New incar wi-fi setup

[J Kinkaid]

Why waste money on autonet ? You can setup a better system for less money. Auto net is $400 for the equipment and $60 a month + for service and it has a 5 gig cap. Your best bet would be to pickup a datacard from ATT or Alltel and slide it into a crandlepoint router and you would have a better setup for 50% less $ and no data cap .

 

[Jane Herbert]

Verizon have quoted a 1Gig per week limit, Sprint on the other hand are unlimited...have no idea how much we would use running live Doppler etc etc in the car? any clues as to how much we might go through? also are there any coverage differences between Sprint & Verizon on the plains?

Your thoughts are very much appreciated ..in anticipation!!

 

[David Wolfson]

There are several ongoing threads on which plan has the best coverage and how much data you use, etc. You'll find ten different answers every year as plans, companies, and coverages change; and all depend on the perspectives of the users. I'm jealously holding onto a Verizon legacy plan with unlimited data, so that's my perspective.

Here are some more general observations based on last year's experience and reading others' experience that are as unbiased as possible....

It's quite possible to exceed 5Gb but harder to exceed 10Gb in a month of active chasing, with 300-500Mb on a heavy day just letting apps run. It's also possible to get what you need with a lot less.

Ironically, what helps keeps the data use in bounds is high speed EVDO coverage -- or rather the lack thereof. Once you leave the large metropolitan areas and major interstate corridors the coverage is 1X, which is fast enough to get data updates, but not so fast you're tempted to watch streaming video, etc.

On the subject of coverage, IMO you want to identify the "no coverage/roaming" areas with each plan from the carriers' own sites and select based on that rather than their high-speed coverage. For example, Verizon has a shrinking-but-still-frustrating no-coverage hole in northwest OK; coverage in some west Texas areas such as northwest of San Angelo is non-existent with any of the major plans.

Live radar isn't really that big an issue since the images aren't huge and only update ten times or so an hour. High-res satellite can bust the bandwidth, however. The images are large and one is tempted to click frequently for an update, which most often results in a refresh of the same loop.

If possible start your plan two weeks before your chasing. That effectively doubles the data limit for the first month of chasing. Get your hi-res satellite loops and planning data from hotspots or wired locations and avoid streaming a/v stuff if data use is a problem.

From my experience the SPC mesoscale analysis pages provide a full menu of readable data and images updated to current with a click that are easy on bandwidth. Only fire up the big guns on the road after chaseable storms initiate

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

If you run multiple laptops in the car and all need data, there is also another solution -- get a smartphone that can run WMWifiRouter. WMWifiRouter is an inexpensive program that will turn smartphones running Windows Mobile into WiFi hotspots. You'll need a data plan on the phone, of course, and you want to make sure you have a plan that allows tethering your phone to your laptop.

I have a a HTC PPC6800 (basically the Spring Mogul) running on Alltel this way. I would probably recommend a different phone than I have if you want to go this route; WMWifiRouter tends to overheat my phone. I've gotten around this by putting a phone cradle on the dash and installing a USB-powered ThermalTake fan directly behind the phone, but it's a pain in the butt compared to just getting a phone that won't overheat. Once I have this set up, the phone broadcasts a Wifi network (you can set WEP encryption if you like) that extends throughout the whole care, and far enough outside the car that you could probably share it with other people if they parked near enough to you. The upside to this is that you can unplug your laptop from everything and still use data, so long as you stay within a reasonable distance of your car.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

Sorry but Sprint now has a 5 gig a month cap , Only unlimited at this point is Alltel , That will change as well when they officially become Verizon . If you get it now you will be grandfathered in and limits will not effect you.

Verizon have quoted a 1Gig per week limit, Sprint on the other hand are unlimited...have no idea how much we would use running live Doppler etc etc in the car? any clues as to how much we might go through? also are there any coverage differences between Sprint & Verizon on the plains?

Your thoughts are very much appreciated ..in anticipation!!

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Sorry but Sprint now has a 5 gig a month cap , Only unlimited at this point is Alltel , That will change as well when they officially become Verizon . If you get it now you will be grandfathered in and limits will not effect you.

Are you sure you'll be grandfathered? When Sprint switched to 5GB, no one was grandfathered.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I've yet to see Alltel say anything either way. My hunch is that they'll honor existing contracts (since a change during contract would allow the customer to leave the contract and dump the service without penalty), but once your contract is up, hey presto, you've got a cap. I just can't see Verizon giving Alltel users something that their own users aren't allowed to have.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

I am still grandfathered with Verizon . And if you do not renew your contract with Sprint or get a new device for free you were supposed to be grandfathered as well.You need to watch them.

Are you sure you'll be grandfathered? When Sprint switched to 5GB, no one was grandfathered.

 

[Doug Everett]

The question I have is, why would I get the Verizon (or Sprint or etc.) service for more money with a contract when I could get the Autonet Mobile gizmo for less money and never have to worry about the usage or coverage limitations of my specific carrier?

I'd think there almost has to be a way to plug in an external dual-band cell antenna somewhere. Has anyone seen a spec sheet?

David, it does have limitations in usage. 1 Gig or 5 Gigs per month depending on plan.

It it just a broadband card with roaming agreements with all carriers, is what it sounds like. The built in wifi router is nothing wild. Many Sprint customers already use routers that except our Sprint aircards. There is also something by Novatel called MiFi that is basically the same device. Small package with aircard and wifi router in one. Not sure who all will offer it. http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/09/novatel-intros-mifi-mobile-broadband-router/

I think the 5 Gig limit that almost all carriers are enforcing now will be the big catch for most chasers, esp if they want to stream their video out.

 

[Doug Everett]

I work for Sprint in ATS and there is no grandfathering to keep the unlimited data. The only thing that is still unlimited data is using just the phone's browser. Even when you tether your device and use it as a modem the 5 Gig cap applies. Sprint lists the overage charge as $0.05 per megabyte after you exceed 5 Gigs. It is easier to look at it as $50 per Gig once you are over the 5 Gig cap. I have had a few calls where customer got bill with $500 data usage charges and I was not allowed to remove the charge. The first month we were removing the charges and educating customer on issue but they stopped us from doing that. With Sprint you can keep track of your both your minutes used, and in this case, your data used by going into your acct page as sprint.com and viewing "usage details."

 

[Scott Weberpal]

I am still grandfathered with Verizon . And if you do not renew your contract with Sprint or get a new device for free you were supposed to be grandfathered as well.You need to watch them.

Nope, Sprint sent out a notice to all data customers last summer that everyone was being put on the 5GB plan regardless of whether or not you were a customer previous to the plan being enacted. They gave you the option of getting rid of your plan with no ETF within 30 days of the change, but that was the only consolation.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

They were not supposed to do that.Not according to 3G store owner Michael
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread11839.html

Nope, Sprint sent out a notice to all data customers last summer that everyone was being put on the 5GB plan regardless of whether or not you were a customer previous to the plan being enacted. They gave you the option of getting rid of your plan with no ETF within 30 days of the change, but that was the only consolation.

 

[Paul Austin]

I've yet to see Alltel say anything either way. My hunch is that they'll honor existing contracts (since a change during contract would allow the customer to leave the contract and dump the service without penalty), but once your contract is up, hey presto, you've got a cap. I just can't see Verizon giving Alltel users something that their own users aren't allowed to have.

As of yet, Alltel has not implemented a cap. I am a Verizon cell phone customer, but I was able to walk into the local Alltel store and activate an Alltel Kyocera KPC680 card with month-to-month service with no data cap. I have never before been an Alltel or Verizon data customer, and my Verizon contract expired months ago, though I am still a customer month-to-month. I was told by the sales staff (I know, a grain of salt, or more probably a half grain) that there were no plans by Alltel to put a data cap in place. I figured that was good enough for at least this season. We shall see who's line of thinking prevails.

 

[Christian Matthys]

Hi

As we were planning our trip to the Tornado Alley (starting next weekend!), I was reading a lot about mobile broadband service plans.. I then discovered, that SPRINT and AT&T would be a good choice (considering coverage and price-performance ratio). But the problem is, that I as a non US citizen am not able to buy a plan, so this showed up not to be an option for us.

Now, I've decided to go with Millenicom (as I've heard, a reseller of SPRINT services) and let the device shipped to our first motel address (which I hope will work). But to be on the safe side and to be better connected, we'd like to have a second device/option. I googled and came up against http://www.slingshot.com. They offer prepaid mobile broadband access (pay as you go) for 60$ a month for the service (I do not know how much the device itself costs though). But they do not have addresses of retail partners shown on their webpage. How and where can I buy this plan? And has anybody of you already made experience with it? Are there other options for me to get a fast, reliable and cheap mobile broadband service (best would be, if we could buy it (prepaid) locally (in Norman or nearby)).

I would appreciate your suggestions upon this.

Thx in advance for your help!
Chris

 

[Josh Richardson]

So whatever happened with Autonet Mobile? I thought of this today and saw their website and product are still going just fine. I was curious to see if anyone else ever ended up using this, I know Brett Adair had been using it but I don't think we've heard anything about it lately. I suppose with all the new mobile hot spots today this got lost in the shuffle, I'm more curious about this because at one point it was supposed to be unlimited data. I don't recall what network this is run on either, anyway if Brett or anyone else wants to chime in on this feel free. Seems like we're about out of options on unlimited data anymore correct?