WiFi Hot Spot

We are a couple of geeks with a small geek business so access is pretty important to us for both work and pleasure. Data plans keep changing and can be very confusing, even for geeks.

Our current traveling equipment list includes:

2 iPhones (5C and 6)

iPad Air 2 (4g/LTE)

Macbook Air and Macbook Pro

Amazon Fire TV stick

Sabrent WiFi Audio Receiver

The last two are strictly entertainment for streaming (casting) audio/pictures/movies to television/stereo. Sabrent receiver works in car too.

We recently changed our plan(s) to ATT Shared Data plan (now with data rollover). I first determined how much mobile data we really use over the last few months and bought an appropriate plan. We were at the end of our 2 year ATT contract. For us, because we are mostly near or on WiFi, a 3Gb shared data plan for the two phones is just right. Our monthly bill for the shared data plan is $95.00. Just checking now, we have 1.6 Gb of data left for 8 more days of the billing cycle.

Both phones can act as hotspot.

When we do travel we have the option of buying prepaid data with the iPad Air 2. With the iPad Air 2 came the first time the iPad was not locked into a specific provider (with lots of caveats if you are interested). In the past, if we would want or need data above our shared plan, I would purchase 30 days of data from ATT for our older iPad. That would be and still is $50.00 for 5 Gb and allow for the iPad to be used as a hotspot also.

T-Mobile (god bless em) often leads with the best data deals. A recent promotion allowed for 10 Gb for 5 months for $10.00. That's a heckuva deal and I bought it. I have 5 months to use the 10 Gb of data. The only problem with T-Mobile is coverage. No coverage at my house, but I have yet to test it on the road. Still, for ten bucks I figured it was worth a try. I can switch to ATT or Verizon prepaid data if I need to (with a couple of caveats).

All that said, it seems the places we like to camp best have little, if any, coverage from any carrier. I was all set to do some work in the lodge @ Mt. Rainer only to discover they had no WiFi. Oh well. Did get in some great hiking and picture taking. Found any coverage was scarce in most of the places we stayed crossing country.

I haven't tested WiFi rangers or antennas, but you will find some good information @ http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/mobile-internet

Now you know...The Rest of The Story 

Fred

One thing I have observed with friends, family and clients is they either tend to use much more mobile data than necessary by not limiting the apps that use cellular data or they are paying for much more data than they use. Managing mobile bandwidth can be a pain, but can also save lots of money.

And just an "in jest" counter to the flip phone crowd...My smart phone monitors my car, my health and my mail. It maps constellations and tells me when I will arrive at the park and how to get there. It holds 23 sausage recipes and 4 different kinds of pulled pork mop recipes. It plays music or plays many episodes of Car Talk on long drives. It even tells me when there might be a neat roadside attraction off the main highway. It has a compass, a level, a flashlight, a camera, a timer, alarm and 52 books all built in. I don't need all that stuff, but it sure seems pretty smart to have it in my pocket if I want it! 

Oh, it makes phone calls too.

Just having fun!

Fred