Bye bye Aircard....

On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:23:08 -0800, in
<[email protected]>, SMS
<[email protected]> wrote:

>The tiered pricing is designed to get people to use Wi-Fi when
>available, and stop wasting the limited 2G/3G/4G capacity. AT&T has been
>successful with the elimination of unlimited data, replacing it with the
>lower cost 200MB and 2GB plans. The bottom line is that most people can
>easily survive with 200MB if they're not downloading massive numbers of
>videos, or streaming Pandora hundred of hours a month. ...

Actual data on typical smartphone wireless usage says otherwise.

--
John

"It is better to sit in silence and appear ignorant,
than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." -Mark Twain
"A little learning is a dangerous thing." -Alexander Pope
"Being ignorant is not so much a shame,
as being unwilling to learn." -Benjamin Franklin

---

› See More: Bye bye Aircard....

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:40:07 -0800
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:



> T-Mobile offers "unlimited" data for $20 month more than voice alone,
> with excellent HSPA speeds, and tethering is standard on my Nexus One,
> both cable and wireless hotspot. Highly recommended.


It's not unlimited. T-Mobile has finally gotten the clue that the other carriers have refused to get. They're now calling it a monthly plan with no overages (which it is). You can use 5GB in any given month, before they cap your speed.



--
Steve Sobol <[email protected]>

John Navas <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> T-Mobile offers "unlimited" data for $20 month more than voice alone,
> with excellent HSPA speeds, and tethering is standard on my Nexus One,
> both cable and wireless hotspot. Highly recommended.
>
>

No thanks. The Alfa 2W adapter was playing ESPN3's soccer game on the
netbook at 4 out of 5 "quality" off the hotel wifi's 6Mbps cap across the
parking lot and street last night. It won't even play without running
out of data on any sellphone **** data link, which is exactly my point.

I don't want a $60/month email and webpage WebTV viewer. I want to watch
TV and movies and video in stereo from many sources, play the highest
speed internet radio stations at 128Kbps, not 22Kbps which sounds like
crap even I can hear, and play Google Video and YouTube and Ustream clips
starting instantly where the data coming in is faster than the data is
being played ALL THE TIME.

No sellphone **** data link has that capability in South Carolina, yet.
AND, I don't want to have it lock up on the first Saturday afternoon
because I went over 5GB/month, ****ing me out of the other 27 days of
service I'm paying for called "unlimited access".

Sellphone data still sucks for real internet and will for ages to come.

Bye Bye Aircard...**** OFF!

SMS wrote on [Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:23:08 -0800]:
> The tiered pricing is designed to get people to use Wi-Fi when
> available, and stop wasting the limited 2G/3G/4G capacity. AT&T has been
> successful with the elimination of unlimited data, replacing it with the
> lower cost 200MB and 2GB plans. The bottom line is that most people can
> easily survive with 200MB if they're not downloading massive numbers of
> videos, or streaming Pandora hundred of hours a month. I'd pay Verizon
> $15 a month for 200MB, but not $30 a month for unlimited.

You're not aware of how much data people use, then.

Just work email, 2 personal gmail accounts and application updates
and some minor web browsing and I regularly push over a GB a month on
my Droid X. Some weather data and whatever else apps automatically
get. Almost zero pandora, a little android voice recognition and some
astrid task sync to remember the milk. Some foursquare checkins and
some facebook checking.


We do not have wifi at the office for security reasons.

I am almost at 1.5GB right now with most of a week before my cycle refreshes.

Steve Sobol <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> before they cap your speed.
>

What do they give you after you hit the cap? Cricket now has 2.5GB/$40
on the same plan price I got 5GB/month before that cap, now....doubling
the price, overnight, in my head. They want $50/5GB, $60/7.5GB, now.
After the cap, it's about 110Kbps, which is too slow to play even the
internet radio stations at good speed. It won't go at 110Kbps for long
before it starts to fade, here, which happens after about 10 seconds to
punish you for being a customer.

Screw all that. Dump 'em.....again.

The hotels and restaurants go from 1.5 to 12Mbps with no punishments for
free IF you have the Alfa 2 watt USB wifi adapter for the princely sum of
$32 stuck to the window next to your table....even across the big parking
lots. Man that works great!

<http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-...S036NH-2000mW-
1000mW/Detail.bok>

and it uses LOTS LESS POWER than the Cricket A600 USB aircard. The
Alfa's burst mode downloading TV off ESPN3 hardly even gets warm to the
touch! The A600 gets HOT and eats the netbook battery like the Hauppauge
digit TV receiver USB plug.

I've ordered the matching USB router which has the most extensive
controls I've ever seen in a consumer device:

<http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-...-AWUS036H-R36-
wireless/Detail.bok>

This router is 12V 1A and will run continuously off my Smart car battery
in the parking lot as a wifi repeater. The router is 500mw, not 20mw, so
has the power to get into the restaurant to the tiny wifi inside the
netbook....with the RANGE of the 9DB antenna stuck to the top of the car
out in the clear air. It should be here by Wednesday, sooner if they got
my order yesterday. I'll let you know how that works out for me. The
router automatically shifts its output frequency to a far channel from
the USB card's channel to reduce interference. I'm also going to mount
the router on the other end of the car under the adapter's antenna
pattern as far away as possible, which may help with the RF interference
problems sure to crop up.

I love this stuff. It's like ham radio experimenting all over again.

Oh, PS, the router has interface software through its webpage interface
to control the adapter so you can control who and how it connects....very
nice. Here's the manual:
<http://www.data-alliance.biz/files/R36%20User%20Manual%20.pdf>

Very nicely done...very extensive, just like the laptop interface
software the adapter came with.

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:58:00 -0800, in
<[email protected]>, Steve Sobol
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:40:07 -0800
>John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> T-Mobile offers "unlimited" data for $20 month more than voice alone,
>> with excellent HSPA speeds, and tethering is standard on my Nexus One,
>> both cable and wireless hotspot. Highly recommended.
>
>It's not unlimited. T-Mobile has finally gotten the clue that the other
>carriers have refused to get. They're now calling it a monthly plan with
>no overages (which it is). You can use 5GB in any given month, before
>they cap your speed.

* My plan is still called "unlimited".
* I never use anything like 5 GB/month.
* The speed cap is not a big deal.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:42:43 +0000, in
<[email protected]>, Fred <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Steve Sobol <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> before they cap your speed.
>
>What do they give you after you hit the cap?

Doesn't really matter because I never do.
But if I did, all it would be is some throttling.

>The hotels and restaurants go from 1.5 to 12Mbps with no punishments for
>free IF you have the Alfa 2 watt USB wifi adapter for the princely sum of
>$32 stuck to the window next to your table....even across the big parking
>lots. Man that works great!

Except I'd be stuck sitting there instead of where I want to be.
And I don't consider it ethical to leech free Wi-Fi at a distance. YMMV.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:59:05 +0000, in
<[email protected]>, Fred <[email protected]>
wrote:

>John Navas <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> T-Mobile offers "unlimited" data for $20 month more than voice alone,
>> with excellent HSPA speeds, and tethering is standard on my Nexus One,
>> both cable and wireless hotspot. Highly recommended.
>
>No thanks.

Suit yourself.

>The Alfa 2W adapter was playing ESPN3's soccer game on the
>netbook at 4 out of 5 "quality" off the hotel wifi's 6Mbps cap across the
>parking lot and street last night. It won't even play without running
>out of data on any sellphone **** data link, which is exactly my point.

Leeching free Wi-Fi from a distance is at best unethical,
and there's no free Wi-Fi in many (most?) of the places I want to be.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]

Justin <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> SMS wrote on [Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:23:08 -0800]:
>> The tiered pricing is designed to get people to use Wi-Fi when
>> available, and stop wasting the limited 2G/3G/4G capacity. AT&T has
>> been successful with the elimination of unlimited data, replacing it
>> with the lower cost 200MB and 2GB plans. The bottom line is that most
>> people can easily survive with 200MB if they're not downloading
>> massive numbers of videos, or streaming Pandora hundred of hours a
>> month. I'd pay Verizon $15 a month for 200MB, but not $30 a month for
>> unlimited.
>
> You're not aware of how much data people use, then.
>
> Just work email, 2 personal gmail accounts and application updates
> and some minor web browsing and I regularly push over a GB a month on
> my Droid X. Some weather data and whatever else apps automatically
> get. Almost zero pandora, a little android voice recognition and some
> astrid task sync to remember the milk. Some foursquare checkins and
> some facebook checking.
>
>
> We do not have wifi at the office for security reasons.
>
> I am almost at 1.5GB right now with most of a week before my cycle
> refreshes.
>

If you don't use data, why pay for it? Seems silly for just a few
emails. Let them call you on the phone.

"Smartphones", a misnomer, in my opinion, all hobbled up to prevent data
usage, don't use much data because they don't do much data-hogging stuff
and are fed much simpler spam and other nonsense from webpages. This is
not true of a netbook, laptop or notebook, which are full computers fed
anything your desktop at home will play and just as much spam-loaded
webpages, which DOES eat up GB at an ever-expanding rate. Notice this
thread is about AIRCARDS, not hobbled up smartphones with tiny screens
and limited-by-design media play capabilities to the point of
absurdity....such as no Flash on iOS products, a really stupid limitation
to keep you off the air.

5GB of high speed data at 3Mbps from some supersellphone data stream
amounts to a couple of days fooling around with your netbook at lunch
watching videos and listening to the radio while you're eating. I sit
for hours at Waffle House with friends, always on the air running
something to entertain. I put 27GB on the Cricket aircard the last month
before they started enforcing this stupid GB limit trying to maximize
profits. I'll continue to use 27GB, but on the 2 watt wifi USB adapter
where I can use hotspots from fairly far away without punishment from
some sellphone assholes. It just makes more sense, especially at $32!

<http://www.data-alliance.net/-strse-...S036NH-2000mW-
1000mW/Detail.bok>

Man does it work great!.......and NO WATCHING THE GIGABYTE CLOCK IN FEAR
FOR MY LIFE!

On 11/14/2010 12:23 PM, Justin wrote:

> We do not have wifi at the office for security reasons.

Lack of Wi-Fi at the office is the exception, rather than the rule, and
of course any security concerns are easy to address. The Wi-Fi network
can be separate from the wired network with no connection between the two.

> I am almost at 1.5GB right now with most of a week before my cycle refreshes.

If you look at any of the many studies of bandwidth usage and
projections, they show much lower average usage than that.

"HOUSTON, July 26 <2010> /PRNewswire/ -- An ongoing study of wireless
data utilization, conducted by Validas, shows that Verizon Wireless
Smartphones are consuming more wireless data than AT&T iPhones by a
ratio of roughly 1.25:1. Average monthly wireless data consumption for
Verizon Wireless Smartphones is 421 megabytes per month, versus 338
megabytes per month for iPhones."

And remember, most subscribers are on unlimited plans and have no
financial incentive at all to use Wi-Fi when available. I.e. last night
we had a party at my house. There were three relatives with Droid's, one
with an iPhone. No one even bothered to ask to use my Wi-Fi network,
they all were just using 3G (only my son on his iPod Touch was using
Wi-Fi). It's just a bother to use Wi-Fi when 3G is unmetered.

Rather than moving toward more unlimited data, the cell phone industry
is moving toward more metered data. Slowly you'll see people becoming
more aware of the costs and using Wi-Fi where available, and you'll see
less high-bandwidth 3G/4G use.

In article <[email protected]>, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:

> >> T-Mobile offers "unlimited" data for $20 month more than voice alone,
> >> with excellent HSPA speeds, and tethering is standard on my Nexus One,
> >> both cable and wireless hotspot. Highly recommended.
> >
> >It's not unlimited. T-Mobile has finally gotten the clue that the other
> >carriers have refused to get. They're now calling it a monthly plan with
> >no overages (which it is). You can use 5GB in any given month, before
> >they cap your speed.
>
> * My plan is still called "unlimited".

why the quotes? either it's unlimited or it's not.

> * I never use anything like 5 GB/month.

that's fine, others do.

> * The speed cap is not a big deal.

to you maybe.

On 11/14/2010 1:52 PM, John Navas wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 17:02:55 -0500, in
> <[email protected]>, tlvp
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:40:12 -0500, George<[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> He just doesn't get (and never will) why his "mega power" fetish is so
>>> silly. This is just his latest ...
>>
>> Sorry, George, but you're *both* right. Many's the time I've been within figurative earshot of a wireless access point -- barely -- and have been unable to connect to it -- until I moved my equipment a whole lot closer to it.
>>
>> Why's that? my "ears" were OK, but my "voice" was too weak for the WAP to hear -- until I got closer.
>>
>> Had I gotten *louder* instead, I'd have achieved the same effect, n'est-ce pas? That's Fred's point :-) .
>
> Better antenna is a better solution.
>

I have the impression that most modern cell phones make no provision for
an external antenna. My RAZR V3m's instruction book does not mention
the subject.

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:20:06 -0500, in
<[email protected]>, "Richard B. Gilbert"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On 11/14/2010 1:52 PM, John Navas wrote:
>> On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 17:02:55 -0500, in
>> <[email protected]>, tlvp
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:40:12 -0500, George<[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> He just doesn't get (and never will) why his "mega power" fetish is so
>>>> silly. This is just his latest ...
>>>
>>> Sorry, George, but you're *both* right. Many's the time I've been within figurative earshot of a wireless access point -- barely -- and have been unable to connect to it -- until I moved my equipment a whole lot closer to it.
>>> Why's that? my "ears" were OK, but my "voice" was too weak for the WAP to hear -- until I got closer.
>>> Had I gotten *louder* instead, I'd have achieved the same effect, n'est-ce pas? That's Fred's point :-) .
>>
>> Better antenna is a better solution.
>
>I have the impression that most modern cell phones make no provision for
>an external antenna. My RAZR V3m's instruction book does not mention
>the subject.

Irrelevant to the issue at hand.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]

In article <[email protected]>, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:

> >> Better antenna is a better solution.
> >
> >I have the impression that most modern cell phones make no provision for
> >an external antenna. My RAZR V3m's instruction book does not mention
> >the subject.
>
> Irrelevant to the issue at hand.

how is it irrelevant? you said a better antenna is a better solution,
but if he can't attach one, it's not exactly 'better' is it?

On Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:03:45 +0000, in
<[email protected]>, Fred <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Justin <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:

>> I am almost at 1.5GB right now with most of a week before my cycle
>> refreshes.

I typically use 750 MB and 1.5 GB per month.

>If you don't use data, why pay for it? Seems silly for just a few
>emails. Let them call you on the phone.

Email and messaging is superior to voice for many things,
and are only a minor (but important) part of my data usage.

>"Smartphones", a misnomer, in my opinion, all hobbled up to prevent data
>usage, don't use much data because they don't do much data-hogging stuff
>and are fed much simpler spam and other nonsense from webpages. This is
>not true of a netbook, laptop or notebook, which are full computers

Likewise my Android "smartphone", which can and does surf the full Web,
and consumes lots of data in other ways.

>fed
>anything your desktop at home will play and just as much spam-loaded
>webpages, which DOES eat up GB at an ever-expanding rate. Notice this
>thread is about AIRCARDS, not hobbled up smartphones with tiny screens
>and limited-by-design media play capabilities to the point of
>absurdity....such as no Flash on iOS products, a really stupid limitation
>to keep you off the air.

Red herring. My Android "smartphone" runs real Adobe Flash, plays many
different forms of media, is not "hobbled" in other ways.

>5GB of high speed data at 3Mbps from some supersellphone data stream
>amounts to a couple of days fooling around with your netbook at lunch
>watching videos and listening to the radio while you're eating.

5 GB is actually ample for a full month of heavy use of the phone.

>I sit
>for hours at Waffle House with friends, always on the air running
>something to entertain. ...

That explains it then -- I couldn't bear to sit for hours in a waffle
house!

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]