Moving on up

[cowgirl8]

Looks like we may be getting high speed UNLIMITED internet..... I'm pretty excited.

 

[RiverHills]

That's cool!!!

We been running off of cell service for a year now. Been really happy with that.

 

[cowgirl8]

We are getting a verison hot spot dohicky.. We know people who livestream movies with it. I'm so so tired of limited internet..Its not like i use much, probably because i've always been limited.. I may use a whole bunch once we are free to....lol...My husband wants to be able to watch youtubes on the TV...I want to be able to use internet for netflix, so so tired of the mailing crud.. When we moved out here it was no water, 3 channels to watch on TV and a rotater for our antenna, party lines for phones and a mail box 4 miles from our house.....

 

[TCRanch]

Woo hoo, congrats! We upgraded a couple years ago - HUGE difference. That said, we still have horrible reception on our cell phones & some areas of the ranch none at all. Enjoy your new freedom

 

[callmefence]

We are getting a verison hot spot dohicky.. We know people who livestream movies with it. I'm so so tired of limited internet..Its not like i use much, probably because i've always been limited.. I may use a whole bunch once we are free to....lol...My husband wants to be able to watch youtubes on the TV...I want to be able to use internet for netflix, so so tired of the mailing crud.. When we moved out here it was no water, 3 channels to watch on TV and a rotater for our antenna, party lines for phones and a mail box 4 miles from our house.....

Yeah if you have ify cell signal and you get the hotspot dohicky..don't get your hopes to high.

 

[cowgirl8]

We can get a booster to help. Our signal is pretty good out here thank goodness. I know a neighbor uses one for streaming movies, so its possible..Just having unlimited will make me happy..

 

[callmefence]

Ours works good as long as we have a signal. Even when it's just 3g.
But when we loose signal , which happens fairly often. Back to the stone age.
I haven't seen the booster. Have to look into that.

 

[tater74]

Ours works good as long as we have a signal. Even when it's just 3g.
But when we loose signal , which happens fairly often. Back to the stone age.
I haven't seen the booster. Have to look into that.

Wilson makes a decent booster. My son games with one through his cell phone.

 

[RiverHills]

On the farm we have spots with no service to spots with 4g. We got really lucky our house gets 4g. It's fast we can watch YouTube videos and it never stops. Sad part is you can sit in the house and make calls and have them drop the call.

Has anyone used a booster for calls?

 

[cowgirl8]

My inlaws had a metal roof put on their house and it totally shut off all their calls. Husband added a booster and now they get good reception anywhere in their house. We dont have a booster at our house and its a metal roof also, but i get good reception in most areas of our house without a booster. But, if we need one for live streaming, it wont be that big of a problem hooking one up.

 

[cfpinz]

We have the Verizon hotspot doohickey which says we have 4G service at the house, looks like full bars. The cell phones are faster but that may be age related to the computer. I have to use the computer so much at my day job that the wife and I haven't cut the home computer on for months.

 

[greybeard]

We can get a booster to help. Our signal is pretty good out here thank goodness. I know a neighbor uses one for streaming movies, so its possible..Just having unlimited will make me happy..

I have the Verizon "hotspot doohikey", and have had one for nearly 3 years now--upgraded to a newer version last year. It's what Verizon calls a 4g LTE mobile hotspot or simply--jet pack.

We also have a Wilson cell sig booster. Do not 'cheap out' on the booster if you have a weak cell tower signal. We first tried one you stick the antenna on a window. It was little better than no amplification at all and only provided boost for the room it was in.
Verizon does sell some but we went with the Wilson from Best Buy--some WalMart sell them too. Antenna mounts outside the house, coax runs inside to the actual amplifier, which plugs into 110v outlet, and signal from amp goes by wire to an output antenna which provides the wireless hotspot. Get the kind that floods the whole house if you intend to use the signal in different rooms. Ours does. I think it was around $350 when we purchased it.


Make sure the booster is rated for 4G--lots of them still being sold that wont boost a 4g signal. You will want a bi or omni directional antenna. All amps have a specific range that they work within--meaning they only boost a finite amount between what the receiving antenna gets and what the device sees from the booster. Don't expect any booster to be able to amplify a barely existing signal to a world shaking up down data transfer speed. You will need to know exactly where the best cell tower for your home is located--Verizon can tell you how to do that, tho it will probably take a phone call to a Verizon help. Most Verizon outlet stores can't provide the info to you--they can only tell you if you are in a coverage area or not. You'll need to give them your physical address--knowing your GPS coordinates is a big plus too. You don't want to be placing your booster antenna on the opposite side of the house from where the signal is coming form.


"Unlimited data" is a subjective term. Your jetpack (and even the booster) can only handle a finite amount of data at a time. The more devices you have in use at any given time will restrict the data flow--divide it between the different devices. I can tell the difference between me alone being logged on and when my wife is also logged on with here laptop, even with the booster. Unlimited means you won't be charged for anything except what you use--no overages, but the tower itself has limitations. It may seem you are the only one in the area on high speed internet, but if that same tower provides service to a town that sits between you a and the antenna, you will find 'unlimited' doesn't mean what you may hoped it would.

Streaming video takes 2 things--ability to use a large volume of data (set by your Verizon plan--in your case-unlimited), and more importantly, the technical ability to use (take in) that data at a high rate of speed--both up and down. Watching a movie requires a constant refresh rate--the pixels change constantly. Your connection icon may show a full 5 bars or whatever way yours indicates strong vs weak connection, but the thing you have watch for is the speed at which the signal is traveling--known as up/down transfer speeds. Slow up/down means you will see significant lag in the movie--excessive buffering, or even pauses.

When you purchase your hardware, make SURE, you can return it for a full refund if it doesn't work to your satisfaction--especially in the case of the booster.

 

[cowgirl8]

We got it...Works great!!!! Our son has this doohicky thing that picks up Hulu, HBO and lots of other places to live stream shows..He has 2 with his subscription so he gave one to us. It works terrific!!!..
I had to go 2 weeks with no internet, so just getting adjusted in having it again. Those 2 weeks i sure did get a lot done..lol

 

[millstreaminn]

Lucky you. The ONLY option I have is Excede. It's okay when it works, but the low data cap and constant rebooting of the unit is a pain. I have 4 bars Verizon (with a booster) at my house, although I can't get data to stream over it. I set me iPhone up as a hotspot and try to connect my iPad to it. No joy.

Waiting for something better...

 

[Nesikep]

I was looking at a Wilson booster as well.. If my cell phone is just in the right spot I get 1 bar, and things work.. as soon as my contract is up I'm finding another provider

 

[millstreaminn]

I was looking at a Wilson booster as well.. If my cell phone is just in the right spot I get 1 bar, and things work.. as soon as my contract is up I'm finding another provider

As bad as Verizon is in this area (I'm sitting in the hotel which is directly across the street from a big hospital and I only have 2 bars) it's the only game in town. No other service available at all.

 

[millstreaminn]

On the upside we have a super fast internet service for the hotel with no data cap. Do all my big up and downloads here. ;-)

 

[cowgirl8]

Lucky you. The ONLY option I have is Excede. It's okay when it works, but the low data cap and constant rebooting of the unit is a pain. I have 4 bars Verizon (with a booster) at my house, although I can't get data to stream over it. I set me iPhone up as a hotspot and try to connect my iPad to it. No joy.

Waiting for something better...

We were on Excede, long enough for our contract to be out. We tested out the hot spot before we decided on getting it and while doing that for only 24 hours, something went wrong with our excede unit. Called the help line and for 100 dollars, they'd send out a guy to fix it. When husband hesitated, they then said, well for 8 dollars a month all your repairs are no charge...when he hesitated again, it was we'll come out to fix it no charge....Sorry buddy, that offer should have been the first. Went 2 weeks without internet and how, after a week of using the hot spot, i could not be happier. I'm starting to get over not doing things during the day, so so nice. No longer do i 'have' to get up before 5 just so i can watch a youtube. Although excede worked well and was a step up from what we had before, no way i'd go back unless for some reason we lose this hot spot....or they raise the price so high we drop it...

 

[cowgirl8]

Spent hours last night watching Youtubes on our TV.. So many people need to learn to video if they are going to post youtubes.. including me. Saw many things i need to not do..