Rural High Speed Internet

[MossRoad]

I was talking to one of the guys here who is really up on this stuff and he told me that sprint has about the best system out there. Extremly reliable and fast enough to allow him to work from home or while on the road. He said that he could upload files while driving 70mph on the interstate on trips covering hundreds of miles each way!!!!! Price was around $60 or $70 per month....

I have a support guy that has a Sprint card in his laptop and he says he can maintain a connection from Chicago to Boston while traveling I90. I asked him why he is using his laptop while driving!

 

[jimg]

You lose the bet.

Cingular has 3 DataConnect plans, only the cheapest one ($30/mo), has a 10mb limit. The $60 (the plan I have) and $100/month (adds WiFi) have unlimited data, no monthly data cap, no surprise charges.

What b/c you said it? Id like to see the contract first. Like I said *IF* you can get their signal then I bet you get nailed. Show me the contract.

 

[SnowRidge]

What b/c you said it? Id like to see the contract first. Like I said *IF* you can get their signal then I bet you get nailed. Show me the contract.

The following is snipped for their online version of the service plan, which, by the way, they make very difficult to find:

UNLIMITED PLANS CANNOT BE USED FOR UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING OR STREAMING OF VIDEO CONTENT (E.G. MOVIES, TV), MUSIC OR GAMES. FURTHERMORE, PLANS (UNLESS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED FOR TETHERING USAGE) CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY APPLICATIONS THAT TETHER THE DEVICE (THROUGH USE OF, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, CONNECTION KITS, OTHER PHONE/PDA-TO-COMPUTER ACCESSORIES, BLUETOOTHｮ OR ANY OTHER WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY) TO LAPTOPS, PCS, OR OTHER EQUIPMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE. Service is not intended to provide full-time connections, and the Service may be discontinued after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive usage. AT&T reserves the right to (i) limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny Service and/or terminate Service, without notice, to anyone it believes is using the Service in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts its wireless network or service levels or hinders access to its wireless network and (ii) protect its wireless network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. You may not send solicitations to AT&T's wireless subscribers without their consent. You may not use the Services other than as intended by AT&T and applicable law.

There was a lot more verbiage, but I think this part gets the point across. I read the above as, 'You can send as much data as you want, but only for the narrow purposes and in a manner that we specify, until we tell you no, which we reserve the right to do, so there! We are AT&T. We are God. Send us your money.'

Advantage to jimg.

 

[MikePA]

The following is snipped for their online version of the service plan, which, by the way, they make very difficult to find:

Please post the link to the site where this is posted. What you posted reads like an 'unlimited' plan associated with a cell phone.

"PLANS (UNLESS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED FOR TETHERING USAGE) CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY APPLICATIONS THAT TETHER THE DEVICE (THROUGH USE OF, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, CONNECTION KITS, OTHER PHONE/PDA-TO-COMPUTER ACCESSORIES, BLUETOOTHï½® OR ANY OTHER WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY) TO LAPTOPS, PCS, OR OTHER EQUIPMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE."

This is NOT a data plan associated with a cell phone.

 

[SnowRidge]

Please post the link to the site where this is posted.

This is NOT a data plan associated with a cell phone.

Here it is, and yes it is, although you can get the plan without a cell phone contract. I believe their is an additional fee of $10, if you don't have a voice plan with them. At least, it was the last time I looked into it in depth.

Terms and Conditions | AT&T

 

[MikePA]

Here it is, and yes it is, although you can get the plan without a cell phone contract. I believe their is an additional fee of $10, if you don't have a voice plan with them. At least, it was the last time I looked into it in depth.

Terms and Conditions | AT&T

Please quote the text related to what I was referring to, DataConnect plans.

This has NOTHING to do with a cell phone plan.

DATACONNECT NORTH AMERICA: Available countries, coverage and participating international wireless carriers included in the 'Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone' vary from our generally available Canada/international wireless data roam zones and may not be as extensive. Voice access is restricted and prohibited. Includes up to 100MB of wireless data usage in the Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone per month. Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone is restricted to select wireless carrier(s) and coverage areas within Canada and Mexico. See att.com/dataconnectglobal for a current list of participating carriers and eligible roam zones. Additional wireless data usage in the Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone is charged at: $0.005/KB. Standard international wireless data roaming rates apply to international data usage outside of Canada and Mexico. Under this plan, you will be restricted from accessing Service through any non-participating Canada/Mexico wireless carriers that may otherwise be included in our generally available Canada and international wireless data roam zones. Requires minimum one-year agreement and you must remain on eligible DataConnect North America plan for a minimum one-year term.

 

[SnowRidge]

Please quote the text related to what I was referring to, DataConnect plans.

This has NOTHING to do with a cell phone plan.

DATACONNECT NORTH AMERICA: Available countries, coverage and participating international wireless carriers included in the 'Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone' vary from our generally available Canada/international wireless data roam zones and may not be as extensive. Voice access is restricted and prohibited. Includes up to 100MB of wireless data usage in the Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone per month. Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone is restricted to select wireless carrier(s) and coverage areas within Canada and Mexico. See att.com/dataconnectglobal for a current list of participating carriers and eligible roam zones. Additional wireless data usage in the Select Canada/Mexico Roam Zone is charged at: $0.005/KB. Standard international wireless data roaming rates apply to international data usage outside of Canada and Mexico. Under this plan, you will be restricted from accessing Service through any non-participating Canada/Mexico wireless carriers that may otherwise be included in our generally available Canada and international wireless data roam zones. Requires minimum one-year agreement and you must remain on eligible DataConnect North America plan for a minimum one-year term.

I did. What you have above are not the terms and conditions. Go to the following DataConnect (Unlimited) page:

Get Started - Wireless from AT&T, formerly Cingular

Now go to the link on the bottom of the page called Plan Terms. It will lead you directly to those onerous terms and conditions.

Those are the published terms of the plan you are advocating.

Edit: Let me add that we are in range of a Cingular/AT&T tower here, and the only reason we didn't switch from ISDN to high speed wireless is those very same terms and conditions. They haven't changed since I looked into it when Cingular was deploying their high speed network. If anything, AT&T may have added more restrictions, by the length of the document.

Sprint is said to not have those kind of restrictions. I haven't checked, since we are not in range of one of their sites.

 

[3RRL]

I have a support guy that has a Sprint card in his laptop and he says he can maintain a connection from Chicago to Boston while traveling I90. I asked him why he is using his laptop while driving!

Moss, I am looking into this as well and and other plans. I have gotten a couple good sources, learned more about it too.
But when I first read your post I said, man, I gotta get a car like that!
I thought you said 190, not I90.

 

[MikePA]

Those are the published terms of the plan you are advocating.

I quoted the terms applicable to Dataconnect. The only other item that might apply is what amounts to a Fair Use Policy. There's NOTHING there that mentions additional data charges which is what jimg keeps mentioning.

I've used this service for YEARS, downloaded service packs and other software, and I've never been FAPped nor been charge for data transmissions that exceeded unlimited. Personal experience isn't enough for some people.

RobS - Good luck in your search.

 

[SnowRidge]

I quoted the terms applicable to Dataconnect. The only other item that might apply is what amounts to a Fair Use Policy. There's NOTHING there that mentions additional data charges which is what jimg keeps mentioning.

I've used this service for YEARS, downloaded service packs and other software, and I've never been FAPped nor been charge for data transmissions that exceeded unlimited. Personal experience isn't enough for some people.

RobS - Good luck in your search.

True, they don't say they will bill you for overages, but they do tell you what you can and can't do, including terms that preclude using the card in a wireless router feeding a LAN, which bans using it for a home network. Basically, they are saying they will take your money as a customer until it is more convenient for them to cut you off than serve you, and they leave themselves plenty of wiggle room to do so by banning a lot of legitimate Internet activities.

So far, you haven't had problems. That's good, but it doesn't mean someone else won't, or you won't at some future date. They have a really customer-hostile attitude, and I don't expect the AT&T control to ameliorate that.