Re: Moving from 56k modem
Dan Ritter wrote:
On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 11:03:47AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
My connectivity for ~3 decades has been at <= 56k.
Current ISP abandoning that market ;/
I do not wish DSL, cable, nor satellite as they restrict me to one
physical location.
I was assuming that meant connecting via cell network.
Is that correct?
What questions should I be asking?
Please note that I am strongly text, rather than graphics, oriented.
Comments &/or questions I should be asking.
You definitely pointed me towards "questions I should be asking".
Thank you.
There are phones which can be hooked up via USB, cell modems
attached via either USB or ethernet, and "hotspot" devices which
attach to your network via wifi.
I have personal rather than technological reasons to avoid
putting a phone in the mix. Initially I was thinking of a USB
"modem" on a cell network [a local friend says "modem" is not a
strictly accurate term but there was not time to explain - he had
two 6 year olds wanting lunch]. I tend to be leery of personal
hot spots over perceived [real??] security issues.
There are four major carriers in the US, which in descending
order of coverage are:
Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint
One has local store with polite competent staff. One runs
annoying ads locally. The others have name-brand recognition only.
all of them cover every urban and most suburban areas. All of
them have some coverage on every major highway.
There are also a fluctuating number of MVNOs, mobile virtual
network operators. They are reliant on contracts with one or
more of the big four to provide the actual service.
Speed is variable by place, but even the worst available service
should exceed 56Kb/s.
Service is available either prepaid or postpaid. Postpaid
generally involves a 1-3 year contract.
Service is available as CDMA, GSM, or LTE.
I need to read more on those acronyms. Came across a PCMag
article that gave a good intro/teaser. Need to read more.
Verizon and Sprint
use CDMA and LTE, on different bands. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM
and LTE, again on different bands. You can buy some devices
which are good on multiple bands, and others which are tied to
a specific carrier.
LTE is often called 4G. Advanced CDMA and GSM services (high
speed, relatively) are called 3G. Basic CDMA and GSM services
are only slightly faster than a 56K modem, and are called 2G.
You might want to look at T-Mobile's $50/month 5GB data plan,
Sprint's $35/month 3GB and $50/month 6GB plans, or Virgin
Mobile's $35/month unlimited plan, where the first 2.5GB of data
are at high speed (if available) and subsequent usage in a month
is limited to 2G speeds.
Speed is not a major issue - more is always better ;)
-dsr-
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