T Mobile 55+ Plan

[caltexflanc]

And that's the policy this month, as someone said previously. These rules change all the time. It scares me a little with T-Mobile's customer growth, will they have to start taking away or reducing to accommodate it. Aggressive plans have pitfalls.

I believe that someone was me. Managing network capacity is tricky. At least T Mobile is open about how they prioritize traffic.

 

[Phyrcooler]

Tethering on T Mobile One is unlimited at 3G speed. It's there in the fine print.

Correct. But you can upgrade to unlimited 4G LTE for $25/month. (It's called the ONE Plus International for anyone interested). We do this on my phone. My wife has the standard unlimited 3G... and it performs reasonably for surfing a couple tablets or non-HD streaming. It is also a convenient router for the kids to use for gaming with each other.

Loved Verizon. I'd have it if I wasn't paying!

Actually... what I really miss is my Nextel with it's beep-beep direct connect walkie-talkie functionality!!

 

[Seevee]

FWIW,

I just got info from Verizon. I changed my plan to the Go Unlimited plan which includes roaming in Canada (and Mexico) free, and unlimited phone, text and data for $80 a month. I can live with that.

 

[twistedtree]

FWIW,

I just got info from Verizon. I changed my plan to the Go Unlimited plan which includes roaming in Canada (and Mexico) free, and unlimited phone, text and data for $80 a month. I can live with that.

It's worth noting that when in Canada or Mexico, data speed is reduced to 2G after 512MB in any day. Hot spot speed is limited to 600kbps. And if more than 50% of your talk, text, or data over a 60 day period is in Canada or Mexico, they can shut you down.

And you also have to sign up for Verizon Selects which tracks everything you do and everywhere you go and gives that to Yahoo, AOL, and about 100 other companies.

So I think it's a good plan for occasional international travel and minor hot spot use. But not suitable as primary data for a boat that spends a lot of time in those countries. And I'm not sure I would do it with Selects required.

 

[goboatnow]

We use our phones as hotspots all the time. I will turn it on and place it in our cell booster. Works great.

ASD, what kind of cell booster are you using? I want to get one but haven’t looked into much yet.

 

[caltexflanc]

For boosting 4G LTE signals for consumer use on a boat, your quality choices are pretty much between Wilson / WeBoost and Smoothtalker's RV series:

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/

https://www.smoothtalker.com/cellular-signal-boosters/mobile/

On any of these, installation is a critical factor to avoid cross talk.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

ASD, what kind of cell booster are you using? I want to get one but haven’t looked into much yet.

We have an older Wilson. They are spendy but worth it.


Thanks for the links George.

 

[CaptTom]

We've had pretty good results with a WeBoost on board. No miracles, but it got us a usable signal in places where there wasn't one without it.

The "one user" version with the cradle made the most sense for us. They also sell a unit with an outside antenna and an indoor repeater. I've heard that's not ideal for something like a boat, where the inside and outside antennae aren't that far apart. With a car or an RV you have a metal shell that blocks it somewhat.

 

[caltexflanc]

We've had pretty good results with a WeBoost on board. No miracles, but it got us a usable signal in places where there wasn't one without it.

The "one user" version with the cradle made the most sense for us. They also sell a unit with an outside antenna and an indoor repeater. I've heard that's not ideal for something like a boat, where the inside and outside antennae aren't that far apart. With a car or an RV you have a metal shell that blocks it somewhat.

Yes, you have to mount the exterior antenna as high and as far from the interior aantenna as possible; a metal radar arch is ideal.

 

[dhays]

We didn't have this problem with Verizon over the past 2 years of cruising the Inside Passage. Depending where you were you would be on one of the three networks, Bell, Telis or Rodgers. We would get a message that "for the rest of the day "we had used up our international high speed allocation", but it really didn't affect us. Then there were days, sometimes a week with no cell service, due to wilderness.

We didn't travel as far North or as long as you, but that was our experience the last two years. When we could get a signal, it worked well. Lots of Pandora streaming and TF browsing using my phone as a hotspot.

 

[dhays]

I just checked the fine print on my Verizon unlimited plan that includes Mexico and Canada.

Unlimited data. 4g. It can get throttled after 22 gigs of data used in a month. I have never noticed this but I don't use a ton of data. I don't stream Video much but it allows 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets.

Unlimited hotspot BUT after 15gigs speed is reduced to 600kbs.

Data speeds in Canada are only 2g after the first daily 512mb/day are used. No additional daily charge.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I just checked the fine print on my Verizon unlimited plan that includes Mexico and Canada.

Unlimited data. 4g. It can get throttled after 22 gigs of data used in a month. I have never noticed this but I don't use a ton of data. I don't stream Video much but it allows 720p on phones and 1080p on tablets.

Unlimited hotspot BUT after 15gigs speed is reduced to 600kbs.

Data speeds in Canada are only 2g after the first daily 512mb/day are used. No additional daily charge.

On our cruise this past summer we saw the same thing. Verizon sends you a text that you have used your allotted "High Speed" data for THAT DAY! But we still have data connectivity. We use IHeart radio a lot and of course Social Media. Not much difference.

 

[Seevee]

Is a cell booster needed for parts of the loop? Like the Trent or parts of the great lakes?

 

[BandB]

Is a cell booster needed for parts of the loop? Like the Trent or parts of the great lakes?

We didn't do the Trent as part of our loop but as to the Great Lakes, if you hug shore and take the shortest routes, probably not needed, but if you cross lakes and explore, and hit more lakes like Superior and parts of Huron then I'd definitely recommend it. I'd recommend it in general, however. Never hurts, may help.

 

[Comodave]

We moved from AT&T to Consumers Cellular a couple of months ago. We have 2 smartphones and 1 flip phone. With AT&T we were paying about $140 per month. My wife called AT&T and asked if they would match CC prices, answer was no. CC uses AT&Ts network so we get the same signals with CC. But with the AARP discount we are paying less than $50 per month for the same signal strength and better customer service. My wife was the contact person for AT&T and absolutely hated dealing with them. No affiliation with CC.

 

[Bacchus]

Is a cell booster needed for parts of the loop? Like the Trent or parts of the great lakes?

We had virtually no issues with coverage on TSW and Georgian Bay as far north as Franklin Is N of Parry Sound in 2019 w a Verizon plan.

 

[BandB]

What will be interesting is the future of Boost. They will not stay as part of TMobile and Sprint, perhaps going to Dish.

 

[caltexflanc]

We moved from AT&T to Consumers Cellular a couple of months ago. We have 2 smartphones and 1 flip phone. With AT&T we were paying about $140 per month. My wife called AT&T and asked if they would match CC prices, answer was no. CC uses AT&Ts network so we get the same signals with CC. But with the AARP discount we are paying less than $50 per month for the same signal strength and better customer service. My wife was the contact person for AT&T and absolutely hated dealing with them. No affiliation with CC.

Be aware that the AT&T wholesale network for MVNO's like Consumer Cellular is not as comprehensive breadth and depth wise, as the retail network they market under their brand. I know this having been an AT&T MVNO for several years, and have a client who is one now. However, if you never stray to far off the beaten path, service will be pretty much as you describe.

I'll give John Merrick credit for building a great company at Consumers. Must be those PNW values.

There is certainly no love lost between me and them, that's for sure, but actually their customer service isn't half bad now and way better than it was. As a private citizen now, I use their retail service. Comes in particularly handy when roaming and in other first world countries.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well we are with Verizon. Left AT&T because they did not have a Canadian plan. At the time Verizon had a great Canadian plan. They have now changed it for "data." I now get 0.5GB of high speed international data each day from Verizon. This sucks! So I guess next year we will be on the search again.

 

[alormaria]

Consumer Cellular is fine if there are no problems and you don't leave home. If there is a problem they can't do anything about it. We came back from a vacation (with little coverage) to find the neighborhood cell tower was dead. After 2 weeks they suggested moving us to their ATT based service but that had a different problem that they were also unable to resolve. They are sweet but useless. Outside of major cities they have no service. They just raised their prices too.



I got nice customer support from sweet Indian ladies at T-Mobile but they can't actually do anything either. T-Mobile Tech Support and ground support are atrocious and mean. One of the nice ladies in India forwarded to me the answer she got back from Tech support and it was vicious. Didn't address the problem just vicious mockery and insults about a customer who pointed out a problem with one of their towers (it didn't work). I was in IT for 40 years and worked with a lot of phone company techs. I can tell when bravado is covering for incompetence. 2 words for you T-Mobile.



Google is fun and cheap but only advanced if you pop for one of their $1000.00+ phones. Otherwise they use T-Mobile. UGH!



I'm back with Verizon after a 3 year stint with these outliers. Painless customer and technical support. Their prices had dropped dramatically so I'm not paying much more than Consumer and it actually works. If it stops working - someone fixes it - immediately. Cheap iPhones too!

 

[Boat]

I got a second "voice phone". Tired of breaking smart phones, incompatible with my lifestyle. DuraXV LTE on Verizon MVNO, Redpocket. The number gets trash calls and texts all day and night. Don't know if it's luck of the draw or deliberate. Eventually I'll ask for another number. Not expecting much.


Smart phone is on Verizon prepaid. I can swap sim cards between the phones.


Voice on the DuraXV is amazing, sounds like VOIP, and it has 4G LTE connectivity and a hotspot. Redpocket disables the hotspot. I'll try a smartphone over the wifi but it's a low priority. This approach may give me an indestructible connection with apps on the smart phone.


Verizon is the only carrier with reliable 4g in my remote locations.


https://www.verizonwireless.com/basic-phones/kyocera-dura-xv-lte/

 

[ssobol]

...
Voice on the DuraXV is amazing, sounds like VOIP, ...

I often find VOIP pretty annoying. Try talking when you can see yourself (i.e. a reflection). Also, there is often an echo.