OT Anyone got Karma? (wifi)

[George Herold]

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

George H.

 

[Lasse Langwadt Christense]

Den onsdag den 2. december 2015 kl. 22.13.45 UTC+1 skrev George Herold:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

afaict it is just a cellphone with a wifi hotspot



-Lasse

 

[George Herold]

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 4:44:36 PM UTC-5, mixed nuts wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:13 PM, George Herold wrote:
I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by
satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but
the verizon cell phone plan starts nicking you big time if you go
over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra
charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this, https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works I've ordered
one, but it hasn't shipped yet. I'm just wondering if anyone else has
one, and how well it works.


Never tried that but I found out that comcast is putting wifi hotspots
all over the place - you can get a couple of free hours a month if
that's all you need or sign up for paid service ($59/month IIRC). I'm
about 1000 feet from one and I get a pretty consistent 25 mbps. It's
keyed to your mac address so you can't jump from computer to computer.

Put in your location to see if you're near one:

http://hotspots.wifi.xfinity.com/

Huh, interesting.. Smokey's Bar and Grill has one...
But I think it's about 800' from my house to the
road, and a few miles to Smokey's...
(their pizza is OK, and they have Guinness!)
I'm kinda on the edge of cell phone service too.
Anyway the speed is slower, but it's cheaper and unlimited.
Two kids and wife (kids listed first 'cause they use more.)
we blow through 1G/ day in no time.... everyone is limited.
(which might be a good thing... but it's basically a requirement
for school these days.)

George H.

--
Grizzly H.

 

[George Herold]

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 6:37:15 PM UTC-5, Jon Elson wrote:

George Herold wrote:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by
satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the
verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a
much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

George H.
Anybody near you have cable or DSL internet? A couple people I know are
just too far to get either of these. But, they have neighbors within line
of sight who DO have some kind internet. So, they got some wifi routers,
and put one at the neighbor's place and one at theirs, and got pairs of wi-
fi antennas, mounted and aimed for best signal. They have been using this
setup for a couple years, I think. Mostly reliable, once in a while you
have to tweak the antenna aim after a big storm.

Jon

Hmmm, well there is cable down the bottom of my hill, and my sons friend
half way up the hill have cable. I don't think there is any line of sight.
(and don't tell my son this idea... ;^)

George H.

 

[mixed nuts]

On 12/2/2015 4:13 PM, George Herold wrote:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by
satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but
the verizon cell phone plan starts nicking you big time if you go
over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra
charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this, https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works I've ordered
one, but it hasn't shipped yet. I'm just wondering if anyone else has
one, and how well it works.

Never tried that but I found out that comcast is putting wifi hotspots
all over the place - you can get a couple of free hours a month if
that's all you need or sign up for paid service ($59/month IIRC). I'm
about 1000 feet from one and I get a pretty consistent 25 mbps. It's
keyed to your mac address so you can't jump from computer to computer.

Put in your location to see if you're near one:

http://hotspots.wifi.xfinity.com/

--
Grizzly H.

 

[Jon Elson]

George Herold wrote:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by
satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the
verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a
much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

George H.

Anybody near you have cable or DSL internet? A couple people I know are
just too far to get either of these. But, they have neighbors within line
of sight who DO have some kind internet. So, they got some wifi routers,
and put one at the neighbor's place and one at theirs, and got pairs of wi-
fi antennas, mounted and aimed for best signal. They have been using this
setup for a couple years, I think. Mostly reliable, once in a while you
have to tweak the antenna aim after a big storm.

Jon

 

[Martin Brown]

On 02/12/2015 21:26, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:

Den onsdag den 2. december 2015 kl. 22.13.45 UTC+1 skrev George Herold:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone.
About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much
reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

Ouch! What sort of limits do you have? All you can eat 3/4G phone data
contracts in the UK run at about Ł1/GB on contract or Ł3/GB PAYG.

Assuming that you use at least 7GB pcm and ideally less than 20GB
tethered to stay inside the unfair usage rules and surcharges. There is
a strict limit on how much you can tether to non-phones and Mifis.

In the UK it is reaching the stage where out in the country a high gain
antenna and a 3G Mifi with a phased pair of permanently mounted yagis
can be easily competitive with fixed line (and trounce satellite).

The only snag is if too many people start to do it then the backhaul
will saturate and you will be no better off. I use 3G with an aerial
sometimes when I need speeds that my fixed line ADSL cannot support.

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

afaict it is just a cellphone with a wifi hotspot

It might be a bit more cunning than that - stealing airtime off whatever
free wifi hotspots are around if available.

And I doubt it can magic a cellphone connection out of "thin air" in
regions without 3G coverage and running over 2G r 2.5G is *PAINFUL*.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[George Herold]

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 11:51:43 PM UTC-5, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:13:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gherold@teachspin.com> Gave us:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available
by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost,
.(limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit,
satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra
charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

George H.

Try Exede

http://directexede.com/

Well my kids blow through 1 G/ day so that's the $150/ month plan,
about double what I pay now.

George H.

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 3:32:02 AM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:

On 02/12/2015 21:26, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:
Den onsdag den 2. december 2015 kl. 22.13.45 UTC+1 skrev George Herold:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone.
About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much
reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

Ouch! What sort of limits do you have? All you can eat 3/4G phone data
contracts in the UK run at about Ł1/GB on contract or Ł3/GB PAYG.

Hi Martin, I'm an idiot when it comes to cell phones so...(be gentle)
We get 1 G of download a day. Sometimes that is all gone by the time
I get home from work. (youtube videos mostly I think.)

Assuming that you use at least 7GB pcm and ideally less than 20GB
tethered to stay inside the unfair usage rules and surcharges. There is
a strict limit on how much you can tether to non-phones and Mifis.

I'm not sure what tether means?

In the UK it is reaching the stage where out in the country a high gain
antenna and a 3G Mifi with a phased pair of permanently mounted yagis
can be easily competitive with fixed line (and trounce satellite).

Yeah well if the signal strength is low then I may be back here
asking about antenna's.

George H.

The only snag is if too many people start to do it then the backhaul
will saturate and you will be no better off. I use 3G with an aerial
sometimes when I need speeds that my fixed line ADSL cannot support.

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

afaict it is just a cellphone with a wifi hotspot

It might be a bit more cunning than that - stealing airtime off whatever
free wifi hotspots are around if available.

And I doubt it can magic a cellphone connection out of "thin air" in
regions without 3G coverage and running over 2G r 2.5G is *PAINFUL*.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 11:05:49 AM UTC-5, rickman wrote:

On 12/2/2015 4:13 PM, George Herold wrote:
I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

I have experience living without Internet, it sucks big time. We
finally were covered by a WISP provider. That's not too bad, but it
often gives marginal rates. I think this is due to congestion, but the
provider can often fix it he says by resetting something.

This provider seems to have a reasonable plan at $50/month. But the
coverage sucks. Where I am I see a number of very small cells with
fingers of coverage. Unfortunately, right by my place the fingers are
all over the water, lol. I know cell phone coverage is marginal for all
the vendors, so likely this would not work well. How is the coverage
for you?

Area code 14082, when I click on the coverage map where my house sits is listed
as good. But it cuts out right up the road... at the top of a local hill.
So I'm a little worried about the signal strength.

Not having a data cap is *huge*. The question is how fast will it work?
"Up to 5 Mbps" is not 5 Mbps. I had "up to 2 Mbps" with Comcast in my
other house once. I hardly got 1 Mbps. I tried to get them to make it
work better but they claimed it was "Internet congestion". Lol I
dropped my plan back to 256 kbps and got *exactly* that, 256 kbps max
speed. 5 Mbps will let you do pretty much anything you want if it stays
near that. I would be worried you might see high congestion days with
barely 1 Mbps.

Grin, yeah it's the no data cap that perked my sons interest.
Also the Hughesnet satellite service is kinda slow on the upload. With a
big delay. (No surprise it's a long way up to the satellite.) But the delay
will sometimes cause web-sites to complain. (The good thing about the
delay is that my son can't play any of these MMO games.)

The $10/GB plan is *terribly* expensive. I would have paid $3000 last
month.

Oh my, did you add an extra zero in there? We use ~30 GB/month.
(and getting worse as everyone gets more devices.)

George H.

--

Rick

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 12:16:03 PM UTC-5, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 07:30:43 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gherold@teachspin.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 11:51:43 PM UTC-5, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:13:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works

That's just a cellular hot spot. You can get those directly from the
cellular provider. They work, but the cost of data and monthly
service charges are rather high. A mobile hotspot makes lots of sense
if you're moving around and need internet anywhere you go, but less
sense if you're in a fixed location, such as at home. I would stay
with your current satellite internet provider (Hughesnet or Exede).

There are other alternatives for wireless such as a WISP (wireless
internet service provider). For example, locally:
http://www.surfnetusa.com/iservices.asp
http://ethericnetworks.com
and plenty of small WISP service providers servicing communities or
apartment buildings. They're usually a bit difficult to find, but if
you look around, you should be able to find something. Try to avoid
resellers of someone else's service.
http://www.wispdirectory.com
http://www.wispa.org/directories/find-a-wisp
Bug me if you need help.

Rick mentioned Wisp too,
I'll sic my son on it. (a quick search found nothing for my area code
14082)

George H.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 12:30:16 PM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:

On 03/12/2015 15:50, George Herold wrote:
On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 3:32:02 AM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:
On 02/12/2015 21:26, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:
Den onsdag den 2. december 2015 kl. 22.13.45 UTC+1 skrev George Herold:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone.
About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much
reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

Ouch! What sort of limits do you have? All you can eat 3/4G phone data
contracts in the UK run at about Ł1/GB on contract or Ł3/GB PAYG.

Hi Martin, I'm an idiot when it comes to cell phones so...(be gentle)
We get 1 G of download a day. Sometimes that is all gone by the time
I get home from work. (youtube videos mostly I think.)

OK. That is moderately high usage then. You probably won't get away with
less than two mobile data contracts assuming UK like rules. I suspect US
semi-monopoly pricing is somewhat more gouging than ours.
Re Price: Yeah I'm amazed by the ~Ł1/GB. Here it's closer to $10 or more.

The pricing model and some aspects of mobile telephony are entirely
different in the USA. I was amazed how hard it was to buy a SIM over
there recently. In the UK every supermarket and corner shop has a rack
of SIMs at the checkout usually priced at a nominal Ł1 sometimes given
away. One player, EE is offering 100GB Xmas data SIMs for Ł10 right now..
(only good for 2 months but potentially useful if you don't get hooked)

I never heard of Sims's but a quick search found them at $20/ GB.
(again too much for me.)

It is currently the best priced deal for bulk data.

Assuming that you use at least 7GB pcm and ideally less than 20GB
tethered to stay inside the unfair usage rules and surcharges. There is
a strict limit on how much you can tether to non-phones and Mifis.

I'm not sure what tether means?

Tethering is using the data allowance from your phone on other computer
like devices basically it behaves as a mobile hotspot. I generally do
this first and then use a sacrificial 3G 3GB PAYG SIM Mifi if necessary.

You can usually only tether a certain amount of your data allowance -
the rest has to be used on the smart phone itself. Annoyingly they can
tell and will cut you off/throttle back to useless if you try to cheat.

I am careful when mobile not to watch unnecessary videos. YMMV


In the UK it is reaching the stage where out in the country a high gain
antenna and a 3G Mifi with a phased pair of permanently mounted yagis
can be easily competitive with fixed line (and trounce satellite).

Yeah well if the signal strength is low then I may be back here
asking about antenna's.

George H.

The outdoor ones from Solwise in the UK aren't too bad. You can get
cheap yagis from China but I haven't had much luck with them.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-outdoor.htm

It's not clear there is anywhere to plug an antenna into the
Karma thing.

George H.

I expect a lot of their gear is of US origin. I am experimenting with a
dual CL9 socketed Hauwei E5377 at present - awaiting rounduits...

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 3:01:46 PM UTC-5, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 12:27:24 -0500, rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> wrote:

It is clear you didn't actually read about the plan. This is a third
party who sells their service with terms and condition they create, not
the cell vendors. They have a plan which says there are *no* data
restrictions and they say there is *no* contract. Yes, I know, there
has to be terms and conditions of some sort... but the web page doesn't
supply that.

So the only restriction may be the 5 Mbps max rate.

Given unlimited data for $50 a month, the rest of your comments are not
valid. This is a game changer for many I think.

You're right, I didn't read the plan. Sorry(tm). I was more
interested in the equipment and the cellular provider used by the
Karma MVNO (multi-vendor network operator). Kinda looks like Sprint,
but I'm not sure. What happened around here (Santa Cruz, CA) is that
Sprint oversold the unlimited plans with an insufficient number of
towers. Their system far from saturated, but the data speeds are
fairly slow. New bands are a big help but only for those users with
the very latest hardware. The major vendors (VZW, Sprint, AT&T, etc)
tend to keep the new stuff for themselves and delay giving the MVNO's
access to the latest stuff.

Ah, foundit. It's Sprint:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/mvno-karma-launches-first-lte-product-sprint-doubles-user-base-100000/2014-09-23
New buzzword: "Social Bandwidth".

Wow, nice google-foo! Looking at the sprint coverage map it
over laps the one from Karma. (Well except where I live is
listed as fair.) The Sprint thing is too bad, I'm guessing that
my Karma is going back. Verizon put up a cell tower in the valley
and the Verizon signal is pretty good at my house.

Tanks,
George H.

Unlimited data sure sounds like a great deal. We'll see how well it
plays. Verizon currently has only about 1% of its customers on
unlimited data plans and is doing everything it can to get rid of
them.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-wont-throttle-speeds-customers-who-have-hung-unlimited-data-plans/2015-10-21

I'm late (as usual). Later...


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[George Herold]

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 2:06:12 PM UTC-5, krw wrote:

On Wed, 02 Dec 2015 23:51:27 -0500, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno
DLU1@DecadentLinuxUser.org> wrote:

On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:13:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gherold@teachspin.com> Gave us:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available
by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost,
.(limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit,
satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra
charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

George H.

Try Exede

http://directexede.com/

I looked into Excede before we convinced AT&T to run fiber from the
street to our house. Their customer service is apparently worse than
AT&Ts and Comcast put together - perhaps even on the illegal side. I
decided I'd put up with DSL, longer, than even try them.

I've had zero issues with Hughesnet. Their system was down for a few days a year
or so ago. They sent everyone some extra GB's to make up for it.

George H.

 

[rickman]

On 12/2/2015 4:13 PM, George Herold wrote:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone. About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

My son found this,
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works
I've ordered one, but it hasn't shipped yet.
I'm just wondering
if anyone else has one, and how well it works.

I have experience living without Internet, it sucks big time. We
finally were covered by a WISP provider. That's not too bad, but it
often gives marginal rates. I think this is due to congestion, but the
provider can often fix it he says by resetting something.

This provider seems to have a reasonable plan at $50/month. But the
coverage sucks. Where I am I see a number of very small cells with
fingers of coverage. Unfortunately, right by my place the fingers are
all over the water, lol. I know cell phone coverage is marginal for all
the vendors, so likely this would not work well. How is the coverage
for you?

Not having a data cap is *huge*. The question is how fast will it work?
"Up to 5 Mbps" is not 5 Mbps. I had "up to 2 Mbps" with Comcast in my
other house once. I hardly got 1 Mbps. I tried to get them to make it
work better but they claimed it was "Internet congestion". Lol I
dropped my plan back to 256 kbps and got *exactly* that, 256 kbps max
speed. 5 Mbps will let you do pretty much anything you want if it stays
near that. I would be worried you might see high congestion days with
barely 1 Mbps.

The $10/GB plan is *terribly* expensive. I would have paid $3000 last
month.

--

Rick

 

[whit3rd]

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 4:22:49 PM UTC-8, George Herold wrote:

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 4:44:36 PM UTC-5, mixed nuts wrote:
On 12/2/2015 4:13 PM, George Herold wrote:
I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by
satellite or cell phone.

[about WiFi hotspots for subscription]

Put in your location to see if you're near one:

http://hotspots.wifi.xfinity.com/

Huh, interesting.. Smokey's Bar and Grill has one...
But I think it's about 800' from my house to the
road, and a few miles to Smokey's...

Might work, but when I've done it (5GHz in the 802.11a days) it took
directional antennae at BOTH ends of the link. So, you need
a transceiver near Smokey's, with a nondirectional antenna,
and a second transceiver on a dedicated high-gain antenna aimed
at your distant location (which also will need a high-gain antenna).
A single router, if it has diversity antennae and a 'relay' function,
can suffice.

If you can't verify line-of-sight due to trees or foliage, get a good
topographic map of the region, and plot the ground height
along your line-of-sight. With that plot, find the antenna mast
height you need.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 07:30:43 -0800 (PST), George Herold
<gherold@teachspin.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 11:51:43 PM UTC-5, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:13:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works

That's just a cellular hot spot. You can get those directly from the
cellular provider. They work, but the cost of data and monthly
service charges are rather high. A mobile hotspot makes lots of sense
if you're moving around and need internet anywhere you go, but less
sense if you're in a fixed location, such as at home. I would stay
with your current satellite internet provider (Hughesnet or Exede).

There are other alternatives for wireless such as a WISP (wireless
internet service provider). For example, locally:
<http://www.surfnetusa.com/iservices.asp>
<http://ethericnetworks.com>
and plenty of small WISP service providers servicing communities or
apartment buildings. They're usually a bit difficult to find, but if
you look around, you should be able to find something. Try to avoid
resellers of someone else's service.
<http://www.wispdirectory.com>
<http://www.wispa.org/directories/find-a-wisp>
Bug me if you need help.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[rickman]

On 12/3/2015 12:15 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Thu, 3 Dec 2015 07:30:43 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gherold@teachspin.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 11:51:43 PM UTC-5, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:
On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 13:13:38 -0800 (PST), George Herold
https://yourkarma.com/how-it-works

That's just a cellular hot spot. You can get those directly from the
cellular provider. They work, but the cost of data and monthly
service charges are rather high.

It is clear you didn't actually read about the plan. This is a third
party who sells their service with terms and condition they create, not
the cell vendors. They have a plan which says there are *no* data
restrictions and they say there is *no* contract. Yes, I know, there
has to be terms and conditions of some sort... but the web page doesn't
supply that.

So the only restriction may be the 5 Mbps max rate.

Given unlimited data for $50 a month, the rest of your comments are not
valid. This is a game changer for many I think.

A mobile hotspot makes lots of sense
if you're moving around and need internet anywhere you go, but less
sense if you're in a fixed location, such as at home. I would stay
with your current satellite internet provider (Hughesnet or Exede).

There are other alternatives for wireless such as a WISP (wireless
internet service provider). For example, locally:
http://www.surfnetusa.com/iservices.asp
http://ethericnetworks.com
and plenty of small WISP service providers servicing communities or
apartment buildings. They're usually a bit difficult to find, but if
you look around, you should be able to find something. Try to avoid
resellers of someone else's service.
http://www.wispdirectory.com
http://www.wispa.org/directories/find-a-wisp
Bug me if you need help.

--

Rick

 

[Martin Brown]

On 03/12/2015 15:50, George Herold wrote:

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 3:32:02 AM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:
On 02/12/2015 21:26, Lasse Langwadt Christensen wrote:
Den onsdag den 2. december 2015 kl. 22.13.45 UTC+1 skrev George Herold:

I live out in the sticks and internet access is only available by satellite or cell phone.
About the same cost, (limited data), but the verizon cell phone plan
starts nicking you big time if you go over the limit, satellite runs at a much
reduced speed.. but no extra charge. (We have satellite for $80/ mo)

Ouch! What sort of limits do you have? All you can eat 3/4G phone data
contracts in the UK run at about Ł1/GB on contract or Ł3/GB PAYG.

Hi Martin, I'm an idiot when it comes to cell phones so...(be gentle)
We get 1 G of download a day. Sometimes that is all gone by the time
I get home from work. (youtube videos mostly I think.)

OK. That is moderately high usage then. You probably won't get away with
less than two mobile data contracts assuming UK like rules. I suspect US
semi-monopoly pricing is somewhat more gouging than ours.

The pricing model and some aspects of mobile telephony are entirely
different in the USA. I was amazed how hard it was to buy a SIM over
there recently. In the UK every supermarket and corner shop has a rack
of SIMs at the checkout usually priced at a nominal Ł1 sometimes given
away. One player, EE is offering 100GB Xmas data SIMs for Ł10 right now.
(only good for 2 months but potentially useful if you don't get hooked)

It is currently the best priced deal for bulk data.

Assuming that you use at least 7GB pcm and ideally less than 20GB
tethered to stay inside the unfair usage rules and surcharges. There is
a strict limit on how much you can tether to non-phones and Mifis.

I'm not sure what tether means?

Tethering is using the data allowance from your phone on other computer
like devices basically it behaves as a mobile hotspot. I generally do
this first and then use a sacrificial 3G 3GB PAYG SIM Mifi if necessary.

You can usually only tether a certain amount of your data allowance -
the rest has to be used on the smart phone itself. Annoyingly they can
tell and will cut you off/throttle back to useless if you try to cheat.

I am careful when mobile not to watch unnecessary videos. YMMV

In the UK it is reaching the stage where out in the country a high gain
antenna and a 3G Mifi with a phased pair of permanently mounted yagis
can be easily competitive with fixed line (and trounce satellite).

Yeah well if the signal strength is low then I may be back here
asking about antenna's.

George H.

The outdoor ones from Solwise in the UK aren't too bad. You can get
cheap yagis from China but I haven't had much luck with them.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-antenna-outdoor.htm

I expect a lot of their gear is of US origin. I am experimenting with a
dual CL9 socketed Hauwei E5377 at present - awaiting rounduits...

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

[Martin Brown]

On 03/12/2015 18:07, George Herold wrote:

On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 12:30:16 PM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:
On 03/12/2015 15:50, George Herold wrote:
On Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 3:32:02 AM UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:

Ouch! What sort of limits do you have? All you can eat 3/4G phone data
contracts in the UK run at about Ł1/GB on contract or Ł3/GB PAYG.

Hi Martin, I'm an idiot when it comes to cell phones so...(be gentle)
We get 1 G of download a day. Sometimes that is all gone by the time
I get home from work. (youtube videos mostly I think.)

OK. That is moderately high usage then. You probably won't get away with
less than two mobile data contracts assuming UK like rules. I suspect US
semi-monopoly pricing is somewhat more gouging than ours.
Re Price: Yeah I'm amazed by the ~Ł1/GB. Here it's closer to $10 or more.

That is for one of the optimal moderate use contracts. If you buy PAYG
30days at a time then Ł10 for 1GB or Ł15 for 7GB is more typical on
Three. Also they have a 123 deal for a mixture of minutes/texts/data but
that really isn't suited to heavy use at Ł10/GB.

I tend to buy up data SIMs when they are heavily discounted.

The pricing model and some aspects of mobile telephony are entirely
different in the USA. I was amazed how hard it was to buy a SIM over
there recently. In the UK every supermarket and corner shop has a rack
of SIMs at the checkout usually priced at a nominal Ł1 sometimes given
away. One player, EE is offering 100GB Xmas data SIMs for Ł10 right now.
(only good for 2 months but potentially useful if you don't get hooked)

I never heard of Sims's but a quick search found them at $20/ GB.
(again too much for me.)

In the UK some come with introductory data offers at a very good price
eg 3GB over 90days or 12GB over a year. The prices have go less good now

I expect a lot of their gear is of US origin. I am experimenting with a
dual CL9 socketed Hauwei E5377 at present - awaiting rounduits...

This is the best 3G/4G Mifi I have found so far with external antenna
sockets. My old 3G only E5330 is getting to the end of its useful life.

Unfortunately it does need a workable mobile signal and some of the
places I visit are remote enough not to have any

--
Regards,
Martin Brown