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FF said:
Can this be used to make a mobile wi fi hot spot?


What else would I need to buy?
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You can make one or just put the SIM into one. if you make one simply need an ODBII to USB plug (I made my own) and then you can choose your power source (wall AC, battery pack, vehicle cigarette, direct wire to DC, etc)

Plenty of details on Howard Forum. Go to the 'Data cards' sub-forum under the 'AT&T' sub-forum
 
All good things must come to an end.

mystery said:
Unless they ran out of Mobleys today, that is incorrect. I know people that ordered their free Mobley on Friday and yesterday by calling the phone # I mentioned.
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Called both numbers you mentioned and completely sold out with no new shipments expected. The first number said to call back in 2 weeks and see if anything changed. The offer probably expires by then.

However, I was told by the second number AT&T person that I could bring a Mobley to a store and they would sell me the $20/mo unlimited plan and activate the unit as long as it is AT&T compliant.

Went on Ebay and bought one. Seeing the secondary market prices for the Mobley shows that the word is out and these are becoming hen's teeth. I paid $169 and they are listed as high as $350!

I'll report once the device shows up and get it activated.
 
I have unlimited wireless with Verizon. Where they get me is the 15GB limitation on a Hotspot. As long as I do everything on a phone or personal device, I'm fine. Trickier with streaming to an Apple TV to stream TV or work on a laptop.

It really depends on what you're trying to do with it.
 
I recently signed up for T Mobile's 55+ plan with 2 phones, unlimited data, text and voice throughout USA, Canada and Mexico for a flat $70/month including all taxes and fees.

I've been streaming content to my Roku stick equipped TV and Alexa device at anchor without any real issues yet...but I've only been using it for a couple of weeks.
 
Gotwex said:
Called both numbers you mentioned and completely sold out with no new shipments expected. The first number said to call back in 2 weeks and see if anything changed. The offer probably expires by then.

However, I was told by the second number AT&T person that I could bring a Mobley to a store and they would sell me the $20/mo unlimited plan and activate the unit as long as it is AT&T compliant.

Went on Ebay and bought one. Seeing the secondary market prices for the Mobley shows that the word is out and these are becoming hen's teeth. I paid $169 and they are listed as high as $350!

I'll report once the device shows up and get it activated.
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Ah that is a bummer that they ran out but if you got one for $169 thats not terrible. Best buy carries it from time-to-time as well. That is where I got my first one. I think its was $79 there and then I walked across the street to an AT&T store to sign-up/activate. If you have a FAN try to get it applied when you sign up. For me that saved the activation fee and I was getting 20% off for a while but then it stopped. I heard if you have multiple lines the discount will start working again (must be some $$ threshold you have to hit). I will see soon enough when the new bill is cut.
 
mystery said:
Almost everyone's SSN has been exposed or is very easy to get. I no longer worry about it. Keep your credit locked at all times unless applying for a mortgage/etc and re-lock as soon as the hit shows up. That said I do think it is or was available to business customers, didn't have to be a personal account. You'd have to add it to your existing business account though as I think it would be a PITA to create a completely separate business account just for a Mobley.
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Mystery,

Easy, do it all the time, rarely run into issues, but sometimes do. I don't own anything in my own name and don't give out personal info. And often get business discounts. Works. When they give me a hard time, I have to decide what's best for me and often just pass on them.
 
I've had a Mobley and the $20 / mo for about two years now. I also made my own custom OBDII power supply. It's worked great for the most part.

Unfortunately, a recent firmware push by AT&T disabled a "no timeout" feature in their powersaving mode. The max you can set it to is 2 hours now. So unless you are in a moving vehicle, it will time out and shut off every two hours. You just need to unplug it and plug it right back in.

There were some assumptions on some forums that it looks at voltage to determine whether it needs to go in to powersaving mode (i.e., a moving vehicle with alternator charging the battery vs engine off). My first power supply put out 12v. I made another using a transformer that puts out 14v.
No difference....it still powers off every two hours.

So it either looks for varying voltage or is using cell tower triangulation to determine if you are actually moving.
 
GreySky said:
I've had a Mobley and the $20 / mo for about two years now. I also made my own custom OBDII power supply. It's worked great for the most part.

Unfortunately, a recent firmware push by AT&T disabled a "no timeout" feature in their powersaving mode. The max you can set it to is 2 hours now. So unless you are in a moving vehicle, it will time out and shut off every two hours. You just need to unplug it and plug it right back in.

There were some assumptions on some forums that it looks at voltage to determine whether it needs to go in to powersaving mode (i.e., a moving vehicle with alternator charging the battery vs engine off). My first power supply put out 12v. I made another using a transformer that puts out 14v.
No difference....it still powers off every two hours.

So it either looks for varying voltage or is using cell tower triangulation to determine if you are actually moving.
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Hmmm, there have been very few reports of this since the beginning

There was never anything found to support the moving car or voltage fluctuation hypothesis

I never had an issue (even on the earlier firmware that had the timeout) with it but I recently decided to build an enterprise-grade setup so have moved the SIM to a dedicated cellular device.
 
mystery said:
Hmmm, there have been very few reports of this since the beginning

There was never anything found to support the moving car or voltage fluctuation hypothesis
Click to expand...

It must be one of the two since it doesn't time out at all when used in my truck. As you probably know, there are only two of the 16 possible pins being used, so whatever they are using is pretty basic. Voltage or via the SIM.

I've seen quite a few reports of people with the latest firmware NOT having the 2-hour timeout issue even though that is what theirs is set to. I guess I'm just lucky.

I've also read a lot about how difficult AT&T is now making it to use that same SIM in another device. They are doing their best to lock it to the Mobely it was used on.
 
GreySky said:
It must be one of the two since it doesn't time out at all when used in my truck. As you probably know, there are only two of the 16 possible pins being used, so whatever they are using is pretty basic. Voltage or via the SIM.

I've seen quite a few reports of people with the latest firmware NOT having the 2-hour timeout issue even though that is what theirs is set to. I guess I'm just lucky.

I've also read a lot about how difficult AT&T is now making it to use that same SIM in another device. They are doing their best to lock it to the Mobely it was used on.
Click to expand...

Regarding the SIM being used in another device, took me one minute to get the PUK code to unlock the SIM via online chat. On my second Mobley I just got, I never even turned it on or touched the SIM, I just called AT&T with a spare SIM I had and asked them to activate it on the account and popped it right into a different device.

Since one device will be somewhat permanently installed on my boat in Spring, I will likely use a portable hotspot/mifi type device for my second line that I can carry with me when I am traveling away from home/boat.

Sure AT&T can change their minds and start hassling people but the plan writing said it was fine to use with any hotspot/device so its not going against their policy to do what I am doing.
 
mystery said:
Sure AT&T can change their minds and start hassling people but the plan writing said it was fine to use with any hotspot/device so its not going against their policy to do what I am doing.
Click to expand...

Agreed. We're even adhering more toward the original intent in that we're using these from our boats (a vehicle).

I bought a Nighthawk LTE device so hopefully moving the SIM over will alleviate the timeout issue. I already have my PUK codes.
 
GreySky said:
Agreed. We're even adhering more toward the original intent in that we're using these from our boats (a vehicle).

I bought a Nighthawk LTE device so hopefully moving the SIM over will alleviate the timeout issue. I already have my PUK codes.
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Make sure you get the new version Nighthawk it has additional band. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Mo...pril-Nighthawk-and-band-14-and-46/m-p/1553448

I thought about the Nighthawk but am just not a fan of Netgear. Their hardware and software has sucked in almost every experience I have had. For me, I didnt want flimsy ts9 atennna connector pigtails and it couldnt be powered via PoE so I opted for the Cradlepoint 850 LP6
 
Gotwex, is the service piece data I mean equivalent to Verizon unlimited GB via jetpack?
 
Shrew said:
I have unlimited wireless with Verizon. Where they get me is the 15GB limitation on a Hotspot. As long as I do everything on a phone or personal device, I'm fine. Trickier with streaming to an Apple TV to stream TV or work on a laptop.

It really depends on what you're trying to do with it.
Click to expand...

I have an 'unlimited' data package with AT&T, and they do the same thing. I think I can only use 10 Gigglebytes of hotspot data before they shut me down, which if you really think about it, sounds an awful lot like a limit. They also slow my data down to really unusable speeds when I get to 22 gigs of mobile data. Now, I'm no rocket surgeon, but dammit, that also seems an awful lot like a limit to me.

It really, really, pisses me off. I'm on the move 6 months out of the year, and that data plan is my only internet connection when I'm travelling. It's really easy to use up 22 gigs a month, and it's super frustrating to have to budget my 'unlimited' data allowance, especially considering that it costs me well over 200 dollars a month.

Sorry for the rant. Back to the OP, is this plan and mobley device really unlimited data, or do they throttle you and cut you off? I'll buy one right now if it's truly unlimited.
 
Wayfarer said:
I have an 'unlimited' data package with AT&T, and they do the same thing. I think I can only use 10 Gigglebytes of hotspot data before they shut me down, which if you really think about it, sounds an awful lot like a limit. They also slow my data down to really unusable speeds when I get to 22 gigs of mobile data. Now, I'm no rocket surgeon, but dammit, that also seems an awful lot like a limit to me.

It really, really, pisses me off. I'm on the move 6 months out of the year, and that data plan is my only internet connection when I'm travelling. It's really easy to use up 22 gigs a month, and it's super frustrating to have to budget my 'unlimited' data allowance, especially considering that it costs me well over 200 dollars a month.

Sorry for the rant. Back to the OP, is this plan and mobley device really unlimited data, or do they throttle you and cut you off? I'll buy one right now if it's truly unlimited.
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It may be deprioritizrd after 22gb but it's not throttled like you are describing.
 
"and it's super frustrating to have to budget my 'unlimited' data allowance, especially considering that it costs me well over 200 dollars a month."


How does a $20. a month plan get to $200. a month?
 
How fast is 2G?


It might be quicker than our local service, and if it wokkes in rain or fog would be a big step up!
 
Donsan said:
AT&T throttles back to 2G when you exceed that. For all practical purposes, 2G is unusable.
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Incorrect.

I have been using this plan/device for years

Its deprioritized after 22GB NOT throttled

I used 2-300+ GB per month

I exceed 22GB usually the first or second day of the plan cycle

Even after exceeding 22GB I have no problem pulling down full speeds of 30mbps (limitation of the Mobley device)

The only time I have had an issue was a few times when I was docked next to a major train station and the rush hour train with hundreds (maybe thousands) of people would stop and even then I am not sure if it was deprioritization that kicked in or if the tower was simply overloaded
 
Crusty Chief said:
Might check into this. Wonder what the service is like down in Mexico?
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Can't speak to Mexico generally, but I go to Jalisco on the west coast every year for a week or so and get excellent phone and data from AT+T. Tether two or three devices for the family.
 
Verizon jetpack W/ unlimited data always connected very fast no complaints
 
Is there any way to know how many GB one is using per month?
 
FF said:
Is there any way to know how many GB one is using per month?
Click to expand...

You should be able to log-in to your account and see. You should also be able to check somewhat real-time during the month.
 
I haven't looked at this plan, but read the fine print. When I checked into it, roaming outside the US was free - for up to two consecutive weeks. After that, they'd shut you down completely. The sales people didn't know this, had to point it out in the fine print and they escalated it to a supervisor who confirmed the bit about being shut off if you don't come back to the US for over two weeks.
 
CaptTom said:
I haven't looked at this plan, but read the fine print. When I checked into it, roaming outside the US was free - for up to two consecutive weeks. After that, they'd shut you down completely. The sales people didn't know this, had to point it out in the fine print and they escalated it to a supervisor who confirmed the bit about being shut off if you don't come back to the US for over two weeks.
Click to expand...

So they go by time and not the quantity of GB you use?

After 2 weeks away, for how long must I remain in US waters to reset the program to start again?
 
OldDan1943 said:
So they go by time and not the quantity of GB you use?

After 2 weeks away, for how long must I remain in US waters to reset the program to start again?
Click to expand...

The plans I looked at (one from AT&T, and one other I forget) included "free" data in Canada and Mexico, up to some GB limit. It was only in the fine print, and unbeknownst to any sales reps, that I found the 2-week limit.

The way one supervisor explained it (and I'm not convinced anyone really knew) I could come back to the US and make one call, then the two weeks started over again. But on the 15th consecutive day abroad, I'd have no service at all.

The reality is, data costs more in Canada than the US. You'll pay for it one way or another. If someone offers significantly more, or a significantly lower price, look for the fine print!
 
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AT&T owns their own network in Mexico, so you really aren't "roaming". I have a client who has a wholesale deal with them primarily for industrial "Internet of Things" devices, and rates are the same for use in MX as US.
 
In my case, I am utilizing the marina WiFi. It is provided by OnSpot. They have historically very reliable. An unnamed contractor cut OnSpot's provider cable, ComCast.
While down, I used by my AT&T hot spot on my phone. After a number of days, I exceed on 'free data' and was, according to AT&T, I was being 'throttled'.... my word, not their's. I did notice a slower speed, but other than being annoying, it was serviceable for my use.
 
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