What are folks doing for internet access at their unit meeting place?
We meet in a place where there's no internet connection or wi-fi. Anything we setup for meetings must be put away and locked up at the end of the night, and there's zero chance of having cable or some other broadband service wired to the building. I'd like to know what others have done to overcome those kinds of constraints.
We're in the same boat, so myself and a few other Seniors use our cellphones as wifi hotspots. If it's in the squadron budget, you could get a stand alone hotspot from Best Buy and get 5GB a month for $50 on AT&T. Turn it on at meetings and up to 10 devices can be online at a time.
The other carriers have hotspots as well, but I think Verizon is a little more expensive, with a little less data. Not sure what prices Sprint and Tmobile are offering now.
Quote from: S/M Thompson on February 15, 2015, 01:46:58 PM
The other carriers have hotspots as well, but I think Verizon is a little more expensive, with a little less data. Not sure what prices Sprint and Tmobile are offering now.
In my area, Verizon charges $55/month for 4 GB.
I just checked and their prepaid hotspot is more like $60 for 3GB....ouch. Better rates with the contract version (and a better device) than the prepaid version, but I don't know if a Squadron would want to do a 2 year contract so prepaid may be the way to go.
Quote from: S/M Thompson on February 15, 2015, 03:57:21 PM
I just checked and their prepaid hotspot is more like $60 for 3GB....ouch. Better rates with the contract version (and a better device) than the prepaid version, but I don't know if a Squadron would want to do a 2 year contract so prepaid may be the way to go.
Must be the market and competition.
What about straight talk wifi from Walmart? buy a unit for $80 and then just refill the data card when you get low...
http://www.walmart.com/ip/30824075?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227021898697&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40300230272&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78267024752&veh=sem (http://www.walmart.com/ip/30824075?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227021898697&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40300230272&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78267024752&veh=sem)
Looks like 4GB data on Straight Talk for $40, if it works in your area that's not bad. AT&T would be $50 for 5GB, same price per gig, and they may have better coverage. All depends on where the Squadron HQ is located. Also, hotspots are portable, so you could take it to events not held at Squadron HQ which is a plus.
Straight Talk is the way to go, I switched over last year, and switched over a client recently as well.
I can't imagine why anyone would pay twice the amount per month just to have a specific
logo on the bill. The fact that overages are impossible make it perfect for a unit.
ST is an MVNO, which means you are using leased spectrum on the "big boy's" carriers - bring your own
device (which is what everyone should do anyway), and save $$$. I was on T-Mobile, and still am,
just for less then 1/2 the cost.
Billing might be a challenge, but if yo have someone willing to be a month or two behind
on a reimbursement, not a big deal, that or pay a year in advance and save a few more bucks.
There's no way the average unit would come close to exceeding the 4GB a month in normal use,
even with mission use, as long as you restrict who is on it and keep those data-hungry personal devices out.
There are also some regional wireless broadband carriers like Clearwire which offer free service to 501(c)s -
I had one unit that got it for years.
One of our Seniors is a volunteer with the Red Cross, and mentioned that the local cable provider donated internet access to the local Red Cross building. Wouldn't hurt to ask, the worst that could happen is they say no.
As far as ST, yes they do lease off of the major carrier towers, but if you check their coverage maps they have less coverage than the big boys do, so make sure you go to their website and check the map before making the commitment to buy. Also, if any members in your unit use ST have them check their data speeds at the unit HQ just to be sure.
True 4GB should be more than enough, just don't give out the wifi password to anyone non essential, so members aren't using it to play videos on their personal devices!
Quote from: S/M Thompson on February 15, 2015, 05:19:29 PM
As far as ST, yes they do lease off of the major carrier towers, but if you check their coverage maps they have less coverage than the big boys do,
Actually, what they have is >exactly< the same coverage as the big boys, what they don't have is reciprocal roaming agreements between
carriers. If, for example, you choose to use an AT&T SIM card (may the Lord bless you and keep you), any place that there is AT&T service,
there's ST, however if you wind up in a fringe area, and your cell phone package would normally allow for roaming into another compatible service,
the phone won't roam into say Sprint or T-Mobile.
In the major metro areas this is a non-issue. If yo live in a rural area and depending on roaming, it could be a problem.
The T-Mobile SIM also doesn't support CCF (Sprint and AT&T apparently do) which is somewhat annoying if you use GVoice as your primary
number, nut not worth swapping the SIM (AFAIC).
Correct....working in the cell phone industry, we usually don't go into explaining roaming agreements with customers, we try to keep it simple. It's easier to say that AT&T's coverage map shows a larger coverage area than ST, and leave out the fact that AT&T is including T-Mobile and several regional carriers on their map that ST doesn't use. All the customer cares about is whether their device will work or not...they don't care who's tower it's bouncing off at the time, especially since major carriers haven't charged for roaming in years.
Again, that's why it's always important to use the coverage checker on the website of the carrier you're going to use. Too many customers come in and think that since the prepaid carrier uses the contract carrier's towers, they have to get the same coverage, which is not always true.
The other thing that experience tells us, is that the carriers, major or prepaid, often stretch the truth a bit on their coverage maps. I've had plenty of times where a customer doesn't get signal at their house, and their carrier says they're in the "best coverage." The ST Hotspot would be refundable, but the $40 in purchased airtime isn't, so before the Squadron puts in the investment, I would check the coverage checker on ST's site, AND try to find a member who uses the service, that can check 4G coverage at the location.
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