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

TractorGuy · Mar 12, 2020

Well, it's obvious to me now I am experiencing problems with the tower I get my signal from. I tried restarting the Netgear modem and it wouldn't connect at all. I swapped my sim card back to the Velocity and had the same results. After a spell it reconnected. This is not the first time I've had these problems. I think in my case I am going to have to buy a double yagi setup and point it at the closer tower off an outdoor mast.

kcflhrc · Mar 13, 2020

My Netgear unexpectedly for unknown reasons went into 3G mode last for a while, was only running about 6 meg down. All is well today with no intervention on my part and I'm back to 50 meg down. Could have been tower congestion with all the crap going on or maybe just tower maintenance, who knows. I' m still very pleased for $22 a month.

jcummins · Mar 13, 2020

Well I got the Netgear and this is the story with AT&T for what it's worth to anybody interested.

It took me awhile to find where to chat with AT&T about getting the PUK code but once I found that I started a chat session and went through about three technicians and finally they gave me the PUK code. It did not work. I established another chat session and a different Tech and they said that was just recently assigned PUK code and it should work within 30 minutes. He said you need to wait 30 minutes and then it will work. Even ask for the PUK code which I gave to him and that he verified. So I waited 30 minutes and you guessed it it did not work.

The Netgear was telling me that the PUK code was simply invalid. I decided to put it back into the Mobley to see if I get different results and I did, itsaid that the PUK code needed to be 8 digits long and I had a 7 digit code. I may have wrote the PUK code down wrong but since I give it to him a second time and they verified it it told me they had written it down wrong before they give it to me. So a third chat session and this time the guy give me a the PUK code again and it was eight digits long it had a missing digit in it and they also give me a SECOND PUK code, the PUK2 code.

Using this tablet with a ethernet adapter is kind of a squirrely process it's just not as good as a laptop but I'm making it work. Finally I got the Netgear set up got the internet connected and then it dropped off. Said at one point I didn't even have a SIM card installed it was acting very very flaky. But then everything settled down and seemed like I was good to go. Not sure what that issue was and I hope it doesn't come back but it sure was a confusing the issue there for a bit.

Now the problem I have is I can't get the router to work with this Netgear. First off I had the trendnet set to WISP mode and realizing that's not correct I switch to a router mode and the DCHP I left with the Netgear and turned off in the trendnet. The trendnet is is seeing the Netgear and shows the internet connection with the Netgear IP number. I cannot get to the internet through the trendnet I'm not sure what the problem is there I've got to do more head-scratching.

jcummins · Mar 13, 2020

BTW... Netgear speed seems the same as the Mobley and that is a major disappointment. Hopefully it will be stable....the Mobley was getting worse and worse with.. No internet.

buckeyefarmer · Mar 13, 2020

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

Let your netgear be your home network, and hook up router as an access point for wireless.
Wisp is not correct.

kcflhrc · Mar 13, 2020

The DHCP addresses in the Netgear Modem start with 192.168.5.20 through 99 by default with the gateway being .1. My Netgear Router DHCP starts with 192.168.1.2 with the gatewat being .1. I have the DHCP turned on both by default and it works fine. My Netgear router is pulling IP address 192.168.5.69 from the Modem. You will need DHCP turned on in the modem or put it in bridge mode.

jcummins · Mar 13, 2020

DHCP is on in the Netgear, it is not on the trend net. I did change the number assignment to 192.168.5.101 thru 199. Here is a snapshot of the trend net Internet configuration... And it has the netgear as the gateway.

TractorGuy · Mar 13, 2020

The good news in all of this is they don't seem to care what we put the sim in and we are still getting a steal of a deal.

It sounds like some of us (me) have been blaming the unit on tower issues. I just figured out I have a tower closer than the direction I am getting my signal from. On top of that it is more rural than the one I have my unit pointed at. The catch for me is the better tower is on the garage end of my house. I think my next move is to go to an outside antenna which makes the Netgear a better choice since it has exposed external antenna inputs.

kcflhrc · Mar 13, 2020

jcummins said:
DHCP is on in the Netgear, it is not on the trend net. I did change the number assignment to 192.168.5.101 thru 199. Here is a snapshot of the trend net Internet configuration... And it has the netgear as the gateway. View attachment 645344

I may be misunderstanding what you are trying to accomplish but why is the DHCP on the Netgear when you are connecting wireless to the Trend Net? I think you have your config backwards but that's my opinion. How is a wireless device going to pull an IP from the Trend Net when you have DHCP turned off in that device?

jcummins · Mar 13, 2020

As you said... I agree. It is the way I had it set with the mobley....and the way I tried it first. Something erred out, but I'm wondering if it had to do with all the other issues. I need to retry that. But got something new now.... The trendnet says internet connection is there.. On..in the configuration page... .. But logging on and trying to use it, it is not.