Hotspot Carrier?

[Travis Cruz]

What carrier do you all use, and how much data/month are you using? Right now I'm with verizon and the coverage is amazing, but I haven't been able to find a great plan with lots of data.

Thanks in advance

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I use Verizon as well and have never come close to using all my data. Wife and I share 8GB/mo or something like that.

I also do not use a laptop to chase, so I think that helps keep data usage down a bit...then again when it's during the doldrums pre-event, I'll stream youtube and that'll suck up data quick.

 

[TJKLECKNER]

What carrier do you all use, and how much data/month are you using? Right now I'm with verizon and the coverage is amazing, but I haven't been able to find a great plan with lots of data.

Thanks in advance

I believe that I have one open grandfathered line available on Verizon

 

[B. Dean Berry]

I have used AT&T for a while now. 7GB for $75.

 

[ScottCurry]

I have Verizon's unlimited plan. I get 10GB of Hotspot data per month per line. So 10GB on my cell phone + 10GB on my hotspot = 20GB / month. If I go over, I still get data, it's just slower.

 

[Michael Hook]

I use at&t unlimited data plus get 10gb for hotspot use. I had Verizon using an USB modem and coverage was good. I’m probably going to add an at&t mobile WiFi in hopes it works better than my phones hotspot. I may add A novel booster to help.


Sent from my iPhone using Stormtrack

 

[James Hilger]

I have Verizon's unlimited plan. I get 10GB of Hotspot data per month per line. So 10GB on my cell phone + 10GB on my hotspot = 20GB / month. If I go over, I still get data, it's just slower.

Not sure why my unlimited plan is different, but we get 15gb each on our hotspot and 22gb on our phones. Have had it almost a year.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Michael Towers]

I think Scott’s plan is an old plan, they increased the Jetpack/Mobile Hotspot cap to 15 last August. I’ve got Verizon’s unlimited plan for $65/month plus a line charge of $20 per month each for my cell and Jetpack. Add the surcharges and taxes and the total is $111 plus change. After 15 GB on the Jetpack they throttle to 600kbps but that’s a level I can stay below comfortably without imposing any rationing on myself. Same with the 22 GB combined phone & Jetpack total which after reaching “data may be temporarily prioritized behind other traffic”.

 

[ScottCurry]

You get 28gb on your phone for regular usage + 10gb (or now 15gb) of hotspot usage. I am on an older plan... gotta call them and get an extra 5gb! Thanks for the heads up guys!

 

[Randy Jennings]

Between my chaser partner and myself we have 3 carriers in the vehicle, so we can compare them. My cell has TMobile. Unless we are chasing a decent sized city it almost never has a signal. I can't even get a signal on major highways between cities. His cell is on AT&T. He has coverage almost all the time. My hotspot is a JetPack on Verizon pre-paid that I only use during chase season. It has even better coverage than AT&T. I added an external antenna for the first time chasing this last Saturday and only once in 650 miles did Gibson Ridge have to retry a download on Verizon and it worked on the second try. One word of warning about Verizon prepaid - you will have to reactivate if you let it lapse during the off season and it is not easy. You can't bring your own device and get a prepaid data only plan online or via the automated phone system. You will have to work your way thru their phone system and then wait on hold to get a real person.

 

[Quincy Vagell]

I have unlimited on the grandfathered Verizon unlimited plan. I use about 60-80gb a month, but I'm careful to go much higher, because word is that they will immediately terminate your plan if you reach 100gb. There's really no need to go that high, unless I spent a significant amount of time steaming video.

I use my phone for internet at home and on the road (unlimited hotspot), so I can justify maintaining the plan. Coverage while storm chasing is solid most of the time, although it gets spotty in parts of Colorado, western Illinois, North Texas and the Oklahoma panhandle.

Over the past few months I've noticed some glaring data slowdowns, but thankfully it's not all of the time and can usually be worked around by rebooting or flicking airplane mode off/on. I read somewhere that Verizon started throttling all plans last year and it's clear something has changed.

Still, I have no plans on switching carriers any time soon, because other comparable plans would be more expensive, have less nationwide coverage and/or feature much more throttling.

 

[Jon Strebler]

Between my chaser partner and myself we have 3 carriers in the vehicle, so we can compare them. My cell has TMobile. Unless we are chasing a decent sized city it almost never has a signal. I can't even get a signal on major highways between cities. His cell is on AT&T. He has coverage almost all the time. My hotspot is a JetPack on Verizon pre-paid that I only use during chase season. It has even better coverage than AT&T. I added an external antenna for the first time chasing this last Saturday and only once in 650 miles did Gibson Ridge have to retry a download on Verizon and it worked on the second try. One word of warning about Verizon prepaid - you will have to reactivate if you let it lapse during the off season and it is not easy. You can't bring your own device and get a prepaid data only plan online or via the automated phone system. You will have to work your way thru their phone system and then wait on hold to get a real person.

The first time I went through this with my hotspot it was a pain in the rear. This year I just ended up getting a new sim card, but it still took about 45 minutes worth of phone calls to set up the new account. Verizon is still far superior coverage wise so I just deal with the pre paid run around every spring. One thing I have noticed in the past year is that my data is used up much quicker than it was previously, not sure what has changed.

 

[Jason Moreland]

Between my chaser partner and myself we have 3 carriers in the vehicle, so we can compare them. My cell has TMobile. Unless we are chasing a decent sized city it almost never has a signal. I can't even get a signal on major highways between cities. His cell is on AT&T. He has coverage almost all the time. My hotspot is a JetPack on Verizon pre-paid that I only use during chase season. It has even better coverage than AT&T. I added an external antenna for the first time chasing this last Saturday and only once in 650 miles did Gibson Ridge have to retry a download on Verizon and it worked on the second try. One word of warning about Verizon prepaid - you will have to reactivate if you let it lapse during the off season and it is not easy. You can't bring your own device and get a prepaid data only plan online or via the automated phone system. You will have to work your way thru their phone system and then wait on hold to get a real person.

Hi Randy. What model jetpack do you have? Also do you mind listing which booster you went with? Thanks.

 

[Randy Jennings]

I have the Verizon AC791L. It is made by Netgear. I do not have a booster. The AC791L has 2 TS-9 antenna ports. I bought a single antenna external antenna on Amazon. The one I bought is no longer on Amazon, but this is the one I bought: https://www.altelix.com/Magnetic-Omni-Antenna-Cellular-3G-4G-LTE-WiFi-p/aum0727g5.htm . My only complaint is the magnet was too weak and it came undone at highway speeds. I got a stronger magnet at Home Depot and just placed it under the antenna's built in magnet along with a small piece of cloth on top of the roof so I could remove the stronger magnet. That worked well until RFD ripped the antenna off the built in magnet. I then just glued the strong magnet directly in the antenna. That has worked since I did that. There are several other antenna listed on Amazon now, and if I ever buy another one I will try to find one with a stronger magnet. The one I got had 5 db gain. There are some on Amazon with 8 db gain now.

 

[Jason Moreland]

I have the Verizon AC791L. It is made by Netgear. I do not have a booster. The AC791L has 2 TS-9 antenna ports. I bought a single antenna external antenna on Amazon. The one I bought is no longer on Amazon, but this is the one I bought: https://www.altelix.com/Magnetic-Omni-Antenna-Cellular-3G-4G-LTE-WiFi-p/aum0727g5.htm . My only complaint is the magnet was too weak and it came undone at highway speeds. I got a stronger magnet at Home Depot and just placed it under the antenna's built in magnet along with a small piece of cloth on top of the roof so I could remove the stronger magnet. That worked well until RFD ripped the antenna off the built in magnet. I then just glued the strong magnet directly in the antenna. That has worked since I did that. There are several other antenna listed on Amazon now, and if I ever buy another one I will try to find one with a stronger magnet. The one I got had 5 db gain. There are some on Amazon with 8 db gain now.

Thanks! Very informative.