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beastep

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My current internet is no longer cutting it. I dont know much about this stuff so I need some advice. I currently have rise broadband and my speeds are rarely above a 1 whatever per second download. Is there anything out there that uses a cell phone service hotspot that I can use a sim card in and get service through att or tmobile or whoever and get truly unlimited internet? I use family talk from tmobile for my cell phone and I have their most unlimited plan but it still caps hotspot data to 10gb per month so another line through them wont work. I called ATT and they use a nighthawk lte mobile router but they are on back order. On amazon they are like $400. She said if I buy my own device they could set me up for $90 a month unlimited but I forgot to ask if it was truly unlimited. Are there any options Im not thinking of?
 

p238shooter

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I am in the same situation you are out on the lake east of Tulsa using expensive, limited data, slow hot spot off a cell phone tower. I have a friend who is in upper mgmt. with a company associated with the satellite data business. He has shared first hand that there have been and are a lot of things going on in the background with the new T-Mobile/sprint merger that will be coming to light in the very near future with rural central US internet, including eventually replacing satellite TV programs. Both Direct TV and Dish Network have stated they will not be replacing satellites as they die off. I am sure the virus thing has slowed it down some, but he has told me a lot of 5G equipment has already been installed on T-Moble tower locations waiting on the details of the merger to be inplimented and are ready for the switch to be flicked on for cost effective 5G internet to many of us in rural central US. Part of the merger agreement was that one of their divisions would concentrate on cost effective true high speed rural area internet. Yes this will require a special and most likely since it is new technology expensive hot spot, but might be worth waiting a few months before getting locked into a 2 yr contract and purchasing an expensive 4G hot spot to see how this shakes out. JMO

I have yet to see any existing 4G cell phone internet that is truly "unlimited" without throttling after a limit somewhere around 20GB/mo.
 

BReeves

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Can't be much help other than I went through this a few weeks ago trying to get a straight answer out of ATT is impossible and T-Mobile isn't any better. Both told me they could but ended up with data limits, still haven't quite figured out what they were telling me. Think streaming to your phone is somewhat unlimited but using your phone or a hot spot device for internet access is. I use my phone when my provider goes down (Atlas Broadband) as a hotspot. Normal internet browsing and email doesn't use that much data but start streaming videos and it adds up quick. I ended up canceling and going back to my ATT phone plan and Atlas. Funny that Atlas has been pretty good since and I didn't tell them that I was looking at changing.

In the process I bought one of these...
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-LTE-Modem-Broadband-Connection/dp/B01N5ASNTE/ref=sr_1_27

Was going to sell it but after reading the other replies I may keep it and see what happens.
 
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918evo

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I live just northwest of Tulsa in the hills and have been using Viasat 30Gb/mo cap for about 5 yrs. After reading a recent rural internet thread, I purchased a router for 185 and 70/mo from Middle of Nowhere Internet via eBay and have been streaming videos without interruption for about a month now. It runs on the ATT 4g network and with a weak signal I get about 5-10mb/s download and 2-3 mb/s upload. I would guess we have used about 100gb so far, so it doesn't seem to be throttled...
 

beastep

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I am in the same situation you are out on the lake east of Tulsa using expensive, limited data, slow hot spot off a cell phone tower. I have a friend who is in upper mgmt. with a company associated with the satellite data business. He has shared first hand that there have been and are a lot of things going on in the background with the new T-Mobile/sprint merger that will be coming to light in the very near future with rural central US internet, including eventually replacing satellite TV programs. Both Direct TV and Dish Network have stated they will not be replacing satellites as they die off. I am sure the virus thing has slowed it down some, but he has told me a lot of 5G equipment has already been installed on T-Moble tower locations waiting on the details of the merger to be inplimented and are ready for the switch to be flicked on for cost effective 5G internet to many of us in rural central US. Part of the merger agreement was that one of their divisions would concentrate on cost effective true high speed rural area internet. Yes this will require a special and most likely since it is new technology expensive hot spot, but might be worth waiting a few months before getting locked into a 2 yr contract and purchasing an expensive 4G hot spot to see how this shakes out. JMO

I have yet to see any existing 4G cell phone internet that is truly "unlimited" without throttling after a limit somewhere around 20GB/mo.

Yeah Im not going to be able to afford a big install and equipment fee. I just lost my 2nd jot due to the oil field crash and am on quite the limited budget.
 

beastep

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Can't be much help other than I went through this a few weeks ago trying to get a straight answer out of ATT is impossible and T-Mobile isn't any better. Both told me they could but ended up with data limits, still haven't quite figured out what they were telling me. Think streaming to your phone is somewhat unlimited but using your phone or a hot spot device for internet access is. I use my phone when my provider goes down (Atlas Broadband) as a hotspot. Normal internet browsing and email doesn't use that much data but start streaming videos and it adds up quick. I ended up canceling and going back to my ATT phone plan and Atlas. Funny that Atlas has been pretty good since and I didn't tell them that I was looking at changing.

In the process I bought one of these...
https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-LTE-Modem-Broadband-Connection/dp/B01N5ASNTE/ref=sr_1_27

Was going to sell it but after reading the other replies I may keep it and see what happens.

I was looking at the exact same one except with the 2 ethernet ports since I still have a desktop. I cant get a straight answer from att if this will work with their $90 a month unlimited plan either. Every store I call gives a different answer.
 

beastep

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I live just northwest of Tulsa in the hills and have been using Viasat 30Gb/mo cap for about 5 yrs. After reading a recent rural internet thread, I purchased a router for 185 and 70/mo from Middle of Nowhere Internet via eBay and have been streaming videos without interruption for about a month now. It runs on the ATT 4g network and with a weak signal I get about 5-10mb/s download and 2-3 mb/s upload. I would guess we have used about 100gb so far, so it doesn't seem to be throttled...

So a lot of plans have a 10gb limit for tethering even though they may be an unlimited plan. Is the plan you are on unlimited? Hell even if its throttled it would still be faster than what I have now and paying $70 a month on. Do you have any further info on the stuff you bought? Where did you read that thread? This is the route I was looking at going I just dont understand a lot of it.

I cant find middle of nowhere on ebay.
 

918evo

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So a lot of plans have a 10gb limit for tethering even though they may be an unlimited plan. Is the plan you are on unlimited? Hell even if its throttled it would still be faster than what I have now and paying $70 a month on. Do you have any further info on the stuff you bought? Where did you read that thread? This is the route I was looking at going I just dont understand a lot of it.

I cant find middle of nowhere on ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AT-T-Truly...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

https://middleofnowhereinternet.com/

https://www.okshooters.com/threads/rural-internet-options.287434/page-4

My plan is an unlimited plan with no apparent throttling. Read the thread for nightshade's explanation on how this is possible. I am hoping this is a long-term viable option because I would love to drop Viasat, but am holding on to the satellite as a backup plan for a couple of months.
 

Podman

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I’m using Verizon on my iPhone and a iPad which is tethered to my iPhone for
Internet. It’s their $45 a month prepaid plan with 16 gig a month. Right now they
Are giving almost unlimited because of the virus. However since the IPad has a
Low data setting it’s plenty for me. I don’t have trouble streaming video.

 

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