Well, my wife and I were finally able to get a house on acreage and we close tomorrow! We can’t wait until we are in the"country", but have found one downside. Broadband internet isn’t available from neither the telephone company or the cable company. We have looked at the few options available to us and think we are going to go with the T-Mobile 4G Hotspot. We looked at Hughes satellite, but it’s expensive, relatively slow and only allows for 250mb a month in usage.
Has anyone here had any experience with the T-Mobile product? It appears to be fast, reasonably priced ($40 for 5gig) and no limit on usage. You get 5 gig at 4G and if you go over they throttle you to 2G speeds. Plus it can be used with up to 5 devices at a time. So, anyone happy with it?
Also, they showed us two devices, one for $40 and one for $129. While they are both 4G, the sales person claimed the more expensive one is much faster, but couldn’t tell us why. Which one should we get?
Second question: currently we ditched cable and only have Netflix for our TV. We have been very happy with it, but it looks as though we are going to have to ditch streaming if we go with the above service. Not because of speed, but because of data usage. How much data does a typical Netflix movie consume?
Netflix Movies (HD)[COLOR=#3c3c3c]: These guys are around 3.8Mbit, which means it’s about 3600MB for a 2 hour HD movie.[/COLOR] Netflix Movies (SD): Each of these movies are around 500-700MB each, depending on the length of the movie. Netflix TV Shows (HD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 1500MB. Netflix TV Shows (SD): A 30-minute TV show will be about 400MB.
I was alreedy positive that Netflix would become a thing of the past. I had no idea how much data that a movie used, but I assumed it was a lot. Without Netflix, our internet usage comes no where near 5Gb per month. I use the net a lot, but mostly to read sites like SD and Fark, so while I have a heavy visit usage, I can’t see these text based sites consuming much data. Occasionally I will watch something on Youtube, but I would say not more than 10 videos a month. 5gb should be more than enough. The reviews I have been able to find, the Hotspot seems as if will fit the bill. It has to be better than going back to dial up. I haven’t heard that modem screech in years and I am not anxious to hear it again. I guess it is back to Dish or Direct TV sigh, I liked the Netflix as it kept me fairly entertained and it was under $20 a month. Going back to satalite is going to mean paying $50 or so a month and nothing interesting to watch. Reruns and 23 cooking channels.
The other issue that I cannot seem to get an answer to is the equipment. Both the $129 and the $40 Hotspot devices can handle up to 5 devices and both are 4G, so I just am trying to figure out if the more expensive one is actually faster. The price difference isn’t really that much, but I just don’t like spending money unless there is a reason to do so.
I did OK with 5gb/month with Verizon wireless, just stay away from video (the occasional youtube is OK), but used Pandora streaming audio so much that I frequently had to pay to continue the service for the rest of the month - I think I got to 3.5 gb but that was a while back. You will need to get your TV fix somewhere else.
You may not be able to stream Netflix but if you have access to a wifi during the day you could download a movie and take it home. Employers tend to frown on personal use of their broadband but there may be a public access point you can use.
I have done this on my iPad at the library. Heck even Fantastic Sams has wifi. You will want to find a g or n protocol so you don’t spend all day.
I believe they have much higher data limits(possibly unlimited, might be throttled…).
If you get sprint service out where you live, it should work. I believe it’s around the same cost.
I have a tmobile phone I tether occasionally. I pull around 5-10 mbits on a good day on my HSPA+.
Average around town is probably closer to 5. I’m sure out in the country it’ll be alot worse.
I was very happy with my Tmobile service in Los Angeles. I’m currently in the bay area and reception blows chunks out here. Not sure why it’s so terrible.
Interesting though to be able to download Netflix movies, but for the life of me I can’t seem to figure our how to save them. A search with Google less me to believe it isn’t possible to do so. If you know of a way, please full me in. Thanks