Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

[BigBlue1]

Re: Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

I have to ask, what is it about this tech that is driving people to it. No pun intended.

Is it the unlimited data at 20 dollars? And if it is the unlimited at 20, do you still have cell phones for voice?

Or is it the mobility? Seems the masses are making it a fixed spot device.

Others have covered it pretty well, but I'll add my 2 cents...

For me, after moving from a metro area to a rural area I had only two* options for Internet. Satellite or a sole DSL provider. I work from home and sat latency is not compatible with VPN functionality, plus sat has bandwidth caps. The DSL provider was able to get me a (supposed) 5 Mb/s line, which shouldn't be awful, but it was more like 1.5 to 3.5 during the day and slowed to a crawl at peak evening hours. Enough to use for work but not ideal for home use (Netflix, browsing, etc.). So when I found out about the Mobley situation with unlimited data for $20/month it was a wonderful option. I have great AT&T coverage where I live - routinely get 50+ Mb/s throughput on my phone - so the Mobley was worked well for me. I just worry about how long it will be before AT&T pulls the plug on this plan though. :-(

* I later found that there is a fixed-point wireless Internet provider or two around, but they require a very high antenna to get a signal from their towers. In my location, with the surrounding terrain, trees, buildings, etc. I would need to erect a 55' tower for their antenna. That's a minimum investment of $1400 or so. I was considering it because I was that desperate for good Internet (they promised 20+ Mb/s unlimited data) but fortunately the Mobley plan showed up.

Rob

 

[TractorGuy]

For those of you that have had your unit for a couple months or more and purchased direct from the ATT web site. How long before they had your first bill ready. Did they auto deduct from the credit card you purchased the unit with? Did they try to add on a activation fee? Yesterday was the end of my first month and showed 71.5 GB used. Today is the first of month two and still says no bill is prepared.

Hoping I get no surprises cause I went ahead and terminated my CL account yesterday. That went easier than expected but is sure to have an unexpected surprise. I did record the conversation with them and notified them at the beginning that I was doing so. I have never had a verbal agreement with them that didn't end up different than what was promised somehow.

 

[jcummins]

For those of you that have had your unit for a couple months or more and purchased direct from the ATT web site. How long before they had your first bill ready. Did they auto deduct from the credit card you purchased the unit with? Did they try to add on a activation fee? Yesterday was the end of my first month and showed 71.5 GB used. Today is the first of month two and still says no bill is prepared.

View attachment 516555

View attachment 516556

Hoping I get no surprises cause I went ahead and terminated my CL account yesterday. That went easier than expected but is sure to have an unexpected surprise. I did record the conversation with them and notified them at the beginning that I was doing so. I have never had a verbal agreement with them that didn't end up different than what was promised somehow.

Got June 20th or thereabouts. Got email yesterday your bill is ready. Has activation fee $45. Expect for buying the unit, no other money paid to at&t yet.

 

[coldsteelva]

You should be DARN proud of that 71GB - with Exede/WildBlue that would have been either impossible or would have cost $300

 

[TractorGuy]

Got June 20th or thereabouts. Got email yesterday your bill is ready. Has activation fee $45. Expect for buying the unit, no other money paid to at&t yet.

The terms at purchase clearly states $0 activation if you buy the unit. Hopefully I won't start off with them on a bad note.

 

[jcummins]

The terms at purchase clearly states $0 activation if you buy the unit. Hopefully I won't start off with them on a bad note.

View attachment 516614

I WILL bring that up to them.,

 

[sodamo]

I had one unit where they bill d $25 activation fee, but I got it reversed via chat.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Re: Cheap $20 a month Stand Alone Unlimited Rural Internet through AT&T Wireless

Got my first bill pretty quick. No activation because i bought it outright. They do not charge monthly fee to cc that purchased, i get paper bill, for now. Next bill had $5 late fee, my fault. 24 gb 1st month, Im at 35 gb for my 2nd month. My exede equipment was sent back.....

 

[aeblank]

Both my lines got charged the $25. I chatted both away, but got denied on my first chat (on the first line). Get a screenshot of the $0 activation. Then you can offer it, if needed.

 

[jcummins]

Thanks JD855....I overlooked that.....BUT what an absolutely screwed up process I had to go through to get the $45 'waived' not cancelled. They have me down as getting a free unit. I gave the Discover card info where I was charged, but after being transferred three times during a chat session they said I need to call.. I ended that chat with ...********...I'm done and closed. it.

Went into another chat but this time off the billing webpage...and finally got it resolved.

AT&T is one screwed up company.

 

[neopheous]

Anyone using Nest cameras/thermostats running off of the Mobley? I am thinking about building a pole barn on on some rural property I have and would like to setup security cameras there as I don't live there at the present.

 

[cqaigy2]

Anyone using Nest cameras/thermostats running off of the Mobley? I am thinking about building a pole barn on on some rural property I have and would like to setup security cameras there as I don't live there at the present.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, assuming you get signal at your new location. The Mobley will connect up to 5 devices, wireless. We use ours in the car alot and it work just fine. At home i have a fortigate firewall that i connect the mobley to and most all my devices behind the firewall have access to the internet thru the firewall to the mobley.

 

[jcummins]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, assuming you get signal at your new location. The Mobley will connect up to 5 devices, wireless. We use ours in the car alot and it work just fine. At home i have a fortigate firewall that i connect the mobley to and most all my devices behind the firewall have access to the internet thru the firewall to the mobley.

I tried, as well as another more qualified person to port forward thru this GL-AR150 to the outside.....but couldn't get it to work. The interface on this cheap router is a bit difficult to mess with.

 

[TractorGuy]

Thanks JD855....I overlooked that.....BUT what an absolutely screwed up process I had to go through to get the $45 'waived' not cancelled. They have me down as getting a free unit. I gave the Discover card info where I was charged, but after being transferred three times during a chat session they said I need to call.. I ended that chat with ...********...I'm done and closed. it.

Went into another chat but this time off the billing webpage...and finally got it resolved.

AT&T is one screwed up company.

Yeah it doesn't show in the print screen I did during the check out but before I selected the $99 option it said there was a $45 activation fee on the FREE unit with a 2 year contract.

All these companies are screwed up in some way. When I converted my OWNED cell phone from contract to prepaid with Verizon the first idiot that handled it put me back on a 2 year contract. When I figured out what he did and got someone else to get the phone on prepaid the fools tried to charge me a $180 early disconnect fee on a phone I OWNED. I forgot how many calls and months it took to get that resolved but I ended up not paying anything for the service I received during that time and they showed a $15 credit on that account.

I'm on my 2nd day of my 2nd month and they don't show a bill for me online yet.

On another note my CL account does showed closed and has a final amount due at about half what the person on the phone told me it would be. I got an email saying they were mailing a final bill so I'm gonna wait for that. They want to charge a $3.50 fee to pay online with a card so screw that.

 

[MikeInEburg]

I tried, as well as another more qualified person to port forward thru this GL-AR150 to the outside.....but couldn't get it to work. The interface on this cheap router is a bit difficult to mess with.

The issue is that you don't get a true public address with this service. If your cameras use a hosted site (ie Axis Companion), then it'll work like a champ. If you need port forwarding to access cameras, you'll be disappointed.

 

[neopheous]

The issue is that you don't get a true public address with this service. If your cameras use a hosted site (ie Axis Companion), then it'll work like a champ. If you need port forwarding to access cameras, you'll be disappointed.

Ok, that is what I was afraid of... I heard if you had an ATT business account you can get a public IP, anyone know if that is true and what the cost is?

 

[hawkeye08]

There a number of ip cameras that don't need port forwarding. I have several brands, Foscam, Lorex that work fine without port forwarding.

 

[jcummins]

There a number of ip cameras that don't need port forwarding. I have several brands, Foscam, Lorex that work fine without port forwarding.

How does that work?

DynDns....as I understand it.....gets around the need for public IP.. structure, not sure..but still have to have port forwarding. With normal DSL etc very doable, but with cell structure, not sure.

 

[aeblank]

No. Dyndns gets around changing ip addresses.

The way to get around the non public IP is to have the device initiate the connection.

So it (whatever it is) connects to a server. You connect to it through that same server.

Very basically, anyway.

 

[kcflhrc]

I have a Q-See 4 camera system that I can monitor anywhere from my smartphone hooked up through my Asus router connected to the Mobley. The Nest stuff is over priced and over rated.