Weboost 65, any feedback?

[creativepart]

Try it on the road. Theoretically it should be fine. If ATT notices an iPad account being used on a MiFi they could delete the account. But they may never notice. It’s a low cost experiment and worth a try.

I’d rather have an ATT option over a T-Mobile simply for better coverage outside of your area.

One question, are you getting 4G or LTE with the new SIM? Perhaps it’s slower due to not getting LTE??

[SLOweather]

So, right now I'm at a loss trying to figure out how AT&T could be so slow here in a metro area like Miami where there is a tower every few miles?

Maybe because it's

metro area like Miami

where there are thousands of users...

[Fasttimes]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Try it on the road. Theoretically it should be fine. If ATT notices an iPad account being used on a MiFi they could delete the account. But they may never notice. It’s a low cost experiment and worth a try.

I’d rather have an ATT option over a T-Mobile simply for better coverage outside of your area.

One question, are you getting 4G or LTE with the new SIM? Perhaps it’s slower due to not getting LTE??

Yeah, I'll have to do some more checking around town.



Right now in the house it has 2-3 bars with the 4G/LTE icon. Just ran a test and got 7.5MPS.

[Fasttimes]

So I took the Nighthawk to run some errands with me this morning and constantly monitored it and ran speed tests. Ultimately at the local grocery store I was no less than 200 feet from a cell tower. I was able to get 29mbps. This to me is pretty disappointing to be that close to a tower and only get that much. I'm guessing AT&T is throttling down these accounts on purpose. I would perhaps suspect the device itself but with the Mint sim I was getting 75mbps so I don't think it's the Nighthawk. I'll run some more tests but if that's the best I can do I don't think I'll stick with this plan.

[creativepart]

7mbps is adequate for streaming TV. So, I'd not worry if I was seeing that all the time. And 29mbps is a very good speed for these cell based services. If you're expecting to see 75mbps you are just asking to be disappointed. I've never seen above 50 mbps and I'd say that 18 mbps or less is the norm on all of our travels. And this is ATT and Verizon both - we have unlimited SIMs and the latest MiFi devices for both.

Urban environments can seriously degrade speeds due to capacity. Go on a trip out away from South Florida and see what happens then.

[Journey39n]

My neighbor here in South Texas just got a WE Boost unit from a neighbor back home. He has Verizon service. I just helped them hook up the antenna. His wife's phone works great as is, her 2 bar service jumped to 5 bars, but no extra speed.

His two phones will not connect at all here in the same park location, switched sims, no luck. Went to Verizon, new phone and new sim, works fine in the store, but here in the RV Park, no connection that stays stable. He is a frustrated camper!

[Journey39n]

The 'booster' folks promise all sorts of things, but the only thing they can deliver (and some don't) is a stronger signal. Speed is primarily determined by 1st, the tower that is sending it out and at what speed, 2nd, how many users are connected at the same time, and 3rd, if your connection is bad, your end has to reconnect and resend a lot.

In my opinion, and experience is that boosters do not boost speed! No matter what they promise.

I have an ATT account, using a fairly new Google Pixel 3 phone, my wife has a 4 year old Windows Lumina 950, and we use a ZTE Mobley car-connect device. Speeds seems to vary more by device if the signal is weak, but as we travel, none of the devices is always faster or slower, it varies with location.

We have seen speeds from 1-5 mpbs on up to 50-80 mpbs, and everywhere in-between. Sometimes, a major metropolitan area does only give the 5-10 mbps while out in the countryside we sometimes see much faster speeds. And we have travelled the 4 corners of the country, and lots in the middle, ATT has given us pretty good service wherever we go. But there are a few dead spots too.

We do have a Wilson Booster, used it a lot several years ago, not much anymore. If we had a single bar or a flickering single bar, it would usually give us one or two more, but no extra speed. The new phones and Mobley seem to do fine, even with just one bar.

Just my experience here, its all magic!

[Fasttimes]

Originally Posted by creativepart

7mbps is adequate for streaming TV. So, I'd not worry if I was seeing that all the time. And 29mbps is a very good speed for these cell based services. If you're expecting to see 75mbps you are just asking to be disappointed. I've never seen above 50 mbps and I'd say that 18 mbps or less is the norm on all of our travels. And this is ATT and Verizon both - we have unlimited SIMs and the latest MiFi devices for both.

Urban environments can seriously degrade speeds due to capacity. Go on a trip out away from South Florida and see what happens then.

Appreciate the feedback, it's helping to temper my expectations.

I brought the Nighthawk to work today and I believe we have a cell tower on the roof. Just ran a test and got 30mbps down, 25mbps up. Guess the real test will be when I get out on another trip and see how it fares.

[Fasttimes]

My guess is AT&T must be limiting these iPad data plans. My co-worker with the latest iPhone on cellular AT&T just ran Speed Test and got 100mbps as I'm getting the 30mbps right next to him. He then connected to my Nighthawk via wi-fi and ran the test and got 30mbps as well. I would suspect the device itself but did get 80mbps with the T-mobile sim so I feel it's not the device.

Wonder if I go into an AT&T store if they can tell me about these iPad data plans? I'll give it a try.

[creativepart]

I would strongly advise against going into an ATT shop asking about what's basically an "illegal" account and usage. No, it's not against the law, but certainly against what ATT's terms of service permit.

What more do you need than 30mbps? That's like 5x faster than 1080p streaming speed.

[Fasttimes]

Originally Posted by creativepart

I would strongly advise against going into an ATT shop asking about what's basically an "illegal" account and usage. No, it's not against the law, but certainly against what ATT's terms of service permit.

What more do you need than 30mbps? That's like 5x faster than 1080p streaming speed.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if AT&T is already on to these iPad accounts being used in hotspots, are able to identify it, and have handicapped it. If I end up getting 30Mbps I'd be happy and fine, but so far I've only seen it when literally feet from a tower.



The importance of it is that the Wife and I are expected to be able to get online for work purposes quite often during weekends. If I can ensure we have enough bandwidth to do that reliably then it'll open up more days of camping for us. ;-)




It'll probably be a month or more before my next camping trip so that'll be the true test while using the new antenna I've created.



I guess what I'm getting at is that if I I find out this is already a handicapped situation from AT&T I can focus on finding something else.

[creativepart]

I think - and it's just from my experience and the reports of others - that the folks in the ATT stores don't have any clue or info about the kinds of things us RVers are concerned with. 99% of their time and training is selling the latest phones and the standard phone and data packages.

I have read a great many posts on RV forums that folks took their concerns to the retail store and the reps there said, "Oh I can fix that for you with XYZ changes to your account" and the people leave with a standard, limited "unlimited" account and terms they didn't see coming.

But you have to figure out what will give you confidence your own way. I do understand.

I truly doubt they'll have any knowledge or info of the bootleg tablet data plans you're utilizing.

[Fasttimes]

Yeah, I can see that being the case. I guess I'll have to wait till I can get some real world tests to see if this account will work for us.