01-03-2009, 05:24 PM
First of all, welcome to the "no cable or DSL where I live" club. Its a club who's membership is unfortunately not getting any smaller in Puna.
Mobi is here now but their coverage is very limited as of now. Sprint has adopted the 5gb monthly limit along with Verizon and AT&T. I believe they started in July but I'm not sure. I will say I have gone over that a few times, once as high as 8gb, and nothing has happened yet. I think it is one of those things they may "reserve the right" to enforce. This is an important consideration if you decide to go with one of those three companies. 5 gb can go fast in a month's time if you are using it for work, or even just personal internet. Some companies may terminate your service or even charge you extra for data over 5gb. Make sure you ask how they handle it before signing up. I have been pretty happy with Sprint for the last year. I have a USB modem plugged into a special wireless router that I ordered online. It even works for voip or Xbox Live service on my Xbox 360. I use a signal amplifier since the better signal you get, the faster your speeds. I average around 1100 kbps download and 200 kbps upload. They all have the same pricing and similar speeds. Coverage where you use it should be the biggest factor on which is best for you.
I used to have AWS before switching to Sprint. Everybody I dealt with was really nice. Their speeds were fast at times, but varied a lot, which didn't work so well for my Xbox. The setup can be expensive depending on what they have to do to catch a signal. Mine was $300 to put the reciever on a small metal arm on my roof. I paid $50 a month and speeds ranged from 200 kbps to about 1500 kbps but were al over the place in between. One other annoyance was that you had to log in to the service from your browser and it would only keep you logged in for a day at the most. This definitely makes it tough for anything that requires an "always on" connection. Keep in mind it has been a year and some things may be different now. They do have different speed and price options. Overall I would definitely recommend them if wireless data service thru a cell provider isn't available. One big advantage for the cell service is you can take it with you on vacation or anywhere else you can get a signal.
I hope this info helps somebody out there. I'm always on the lookout for what services are available and have learned a lot in my endless quest for the best possible internet connection.
Mobi is here now but their coverage is very limited as of now. Sprint has adopted the 5gb monthly limit along with Verizon and AT&T. I believe they started in July but I'm not sure. I will say I have gone over that a few times, once as high as 8gb, and nothing has happened yet. I think it is one of those things they may "reserve the right" to enforce. This is an important consideration if you decide to go with one of those three companies. 5 gb can go fast in a month's time if you are using it for work, or even just personal internet. Some companies may terminate your service or even charge you extra for data over 5gb. Make sure you ask how they handle it before signing up. I have been pretty happy with Sprint for the last year. I have a USB modem plugged into a special wireless router that I ordered online. It even works for voip or Xbox Live service on my Xbox 360. I use a signal amplifier since the better signal you get, the faster your speeds. I average around 1100 kbps download and 200 kbps upload. They all have the same pricing and similar speeds. Coverage where you use it should be the biggest factor on which is best for you.
I used to have AWS before switching to Sprint. Everybody I dealt with was really nice. Their speeds were fast at times, but varied a lot, which didn't work so well for my Xbox. The setup can be expensive depending on what they have to do to catch a signal. Mine was $300 to put the reciever on a small metal arm on my roof. I paid $50 a month and speeds ranged from 200 kbps to about 1500 kbps but were al over the place in between. One other annoyance was that you had to log in to the service from your browser and it would only keep you logged in for a day at the most. This definitely makes it tough for anything that requires an "always on" connection. Keep in mind it has been a year and some things may be different now. They do have different speed and price options. Overall I would definitely recommend them if wireless data service thru a cell provider isn't available. One big advantage for the cell service is you can take it with you on vacation or anywhere else you can get a signal.
I hope this info helps somebody out there. I'm always on the lookout for what services are available and have learned a lot in my endless quest for the best possible internet connection.