Internet option for air only locations

[thatguy]

We tried out the Verizon mifi and were gettting download speeds speeds 3x what you getting .. have you considered adding a amplifier to try and increase your signal strength - the Wilson Sleek is one that will work with a MIFI..

I thought I read online that there was a 'work around' to get the wireless router to work when the MIFI was directly connected to a computer.. You may google and see..

You could x-change the mifi for a USB stick modem.. and then add a cradle point wireless router as another option.. I think the cradlepoint has a Cat 5 cable port..

Brian

MIFI- My first mifi stopped working after 9 months. (1 yr warranty, 2 yr service agreement). Verizon sent me a new one overnight, but it has 3 month warranty. I use it when I travel, but 5 GB is not enough for my home use. Also, when connected to computer with USB, the wireless router does not function. Also, it needs USB connection on a machine with a wireless interface, or it will not work (It would not work on my desktop since it could not find a wireless card in it).
just did a speed test with verizon mifi, getting 470 Kb down, 250 Kb up. So hughesnet is faster download, little slower upload. This afternoon, my hughesnet was down for several hours with sunny skies, not sure why.

Hughesnet - Just did a speed test, getting 720 Kb down, 140 Kb up. my home plan is advertised 1000Kb down, 125 kb up, so not that far off. I started with hughesnet as an earthlink customer, I think the speeds were higher. earthlink dumped everyone off to hughesnet, and the speeds went down and the price decreased to $60 month. I now get FAP'd regularly with the 200 MB/day limit, so then I use the mifi.

 

[Hersheyfarm]

Hughesnet is poor, it's only worthwhile if you have no other options (like us). We have had it for about 5 years now.

Their TV ads are a lie, download speeds are 100 kbs at best and worse in the evenings. There is a 200 MB max download per day. If you exceed that, you get put into a 24 hour penalty box that makes dial up look absolutely spectacular. It's so bad that you can't even get email, much less browse the web.

200 MB may seem like a lot, but a routine Apple Macintosh "security update" will blow the limit. Some of the Apple updates run 600 MB or more. I haven't updated in months.

Unfortunately, we are 40 miles away from the nearest 3G service

Ken

Same boat. But I just ran a test with my hughsenet and got 1.26mbps down and 183kbps up. Our cap is 425 mb in 24 hours.

 

[dieselbeef]

my sprint wireless internet card is unlimited use. i use it anywhere in the country it gets service. which is anywhere i have phone service.

 

[ronjhall]

My AT&T air card is unlimited also. It is over 3 years old. People with newer contracts have the 5GB limit.

 

[Ken45101]

Hughesnet - Just did a speed test, getting 720 Kb down, 140 Kb up. my home plan is advertised 1000Kb down, 125 kb up, so not that far off. I started with hughesnet as an earthlink customer, I think the speeds were higher. earthlink dumped everyone off to hughesnet, and the speeds went down and the price decreased to $60 month. I now get FAP'd regularly with the 200 MB/day limit, so then I use the mifi.

What plan do you have???? I've never seen anything faster than 110kb download speeds from Hughesnet, and usually slower (e.g. 87kb on a download, sometimes worse).

Same boat. But I just ran a test with my hughsenet and got 1.26mbps down and 183kbps up. Our cap is 425 mb in 24 hours.

You obviously have one of the upgraded contracts if you have a 425 MB cap.

What are you using to measure speed? I know your contract is supposed to provide faster downloads, but that's 10x anything I've seen.

I get my speed measurements from what the system tells me while downloading files, and also Apples's "Activity Monitor" utility.

Ken

 

[txdon]

The only options out here with a phone line are dial-up. I have no phone line and I have had Wildblue satellite. So far this MIFI is the fastest.

You really have to go by the coverage maps out in the rolling hills of the country. I'm not on the Sprint coverage area and I'm on a weak At&t coverage area. For Verizon The coverage area is on half my place, luckily the house is just in that area. With the new MIFI my speeds are: Download 1.44 Mb/s and upload .27Mb/s using this speed test: Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

My first concern is speed, without it the web pages just time out. My second concern is unlimited usage and I still can't find the device and plan that have both out here.

This past week I have tried numerous locations inside the house using the MIFI attached and wireless. For the fastest speed in this metal roof house I leave the MIFI attached USB to the computer hanging off the table flat side facing the south window.

 

[thatguy]

I have the virgin mobile MIFI and it is way more pickier on placement than the verizon mifi - i tried about 10 different places before I found the fastest consistent speeds.. I ended up with a suction cup soap holder mounted on a window facing the sprint tower..

You can also do a search and find out where the towers/repeaters are located in your area so you know which way the signal is coming to help in placement

Your speeds are very much what i was getting here with 5 bars of 3g service with Verizon - occasionally i got a tad faster upload but never more than .4

there are a couple verizon 10gb plans out there now (as of last week) - and verizon just lowered their overage charges to $10/gb, which makes any overages less painful

If you are comparing speeds I think different places have different speeds.. I have been using Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test so im comparing apples and apples.. I was using the Cnet speed test, but it did not break out dl from ul speeds or give you ping rates

b

The only options out here with a phone line are dial-up. I have no phone line and I have had Wildblue satellite. So far this MIFI is the fastest.

You really have to go by the coverage maps out in the rolling hills of the country. I'm not on the Sprint coverage area and I'm on a weak At&t coverage area. For Verizon The coverage area is on half my place, luckily the house is just in that area. With the new MIFI my speeds are: Download 1.44 Mb/s and upload .27Mb/s using this speed test: Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

My first concern is speed, without it the web pages just time out. My second concern is unlimited usage and I still can't find the device and plan that have both out here.

This past week I have tried numerous locations inside the house using the MIFI attached and wireless. For the fastest speed in this metal roof house I leave the MIFI attached USB to the computer hanging off the table flat side facing the south window.

 

[Ken45101]

You really have to go by the coverage maps out in the rolling hills of the country. I'm not on the Sprint coverage area and I'm on a weak At&t coverage area. For Verizon The coverage area is on half my place, luckily the house is just in that area. With the new MIFI my speeds are: Download 1.44 Mb/s and upload .27Mb/s using this speed test: Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

Maybe the maps are good in your area, certainly not here. Verizon shows good coverage even into the steep valleys, even 3G. AT&T showed phone coverage only out in our pasture hilltop, 500' away.

Well, actual Verizon phone coverage in the house (on the ridgetop) was spotty and we had a lot of dropped calls. It too us 2 days to go back to AT&T which has been reliable in the house. No 3G of course

I do get AT&T Edge data coverage on my iPad, but it's very slow.

My suggestion if anyone buys something is to make sure that you can take it back and get your money back if service is unsatisfactory.

Ken

 

[troutsqueezer]

The problem with MIFI for me is it does not have the capability to hook up an external antenna. I am right on the hairy edge of Verizon's Mobile Broadband coverage. I bought the Verizon USB760 dongle which does have a connector for an ext. antenna. It's a good thing I bought this model too because when I first plugged in the dongle I could only hook into the network at dialup speeds (what they call the "National" connection).

I wound up buying a Yagi antenna online for about $40 and a cable for it, around $25. Then I went to Antenna Search online and found the Verizon cell tower location and then Google Earthed the address. I drew a line in Google Earth from my house to the Cell tower and figured out the exact angle to point the Yagi. Now I get 4 bars and the fastest 3G speed Verizon offers (or nearly so).

I changed to this from Wild Blue, which is a competitor to Hughes Satellite. I had that for 4 years and it sucked each and every day, especially when it rained. Not much better than dialup but a lot more expensive.

 

[Ken45101]

The problem with MIFI for me is it does not have the capability to hook up an external antenna. I am right on the hairy edge of Verizon's Mobile Broadband coverage.

Could you mount the MiFi unit outside on an antenna mast with a power cable and weather protection and still use it?

Ken