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Mobile Broadband Plans

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  1. boneman27 boneman27 is offline

    Nashville, TN
    United States

    Posts: 422
    Joined: Feb 06

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 1:57pm)

    I play midstake MTTs 2-4 days a week and learned the hard way a few weeks ago that I need a back-up plan when it comes to internet service. I've been putting it off for waaaay too long. All in all, my comcast internet service is very good, but once a month they perform maintenance (usually around midnight and without notice to their customers) and my service goes down. I currently use a desktop PC and don't necessary want a laptop unless it's financially the best alternative.

    I'm specifically looking at Verizon plans and they have a "light user" and "heavy user" plan. The light user plan requires a mobile connection for "7-8 hours a month for checking e-mail, light web browsing, etc." that allows a monthly allowance of 250 MB for $39.99 with $0.10 extra for each MB over 250. The heavy user plan offers a 5 GB usage with about a $20 extra premium per month.

    Does anybody know the usage of playing 5-6 tables over 3-4 sites for 1-2 days a month? Is the light user plan enough to use as a back up or should I get the heavy user plan? Are there other alternatives that I am not aware of? What do you use as internet back-up?

    Any helpful input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
     
  2. gamble153 gamble153 is offline

    Jupiter, FL
    United States

    Posts: 1,179
    Joined: Oct 09

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 2:52pm) in reply to boneman27

    imo never try to calculate what you may use, go ahead and spring for the unlimited plan and you cant go wrong. I think you def need a laptop but... I use to have Comcast / Verizon aircard as a backup, was quite expensive, just have laptop and Starbucks down the street for backup(lol) not sure how that would work at midnight but.. 40 a month vs 60, you def dont want to get caught with overages.
  3. GATOR GATOR is offline

    FL
    United States

    Posts: 138
    Joined: May 07

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 3:01pm) in reply to boneman27

    i have a card 5 gb 60 plan. all i use. dont stream/download video or music you will be fine. get the 60 plan
  4. Mr Galt Mr Galt is offline sister-in-law's a ho

    Overland Park, KS
    United States

    Posts: 9,097
    Joined: Nov 07

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 4:04pm) in reply to boneman27

    I bought the verizon 5gb/60 a month as a backup. Works fine and obv the interwebz is now lag free since I am prepared.
  5. dgillis dgillis is offline Moderator

    CA
    United States

    Posts: 1,903
    Joined: Mar 08

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 4:14pm) in reply to boneman27

    I was looking into net books and talking to my mom (tech xpert) she had a friend that used the "light" plan and her first bill was like $750+. Granted there were unsupervised teenage girls using it but either way the bigger plan is only $240 more a yr.
     
  6. boneman27 boneman27 is offline

    Nashville, TN
    United States

    Posts: 422
    Joined: Feb 06

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 5:00pm) in reply to dgillis

    Those of you that have the 5 GB plan.....Do you use this as your main internet connection or only as a back up? If I get the 5 GB plan, can I drop my Comcast?
     
    Thread Starter
  7. nikotes nikotes is offline

    New Fairfield, CT
    United States

    Posts: 250
    Joined: Jul 08

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 5:52pm) in reply to boneman27

    I use mine as a backup only. If you stream any video, music, etc I would not get rid of your Comcast. 5GB is just not enough bandwidth to do all of the other things you do over a months time.

    The card is great though in emergency situations. I had to go out to the truck, plug in my laptop to an inverter and use the aircard so I could continue playing when the power went out due to a storm. Played that way for over an hour.
  8. time4badbeat time4badbeat is offline

    WI
    United States

    Posts: 4,550
    Joined: Nov 06

    Jan 19th, 2010 (1/19/2010 7:06pm) in reply to boneman27

     
    Originally Posted by boneman27 View Post

    Those of you that have the 5 GB plan.....Do you use this as your main internet connection or only as a back up? If I get the 5 GB plan, can I drop my Comcast?

    Why would you drop Comcast? I thought this was for a backup - gtd this probably goes out more than Comcast does so I'd use it only as a backup
     
  9. OneTrueTest OneTrueTest is offline

    Posts: 2
    Joined: Jan 10

    Jan 20th, 2010 (1/20/2010 7:11am) in reply to boneman27

    I work for Verizon Wireless and I can tell you that the aircards they offer are 100x better than any of the other services out there. Yes, Sprint offers unlimited for the same price, but if you travel at all you will know that Verizon has far superior coverage and therefor you will be able to access the internet in a lot more places. It is 59.99$ per month and the cards themselves can usually be bartered down to free to make a sale. The mini notebooks are generally not worth it unless ALL you want to do is poker and word processing, since they really dont have much speed and/or memory for anything else.

    The one downside is that there IS a 2 year commitment to get a good deal on the equipment, but you can sign a month to month plan if you want, just pay retail for the device itself.

    There is also a new device out called a mifi that will allow multiple people to connect to the internet through a very small, portable wireless device (very good for those junkies out there that have 3 - 4 people in a house playing poker at the same time once the internet goes out :P)

    If you have any other detailed questions or even want help getting one, feel free to PM me at any time.
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