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

[TractorGuy]

I wonder if anyone at ATT marketing had a clue what was going to happen when they made this offer? And did any manufacture of these mobile devices have a clue how this was going to "go viral"? Apparently not on either count.

I hope it continues to work out for everyone that got in but the cellular industry has a track record of finding ways out of the unlimited data offers. I wouldn't be surprised if the rush on these didn't cause some network congestion and the 22gig throttling to be right around the corner.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I guess I should have clarified by not as drastically. A well put together system should have very minor difference due to weather. A hard rain will completely take out satellite internet.

Depends on the frequency. At 800MHz, not a whole lot, at 1900 MHz, it's noticeable. Doesn't apply to AT&T, but at 2.5 GHz (Sprint), it's very noticeable.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

This is interesting: and troubling.

looks like a lawsuit was filed in 2016 and then a second pdf is dated January 25 2017 that includes ATT and ZTE sprint and 20 others selling the ZTE Mobley and other versions over some of the tech....

wonder whether this has anything to do with availability?

Not likely. It's a nuisance suit, designed to get the plaintiffs to pay them off rather than fight it.

 

[BigBlue1]

I hope it continues to work out for everyone that got in but the cellular industry has a track record of finding ways out of the unlimited data offers. I wouldn't be surprised if the rush on these didn't cause some network congestion and the 22gig throttling to be right around the corner.

I highly doubt that will be the case. In the overall scheme of things the few 10's of thousands (or even hundred thousand) Mobleys sold are a mere whisp compared to the millions and millions of high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Galaxy that are out there. And, believe me, people can go through a LOT of data on a smartphone with all the YouTube, Netflix, snapchat and other types of media kids use nowadays. Phone providers have all been pushing unlimited data plans like crazy in the past year. If anything causes network congestion and pushes them to cap/slow things (such as the 22GB throttle point) it will be due to smartphone usage. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, but if it does it won't be the fault of a bunch of unlimited hotspot using Mobley folks. One thing providers have been doing is defaulting everyone to standard-definition video stream downgrading as a way to curb usage volume. For anyone on a handheld device they will never know the difference in resolution. That really reduces peoples video streaming burn rate.

As a side note, even Comcast had legal wording that they could cap people's data usage on their cable modem internet connections at something like 300GB/mo but they never implemented it except in the case of the 0.01%er folks that burned through terabytes per month.

Rob

 

[kf4uda]

I got my first bill and it was $53. I looked at the details and noticed a $25 activation fee. Nowhere in the process did they mention an activation fee. I called and talked to a very polite representative. He immediately offered to credit my account back the $25 and said whoever set it up should have done that. He said my bill will be $25 per month including the fees and taxes. I am good with that so I set it up on auto pay (although I will be watching)

So far I am happy with the device and service and recommend it as long as you are willing to endure the AT&T circus of getting it setup. I have an AC adapter for the Mobley which I highly recommend. I may also get a usb adapter as well.

 

[TomSeller]

. He said my bill will be $25 per month including the fees and taxes. .

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off of my chin.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I highly doubt that will be the case. In the overall scheme of things the few 10's of thousands (or even hundred thousand) Mobleys sold are a mere whisp compared to the millions and millions of high-end smartphones like the iPhone and Galaxy that are out there. And, believe me, people can go through a LOT of data on a smartphone with all the YouTube, Netflix, snapchat and other types of media kids use nowadays. Phone providers have all been pushing unlimited data plans like crazy in the past year. If anything causes network congestion and pushes them to cap/slow things (such as the 22GB throttle point) it will be due to smartphone usage. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, but if it does it won't be the fault of a bunch of unlimited hotspot using Mobley folks.

I agree. The Mobley is only a Cat 3 device, max download speed of 100 Mbps. In comparison the Samsung S7 is a Cat 9, up to 450Mbps.

No, you aren't going to see 450 Mbps in the real world, but it shows how much more potential for hogging data there is with smartphones.

 

[kcflhrc]

I agree. The Mobley is only a Cat 3 device, max download speed of 100 Mbps. In comparison the Samsung S7 is a Cat 9, up to 450Mbps.

No, you aren't going to see 450 Mbps in the real world, but it shows how much more potential for hogging data there is with smartphones.

My Mobley is running about 25mbs down consistently. For $25 a month compared to the $95 a month Im paying for 3 mbs its a win win for me. I install fiber to the premise for a living for broadband and 100 mbs is more than anyone should ever need.

 

[kcflhrc]

Just got my Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight Gigabit router working with the Mobley tethered to the USB 3.0 port. My issue was the DNS setting had to be changed to 8.8.8.8 and then it took off and worked fine. In my router programming there is only one setting for DNS, no secondary DNS.

Woo Hoo, cant wait to get rid of that $95 internet bill each month.

 

[sd455dan]

Just got my Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight Gigabit router working with the Mobley tethered to the USB 3.0 port. My issue was the DNS setting had to be changed to 8.8.8.8 and then it took off and worked fine. In my router programming there is only one setting for DNS, no secondary DNS.

Woo Hoo, cant wait to get rid of that $95 internet bill each month.

now that your'e tethered - any thoughts on the download/upload speed comparison?
seems some get good increases in speed- and other folks didn't gain much. i did see the 25 meg reference, was it a lot slower before the tether

just went past my 22 gig ( day 8 - NICE to be able to stream, you tube vids ) and so far can't tell the difference...:cool2: getting about 11meg down today,
but thinking about building a DIY $10 Yagi for the mobley

I hear ya, on dropping an over priced internet service.

 

[kcflhrc]

now that your'e tethered - any thoughts on the download/upload speed comparison?
seems some get good increases in speed- and other folks didn't gain much. i did see the 25 meg reference, was it a lot slower before the tether

just went past my 22 gig ( day 8 - NICE to be able to stream, you tube vids ) and so far can't tell the difference...:cool2: getting about 11meg down today,
but thinking about building a DIY $10 Yagi for the mobley

I hear ya, on dropping an over priced internet service.

Virtually no difference in speed whether I connect to the Mobley or connect to the Asus. Im seeing almost 30 mbs down today. Doesnt make a lot of sense seeing an increase in speed behind the router. I call BS on that,

 

[sd455dan]

Virtually no difference in speed whether I connect to the Mobley or connect to the Asus. Im seeing almost 30 mbs down today. Doesnt make a lot of sense seeing an increase in speed behind the router. I call BS on that,

Right, i thought it had more to do with the antenna , and since most routers have a larger and in many cases multiple antennas the increase in sig strength allowed for faster speeds - especially when more rural with weak signals?? That is why I mentioned building an antenna,
don't really need a stronger wi fi signal for other devices on the property,
but would like to maximize speeds.
seems an antenna might (gain) me something

especially since the signal is never better than - 106dBm and stormy weather knocks it right down to about -117dBm.

 

[kcflhrc]

Right, i thought it had more to do with the antenna , and since most routers have a larger and in many cases multiple antennas the increase in sig strength allowed for faster speeds - especially when more rural with weak signals?? That is why I mentioned building an antenna,
don't really need a stronger wi fi signal for other devices on the property,
but would like to maximize speeds.
seems an antenna might (gain) me something

especially since the signal is never better than - 106dBm and stormy weather knocks it right down to about -117dBm.

The router will definitely increase the wifi signal strength but it will not increase bandwidth.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Virtually no difference in speed whether I connect to the Mobley or connect to the Asus. Im seeing almost 30 mbs down today. Doesnt make a lot of sense seeing an increase in speed behind the router. I call BS on that,

What about if you plug into one of the ethernet ports on the router? So your signal path is Mobley-Asus via USB, Asus-computer via ethernet.

 

[kcflhrc]

What about if you plug into one of the ethernet ports on the router? So your signal path is Mobley-Asus via USB, Asus-computer via ethernet.

No idea, haven't tried that. But my QSee surveillance system will be hard wired to the Asus. The QSee is not wireless

 

[BigBlue1]

Right, i thought it had more to do with the antenna , and since most routers have a larger and in many cases multiple antennas the increase in sig strength allowed for faster speeds - especially when more rural with weak signals?? That is why I mentioned building an antenna,
don't really need a stronger wi fi signal for other devices on the property,
but would like to maximize speeds.
seems an antenna might (gain) me something

especially since the signal is never better than - 106dBm and stormy weather knocks it right down to about -117dBm.

You're talking about different things. The Mobley has an internal antenna for communication between it and AT&T's cell tower for Internet to/from traffic. The router has an antenna (or multiple) for use in broadcasting wi-fi signal communication between wi-fi enabled devices and the router. While both are important and if either is poor you may suffer poor performance, having the best wi-fi antenna in the world on your router won't do a darn thing to get your Internet-sourced downloads to your device any quicker. These days wi-fi bandwidth is so good that even with only 1 or 2 bars of signal between your phone and router it likely can still handle the entirety of whatever your Mobley or other Internet connection can provide. Now that super good wi-fi signal can be useful if you are communicating between two devices on your own LAN (inside your house), such as uploading pictures from your phone to computer's hard drive.

Don't get me wrong, having a good signal for everything is a good thing and the stronger the better. But it pays to know what each one does and how it may affect your usage.

Rob

 

[sodamo]

The Mobley actually has 2 antenna that communicate with AT&T and 3rd that likely is wifi. I did connect 2 antenna but didn't see any improvement over the single connection (92dBm vs 108 no antenna). I'm not a real techie, so limited info here. I'm guessing the software doesn't take advantage of the 2nd connection. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the performance with the single antenna.
Guess I could have tried the wifi antenna but did know how to measure. Maybe an iPhone or laptop setting I'm not aware of?

 

[BigBlue1]

The Mobley actually has 2 antenna that communicate with AT&T and 3rd that likely is wifi. I did connect 2 antenna but didn't see any improvement over the single connection (92dBm vs 108 no antenna). I'm not a real techie, so limited info here. I'm guessing the software doesn't take advantage of the 2nd connection. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the performance with the single antenna.
Guess I could have tried the wifi antenna but did know how to measure. Maybe an iPhone or laptop setting I'm not aware of?

Regardless of what antennas the Mobley has (which does include the ISP-side one(s) for AT&T signal and the wi-fi one for allowing devices to connect to it), the original question was whether tethering a Mobley to the Asus router would somehow improve the download speeds the Mobley is getting. And it wouldn't.

It is true that the Mobley's own wi-fi capability is fairly limited. That's because it is meant as a mobile hotspot to be used within a vehicle so distance from client devices was probably assumed to be pretty small. Tethering it to a router has the very real advantage of allowing client devices to use the Mobley's Internet connection from much further away. And this TM-AC1900 router seems to be really good at that. I can connect from outside quite a ways away on my property (probably 300 feet or more).

If you want to measure wi-fi signal strength from the Mobley or a router look for an app called "WiFi Analyzer" in Google Play (for Android phones) or Microsoft Store for Windows PCs. No idea what is available for iOS devices.

Rob

 

[sodamo]

I agree, Rob. To my limited knowledge the router would be its own wifi even if using same network name, the Mobley unaffected.
My house is likely not very wifi friendly. Basically 4 separate boxes with concrete sips framed by galvanized channels, topped with a 2 layered metal sandwiched roof. I basically access the Mobley wifi in same room to check the website, but it is useable there. What makes mine more useable is the Picostation which gives me Omni directional useable wifi from my roof. I might play with the settings to see if I can broadcast a stronger signal, but this is uncharted territory for me. How I get around the in house wifi is a set up of an Ethernet connected router in each box except the garage and tractorshed which extend wirelessly. Didn't think when I built the house I would want wifi in those 2 places, boy was I wrong.

 

[kcflhrc]

Im sitting about 500 feet from my all brick home running 20 mbs down from the Asus connected USB to the Mobley. Gotta love it. My chickens have wifi now