)]

Best wishes,
Steve

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: diablo1

T-Mobile tech says about 20 hours of video streaming a month will eat up my 5gb and that would be about 6 games of football.

No idea about what compression rate they use for streaming football games, but as a rough rule of thumb for movies one can say, that 1h takes 1 GB.

I have a dsl connection at home and 3G on my iphone. The latter one is considerably slower when it comes to downloads.

[diablo1]

Yeah that's what gets me...if businesses like Starbucks can get unlimited wifi why can't I? They are choking off major profit margins by not offering an unlimited plan or higher plans per month.

I called T-Mobile back yesterday to talk more about what happens when the speed is lowered and was told it pretty much is only useful for casual browsing and email. Media and Pictures wouldn't be feasible. I told them well then you can probably expect your little usb modem device back within the 20 days then. I mean seriously when you look at it standing back it's like paying $40 bucks a month for a one time download service of 21mb/sec hahah only an idiot would pay those kinds of prices. I think they are pricing technology with ridiculous prices sometimes.

I have a GoPhone that averages out to $9 a month instead of these $99 plans geesh. I'm with AT&T and over two years have saved $181 worth of time to use with their plan where your minutes go over to the next month.

I still have a good old land line service also for $14.95 a month through AT&T, but damn after all those surcharges an international and state fees they add another $8 to my bill.

I'm getting DSL 3.0 Pro for $15 a month right now through them as well. But, of course they have a crappy mobile internet plan $60 a month plus overages and only 5gb per month with them as well.

I've talked to other people with mobile phone plans and I can't believe the money they spend a month on service. If they would keep that thing out of their ear it wouldnt' cost them upwards of $300 a month lol. This woman where I work has her mobile phone in her ear constantly.

In todays economy saving every little penny helps and I just hate throwing money into the wind. Unlimited mobile internet access would be worth the $40 a month but not a mere 5gb.

Thanks for all the help and replies guys. At least this didn't cost me anything but time to learn about it.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Phatguy]

ORIGINAL: lauradee6911

I am using TP link wireless router.

football stencils

Oh look..our spamming buddy is back

[NefariousKoel]

It's simple highway robbery with these cellular companies and their EVDO/3G.

They know many people are desperate to get wireless internet - especially those who can't even get normal hi-speed internet service at their location. On most such occasions, only one provider has some signal in that area. So they can do as they damn well please such as imposing a nasty download limit so they can get you to cough up more money if you actually want to use what you're paying for.

Until another company comes along that offers an unlimited plan, again, that breaks the Big Three's coercive scheme - I don't think it's a good idea unless you're very desperate for hi-speed where you can't get it.

[diablo1]

Yeah it's just like when AOL first came out and they were charging like .10 a minute or $2.50/hr and then little free sites started popping up or IMwizard which only cost you when you sent the IM. Once those things got into full swing then AOL reduced their prices (still too damn high for dialup though) and gave unlimited usage. I think Netscape has the best deal still $10 a month for dialup an unlimited usage.

But, now most want mini portable computers with unlimited internet access for the same as we pay for desktop home types and we can't get it. So, you're right until someone comes along an offers true unlimited service on a mobile phone or laptop then they have most everyone by the balls and can charge those ridiculous prices.

I noticed that they gave me 9gb usage for this first month haha cause I told em I was going to run that 5gb up as fast as possible to see how slow it gets when I reach maximum. I'll just burn up the 9gb too as it only takes one mainstream computer game nowadays to hit that limit. Or I'll just stream a bunch of baseball games in the next 20 days. I'm still going to send it back though as it's just cheaper to record the game on tv and watch it when I get off work. As long as some idiot doesn't come in telling me the scores. You know there's always idiots like that in our lives.

[Lützow]

ORIGINAL: diablo1

Yeah it's just like when AOL first came out and they were charging like .10 a minute or $2.50/hr and then little free sites started popping up or IMwizard which only cost you when you sent the IM.

I remember these times. My first provider was compuserve 1992, charging 2.95/h for their slowest connection. Around 1994 I switched to AOL with their .10 min. plan and at 1997 MSN finally offered some kind of 'flatrate': 30 bucks per month for unlimited access. Unfortunately in Germany we had to pay additional 3.60/h to the phone company. Until Y2K my monthly phone/internet/cell phone bills were frequently a few hundred bucks.

Nowadays I pay 45,- each month to T-Com and get free nationwide phone calls, unlimited internet access and ip-tv with 70 channels in return. In addition I have an iphone contract. There are lower priced providers here, of course, but then again T-Com is reliable and has a decent support.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[diablo1]

I was really quite surprised as I took it to work over the weekend (two 12 hour days) and I only ended up using a little over 500mb in those two days. I even played Guild Wars with it and it hardly eats up a lot of mb's. I did stream some golf though and that's where the biggest portion of usage came out. It was eating a mb per 15 seconds. I also downloaded a lot of updates and patches so that ate a lot of mb used up as well. I should do all that updating using my home computers dsl line as there's no limit on it. I wanted to give it a good test run though.

If I can't watch streaming football I can certainly play Guild Wars all I want looks like and hey how many others get paid while playing games at work all day? What a life what a wonderful life.

I'm gonna give Anarchy Online a shot this next weekend since it's older than Guild Wars and not as intense graphics. It's another free online game now. I hear Everquest II now is offering free online play as well. I wish they would open up Star Wars Galaxies to be free as taht's my favorite but that $15 a month sub fee is just too much.