Need Some Feedback on Internet Options

[Mark Farnik]

Hey gang,

Well, I'm in a bit of an internet conundrum at the moment. Here's my situation:

When I moved to Denver last summer, I subscribed to Comcast High Speed Internet, which features 6.0 Mbps/384 Kbps download speeds up to 12Mbps and upload speeds of up to 2Mbps, which I am currently paying $48 a month for. I've never had any problems with my service, and I've been very pleased with my service.
However, I need to get a mobile broadband card so I can have data on the road - after several hairy experiences last spring, aggravating searches for Wi-Fi spots in rural areas and having to be overly reliant on nowcasters for data updates, I'm done chasing naked, at least in terms of data.

So I've been looking around, and when Verizon announced their month-to-month plan, I thought, 'Oh, that'd be perfect for what I need!'. That is, until I saw that they're charging FULL RETAIL PRICE for the data cards, i.e. $250 and up. That put a quick and decisive end to that idea.

So of course, Verizon has their two year subscription plan, for which you can get the broadband cards for pennies on the dollar. But here's the problem - I can't afford to pay for both Comcast and mobile internet - the combined bill would be $108 a month, and being unemployed thanks to our lovely economy and basically living off my student loans, I can't spend $60 a month on internet I'd only be using 5 months out of the year, if I kept my Comcast.
So then I talked to my roommate, and she offered to buy my router from me and take over my Comcast internet subscription. Problem solved, right? Not quite.
The snag is the miserable 5 GB/month cap Verizon(and pretty much all the other cell companies) have on their broadband accounts.
If I got Verizon and dumped Comcast, it would become my primary internet.
The problem is that I am a photojournalist, and am constantly updating a chase blog, a professional photojournalism blog, a Flickr account and a photo website, and I am uploading tons of photos on a monthly basis, as well as watching news videos on CNN and from the Denver TV stations (don't have a TV, so that's how I get my news) and some sporadic Youtube visits.

As far as my chasing data usage goes, I won't be streaming video or anything extreme, I'll basically just be running GRLvl3.

I guess my biggest concern is that with all the photos I'm uploading and videos I'm viewing in my normal internet usage, that I *might* exceed the 5/GB monthly cap.

The bottom line is that I'm not quite sure what I should do. I'm definitely leaning towards selling my router to my roommate, having her take over my Comcast subscription and just getting a Verizon broadband card and signing the 2 year contract, but I've got some reservations that I might exceed the 5 gb with the somewhat heavy duty photo uploads/video downloads I do on a frequent basis.

If anybody could give me some advice as to what course of action to take and can address as to the validity of my concerns about the data cap, it would be greatly appreciated, as I need to get this ball rolling in the next few weeks so I can be situated by the end of next month.

Thanks!

 

[Skip Talbot]

Why can't you share your the comcast with your roommate when you are not chasing and do your heavy transfers on that connection? You are not going to blow 5 GB a month just using GrLevel3, and I doubt you would get up to that either with modest photo uploading. The video is what gets you, but again unless you are downloading movies are watching entire shows on a regular basis I think you could make that 5 GB stretch.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Or you could go with AT&T or Alltel and be contract free and not have to worry about the 5 gig limit .

 

[Kevin Crawmer]

That is a good idea about using your roomate for most of your usage. I think I calculated that 5GB per month allows like 171 MB per day. I have been using a Sprint card for normal surfing for a month now and haven't come close to that. I don't do all the video stuff you do though. If you can try Sprint they have a 30 day trial period on their stuff. You can monitor your usage on their software each time you log on and you can go to your online account to see your usage for the cycle.

Sprint also has a vacation plan where you can turn your card off. I think you pay a slight fee each month but it is less than $10. I think it can only be for 3-4 months though.

 

[Mark Blue]

I'd recommend Sprint or Alltel as your carrier of choice in "Tornado Alley". They will connect in most places you go when chasing, whereas Verizon >> I'm not so sure. I met up with a friend in southern Kansas last year and he was looking for places to mooch free Wi Fi (motels and such) even though he had a Verizon card with a data plan. In other words he couldn't get data in southern Kansas or northern Oklahoma, even though he was a paying customer.

This year he wouldn't have had that problem because I now have a Cradlepoint router, so I would gladly share my internet connection with him (Sprint), but that experience shed a lot of light on Verizon for me. I've rarely found spots where I couldn't connect over the last two years and when I did, it was very short lived. I understand your concern with the 5 gig cap, but like someone else said, Alltel doesn't have a cap, so if that's a concern they may be your best bet. When I was looking Alltel wasn't selling in the Denver market, so you'll have to check that out to see if it's changed. Good luck and let us know if you have any questions!

 

[Rob Sermon]

Didn't Verizon and Alltel merge Jan 9th?

 

[J Kinkaid]

Didn't Verizon and Alltel merge Jan 9th?

Yes they did but you can still buy Alltel plans with unlimited data. I am sure that will change in a couple of months.

 

[Terry Tyler]

So I've been looking around, and when Verizon announced their month-to-month plan, I thought, 'Oh, that'd be perfect for what I need!'. That is, until I saw that they're charging FULL RETAIL PRICE for the data cards, i.e. $250 and up. That put a quick and decisive end to that idea.

Mark, if your looking for mobile internet youve got to go with alltel. I went in there with no credit, payed $25 for the equipment and walked out of the store with wireless internet. In a "DO" area (1xEVDO coverage) you have about 100kbps, which isnt outstanding, but it is more then sufficient for anything your going to need for storm chasing. Its about $60 a month and aside from storm chasing, i use it on my buisiness. On the side, i fix peoples computers. The UM175 is a versitile device. It installs itself on any computer, and sometimes when a complete format is neccessary. No drivers are loaded, meaning that even if you plug in an internet cable you cant get on because the drivers arent loaded. This piece of equipment auto-loads itself and can get you online to download the neccessary drivers and firmware that are needed to run the computer, and i will tell you personally it has payed for it self over and over again.

I used to use the wifi hotspots, but let me tell you. The step from that to continuous 100kbps speed is tremendous. Ive drove from here to central arkansas to southern ms and its never gone out. With that said, it hates hills and valleys if your doing any chasing in hilly terrain. Its just like a cellphone in dead areas, and now i just am trying to avoid going anywhere where i dont have the direct link.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Splitting the costs with a roomate is always a great idea. You could also get VOIP on your cable/fiber/DSL and cut costs even more by reducing your phone bills. Back when I was using dialup and later a (slow) cable access at the house, I did all my heavy-duty uploading at a T-mobile hotspot downtown (a fast T1).

In addition to home cable, I have Alltel data now which has the nice 'true' unlimited package. It has worked well here in Charleston, WV and in Raleigh, NC both in mobile and static use. I know I've gone well over 5GB a few times (I even downloaded CS3 from Adobe on it last year). However, coverage in the Plains was very poor last year. I could not even keep a static JPG image uploading every 30 seconds from the webcam, let alone stream. I had to rely on WxWorx 90% of the time.

I also have the UM175 now after my 150 was just replaced under warranty this month. My Cradlepoint router doesn't yet support the new aircard, but supposedly a new firmware upgrade is coming for it.

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

In addition to home cable, I have Alltel data now which has the nice 'true' unlimited package. It has worked well here in Charleston, WV and in Raleigh, NC both in mobile and static use. I know I've gone well over 5GB a few times (I even downloaded CS3 from Adobe on it last year). However, coverage in the Plains was very poor last year. I could not even keep a static JPG image uploading every 30 seconds from the webcam, let alone stream. I had to rely on WxWorx 90% of the time.

I have verizon.. which has bought out altell.. I wonder what will happen on both networks.. I wonder if Verizon will put a cap on altells data "unlimited"

 

[Rob Sermon]

Hey, Brandon, how much do you use, as my provider is also Verizon?

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

Well I havent used it in chase season, still on trial...

But, I found that I can Stream Video for 5 Hours per day, ONLY VIDEO no GrX no Spotter Network, No Net..

Ive went through a month and used like 2 gig. But again it is winter season

 

[Rob Sermon]

Provided, as a amature, I'm going to use my laptop for WXWorks, perhaps w/Gr3, do you think that I would max out on a two week chase? Mind you, I am computer stupid. Give me a Garmin G1000 equiped aircraft, and I'll have it serve you coffee and buttered toast. Give me a laptop, or PC, and I will return to you a paper weight.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Where does one find the no contract $60 a month for the data and what are you using for equipment? All I am seeing is alltels 2 year contract???

 

[Chris Gullikson]

Anybody know what will happen with the Altell / Sprint data roaming agreement after the Verizon merger is complete? I tether with Altell and have been quite pleased but I think that the ability to roam on Sprints network makes it such a good choice for the chaser.