Millenicom Verizon Hotspot customers will start receiving e-mails tonight that they will wish was an April Fool’s joke. The monthly price of our beloved 20GB Hotspot Plan is going up from $69.99 to $89.99/mo for all customers, effective May 1st.
We’re actually relieved by this news. But then again, we’ve been privy to some of the details behind the scenes for a few weeks now, and for a while it looked as if things could have been a lot worse. And as late as this afternoon, there was hope there may have been a reprieve. But alas it’s official now.
First of all, blame Verizon. Not Millenicom.
In early March, Millenicom started to get complaints from some of their newer accounts that their speeds were painfully slow. After Millenicom tracked it down and talked with their Verizon business representative, they found out that all bulk accounts issued after mid-January were being subject to speed throttling after just 2GB of usage.
This new throttling policy wasn’t just being applied to Millenicom, but also to new lines added to other big corporate accounts Verizon services.
This obviously would not go over well for Millenicom customers – who wants to buy 20GB of LTE data and only get 2GB at the promised speeds? (The answer would be… no one!)
Dennis, CEO of Millenicom, knew this could be a killer for the service he offers.
The first thing he did was reassign all of his newer customers to older spare account numbers – so they would be ‘grandfathered in’ to receive their full 20GB at full LTE speeds. As a result, hardly any of his customers even knew there was a problem.
He then entered into negotiations with Verizon to come to new terms – which he’s been in right up until this afternoon.
The New Price
First, the new monthly price is $89.99. A $20 increase. But this is for a full 20GB of un-throttled high-speed LTE data.
This will apply to all existing customers on Verizon plans – current and new ones. The downside of being on a “no contract” service is that there is no contract that will let us existing customers be grandfathered in. This is Verizon increasing their cost to Millenicom to provide this service to us.
The new price will be effective May 1st, so for April you’ll still only be billed the old $69.99 rate and you’ll have 30-days to decide if you want to proceed at the new rates.
The new price will also apply to the grandfathered in older 3G only accounts that were previously $59.99 – making the increase in cost a whopping 50%.
But the changes don’t stop there, unfortunately. Read On.
Introducing: A Hard Cap
The cap is now a hard 20GB cap.
No more soft limits. No more going slightly over and not worrying about immediate suspension or overage charges.
And, of course, that also means no more worrying about getting your account terminated for going over your limit too many times.
As a new feature, if you do want additional data for the month – you’ll have the option to pay $89.99 for another 20GB if you need it. There’s no longer the need to buy a second account, wait for it to arrive and then manage two devices. Previously, to buy that second bucket of data last minute – it would have cost you over $200 in device & activation fees and several days of waiting.
Now you can just authorize the charge when you need it, and voila – you’re back online. Don’t specifically authorize the charge, then you just wait until the next month rolls over.
We look at this as a plus. Because there are some months that we’d be happy to pay for another bucket of data if we’re somewhere with no other option and a lot of work to get done.
Of course, we’re used to buying overage bandwidth by the GB from most carriers, so this will not seem like a fair balance if we just need a little extra. Especially since the data will expire at the end of the month, so if you don’t use it all – you loose it.
We recommend all Millenicom customers have a back-up source of data to snag a cheaper GB or two at the end of the month if needed.
We keep an AT&T Mobile Share plan with a bucket of 10GB of hotspottable data on our iPhones, and then pay $15/GB for overages. Incidentally, we have our AT&T month end on the 24th, so we always have fresh new data ready for us in those last few days of each month when we run up against our 20GB Millenicom limit. If we need more than 6GB of extra data, the Millenicom overage option is now seeming like a sweet deal.
You can also choose to keep an unactivated second Millenicom device around, and just activate it when needed. They can then pro-rate the month and charge a $19.99 re-activation fee. That could work out much cheaper for just a few days of data if needed.
New Account Management Tools
Because the new hard cap being imposed by Verizon, Millenicom is spending the next weeks implementing systems to provide:
- Near real time usage reports that you can check online.
- E-mail reminders each time you use 5GB of data, so you’re kept in the loop.
- Automatically freezing your account when you reach 20GB – the charge for an additional $89.99 will be completely opt-in and only at your authorization.
Keep it in Perspective
Yup. Hearing something will cost more is never fun news, especially a 28% increase. And we know many of you out there won’t be happy about it, and it may even cause some to reconsider their internet needs.
But please keep it in perspective (and don’t shoot the messenger!)
Yes, a 28% increase is steep. But when compared to other mobility costs that can fluctuate – such as fuel prices, insurance or always rising campground fees – $20 really is a drop in the bucket for a service that enables our life of mobility. We’ll compensate with one less box of wine if we need to.
And it’s still a lot cheaper than going direct with Verizon if you need this volume of mobile data … which would cost $130/month plus taxes and fees for a 20GB/month hotspot plan. Or to put it another way, the same $90 a month would only buy you about 10GB of data direct with Verizon, once you factor in those taxes & fees. Not to mention a 2-year contract.
And paying Millenicom $179.98 for 40GB of data is a way better deal than $320+ direct with Verizon.
We’re just thrilled we’re not writing today sharing the news of the discontinuation of this plan we love so much that enables so many of us to roam and keep connected.
Our summation: The Millenicom Verizon Hotspot Plan is no longer a super awesome deal.. it’s just an awesome deal.
Our hats off to you Dennis and the rest of the Millenicom staff … thank you for going to bat for all of us mobile internet seekers. We don’t envy the customer support load and changes you’re having to go through now to adjust to these new terms and protect your customers.
T-Mobile Foolishness Too
To make matters trickier for our friends at Millenicom, they also just received word that T-Mobile is backing out of extending their free 200MB of LTE data to those who purchased the iPad deal before February 14. Keep in mind, the original deal was that after the initial free data period ended in March, you could purchase 500MB of LTE data for $19.99/month (or $10 if you have the above mentioned hotspot plan) or 6.5GB for $59.99/month. So really, this announcement just returns the deal back to what was originally offered.
T-Mobile seems to be shaking up a lot of their business deals this week (canceling all corporate discounts today too!), and it looks like Millenicom got caught in the middle of it.
You can also stop by any T-Mobile store, and direct from T-Mobile you should still be able to get the fully free 200MB plan by obtaining one of their iPad SIMs. They are just no longer letting anyone else be the middleman.
Our Mobile Internet Resource Center
Interested in topics about Mobile Internet? We’ve created a lot of content, and keep links to it all on our Mobile Internet Resource Center page. Keep in the know about these sorts of topics and explore all our of free articles, videos and learn more about our book – The Mobile Internet Handbook.
Related Articles
- What’s the best mobile internet? – We directly compare campground WiFi, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile at the same location.
- The Millenicom Verizon Hotspot Plan Survival Guide – The core of our mobile connectivity is this plan from reseller Millenicom (will be updated soon to reflect the above changes.)
- Full review of the Pantech MHS291L (the device shipping from Millenicom as of January 2014)
So please, this is not the Millenicom complaint department, we’re just the messenger. We know some are upset, but no negative comments .. thanks.[/quote_box_center]
Oooooops! Our pants are down. Looks like it is time for an update again on this service provider.
Horrible email received today announcing end of service with no explanation.
To avoid disruption of service call Verizon and……………………… waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa t?
.
We’ve been covering it here since the news broke: http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/tag/millenicom/
Wish I would of done this sooner. I was looking up details between two hotspot modems for Verizon, as my free upgrade is currently available. When I came across Millenicom’s offerings. Wow! I am currently on Verizon’s 30GB plan.
Anyway, today I signed up for Millenicom and am planning to purchase an additional block when needed, which I most likely will. Once I am actively using my new plan with Millenicom, I will be downsizing my Verizon features. Such as my plan, internet device… I will save quite a bit and have so, so much more!!! I love the idea of purchasing blocks of 20GB too! Rather than paying Verizon $15 per GB. Not to mention, Verizon cost $7.50 per GB (not including taxes) with their plan and Millenicom costs only $4.50 per GB (which does include taxes).
Loving it!!!
I’ve been trying to sign up for Millenicom but their web site shows the $90 plan hotspot is “out of stock”. Do you know how long this has been the situation and, even more important, how long it’s likely to last?
Thanks for whatever intel you can provide1
Hi Martha – We checked in with Millenicom, and they’re saying it could be ‘until the end of the month’ before Verizon is restocked with devices.
Here’s our news article on it, including an alternate way to get a plan activated before then:
http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/millenicom-out-of-stock/
Thanks, Cherie, for checking on that. I’m hoping to get signed up with Millenicom by early September, so it’s good to hear the hotspot might be available by the end of August.
I really do appreciate your site, BTW. Have been watching it for a while but never chimed in until now. You provide lots of good information, so thank you for that!
The problem with throttle down speeds continues to take place in Millenicom, the only difference is that you are not getting screwed out of 69.99 but of 89.99 and there is NO chance to get reimbursed for the poor service. I have endured this problem since I started service in mid April and it continues. So who is getting rich with this increase? Verizon and Millenicom, and what about the customer?
The throttling issue has been traced back to a problem with how Verizon has provisioned newer Millenicom accounts. At the moment there is nothing Millenicom can do other than report each throttled line to Verizon when it happens, and then Verizon fixes it. The fix is usually in place just a few hours after the support ticket gets opened.
In the longer run – Verizon is promising to move Millenicom to a “new system” in a month or two that should address these issues once and for all.
I can understand being frustrated with Millenicom – but they are the only third-party broadband reseller that has access to Verizon’s network, and even at $89 they are by far the best deal out there.
If there was any better option, we would be recommending it.
– Chris
Have you contacted Millenicom to report the issue? We’ve talked with dozens of Millenicom customers who quickly had their throttling issues corrected.
We have had our Millencom service for about 2 months. We have been full timing for the same amount of time. I was stunned at how fast we blow thru data. Using the bare minimum social media, my e-store work and reading various blogs pushed me to the data limit each month. And we are two net nerds, and my partner deliberately stayed off the net this month so that I could see how much my use alone would be. It is going to be a battle for us to do 20gigs a month.
We have been looking at who to choose for tv service, Direct TV or Dish Network, and we noticed that Direct TV has internet on one of their packages. I called and asked how much data came with that package, and they gave me the old ” give me your email, and Ill get you that info and send it to you… ) we have received nothing.
Im wondering if you have any experience with direct tvs net service, and can tell us anything about it. How much, how fast, coverage, reliability.. etc.
Have only recently found your blog and am already finding it a valuable source of info for us as newbies.
Trish
Hi Trish –
DirectTV and Dish do not actually have their own internet service since they do not own any physical wires going to houses. What they do is contract with local DSL providers to offer internet that then gets charged on the same bill as the satellite TV.
That is why they are vague about pricing and availability – it varies dramatically depending on who their local partner is.
And of course – their options are not at all compatible with getting internet while mobile on the road.
– Chris
I’ve been using Millenicom for about 10 months. Never used anywhere near 20 GB but I was willing to pay $70 for the ability to just have internet as I traveled. $90 is going to be too much for me, especially since I’m winding down my RVing days.
I’m hoping Millenicom will offer a smaller package since I don’t need the 20 GB. Surely I’m not the only one. It seems unlikely that all their customers are power users.
In the meantime, unfortunately, I’m looking around for other providers.
For sure, non-power users will not find the Millenicom package as valuable. If you’re using under 10GB/month, going direct with Verizon will be more economical, or perhaps even StraightTalk’s hotspot. But for anyone regularly using 10+ GB, Millenicom is still the best deal out there for Verizon fully mobile access.
Hmmm. I may have to recant my comment above. Since I wrote it, I contacted Millenicom to see my usage. They said 10 to 15 GB a month with a 1 month high of over the 20GB soft limit.
Not sure what to think about this. When I was checking my usage, it was always way down near the bottom. Maybe 5 GB or less. I understand that number only gets updated weekly, but it is hard to imagine I was only checking in the first week of the month on the times I did check. I was using so little data that I just quit checking it.
Also during some of my earlier months, I didn’t even have internet access a lot of the time. I find it hard to believe I was using so much data.
I wonder if I got charged twice for a lot of data because of the jetpack freezing up. I had not been worried about that, but now I wonder if that has been a factor.
This is frustrating and disappointing.
While we do understand your frustrations.. we do ask for your respect that this is not the Millenicom complaint department, this is our personal blog 🙂 Please address your frustrations directly to them, or perhaps on a public forum that is topic specific to Millenicom, like DSLReports. Thanks.
Sorry. : (
I know you are not their complaint department and I have been and will be in touch with them.
I was more or less thinking out loud and thought you might have some knowledge on how a person can use more data than they are aware of. I was also wondering if you had more to say about that thing you had mentioned months ago about the jetpack not fully loading websites (causing a reload which wastes data).
No more whining from me!
We have covered that in past articles and comments 🙂 Check the links above at the bottom of our article.
Thanks Cherie. I had not seen the new information on the hot spots.
Seems every year it is costing us more to travel from Ontario to AZ for the winter. The old plan was great but the extra 20 a month will not be. But really they are hands down still the best choice. I have enough trouble going from 300 GB per month with rolling caps to 20 GB. Thanks for confirming the rumor I read about this. Oh well all I can say is don’t try and buy mobile internet in Canada. It is so over priced it would make you cry.
Carl
Yup.. seems to cost a little more every year for everything, even if you’re not RVing. The $20 Millenicom increase is a drop in the bucket compared to some of the campground fee increases we’ve been encountering.
On the other hand… Our AT&T wireless data bill just dropped substantially, and we are getting more data per month too. So sometimes prices actually do go down… 🙂
Chris and Cherie,
I just got a note from Millenicom regarding a special T-Mobile offer on my iPad Mini: “In a game changing move called Tablet Freedom, T-Mobile is providing you up to 1.2GB of data, for free till the end of 2014.”
Legit?
It is legit… but from what we can tell, the offer is only good for those with T-Mobile voice plans. If someone knows otherwise, let us know – neither Millenicom or their T-Mobile contact has been able to confirm.
Cherie
Just got off the phone with Tmobile who confirmed that you need a voice plan to be eligible for this 1.2GB option for iPad
I just thought I would throw in my 2 cents on this subject. I have been with Millenicom for over a year. Been a verizon cell phone customer before they were called Verizon. Our situation is we have homes in 3 states with different cable service (Cox, Comcast, Time Warner) so mobile broadband is perfect for us. I have never used anywhere near the 20G cap, but it was nice to have that availability if needed. However, with this increase I will definitely close the account before the end of the month. Checked with Verizon and they can give me 10G’s for $60 a month plus taxes. The 4620 jetpack has worked flawless and I can continue to use it. I like Millenicom, but not at $90. 3G store gave me the link to your site and I found it interesting reading the comments. Keep up the good work.
Make sure to double check your math, as the Verizon plan builder can be a touch confusing. With Verizon direct, yes 10GB of data is $60/month. But you also need to factor in the ‘per device’ charge on the plan. For a Jetpack/Hotspot, it’s an additional $20/month. Add in taxes and fees, and you’ll be paying right around $90/month for half the data of Millenicom. (We mentioned this in the article above by the way.)
Unless you use less than 10GB/month of data, Millenicom still remains a great value for us mobile users.
Wish I had found you earlier. Thanks for ALL of the information about connecting while on the go. I am blessed to have a job that I can do from anywhere as long as I can get on the internet and a Boss willing to let me only visit the office every few months. I am just starting my adventure and have been spending tons of time looking for information on how to be a nomadic tech without spending every penny to stay connected. I spoke with Millenicom yesterday to get the ball rolling. The new price is cheep for the amount of data you can move, I have been using my Verizon hotspot on the two trips I worked. Code was no problem, it’s just text, however I had to attend a video conference call and YEKS, that hurt. My first attempt was to just use the free wifi from the campground, Crashed and burned 30 seconds in. Started my hotspot finished the call and WOW, most of my data plan for the month was gone………….. So keep up the good work spreading the information.
Thanks for the update…we haven’t received the e-mail yet and the website still shows the old pricing.
As usual….very informative and very helpful…thank you…
We just switched fr. Verizon to Melenicom 2 weeks ago..eeekkk… pretty surprised to get that email. We will be heading back to Ontario Fri. Verizon would let us suspend service any day you chose and the billing stopped . plus no charge to start it up.
Milenicom will bill you for the whole month no matter what day you suspend. We have to suspend for 6 months. Guess we will think about what to do over the summer.
Verizon sent us an email to ask why we dropped them…hmmm
Plus this week our Canadian cell phone stopped working as they decommissioned their alliance with T-Mobile ( no notice to customers.) We thought it was broken.
Thank you for your informative post.
Indeed.. the non-prorated suspension terms on Millenicom are definitely a consideration when selecting the service. Sorry to hear you got caught on both the Millenicom and T-Mobile front. Not a good week for connectivity news for sure.
Best wishes on your journey back to Ontario!
Thanks for keeping us in the loop. We count on you to do our research for us because we know you are so well qualified to do so. And that you care about your readers. Thank you.
Hi guys and thanks for the great Intel! Good to know the scoop behind the scenes! I feel bad for the peeps at Millenium – they seem like good folks and they are getting double banged by the providers right now. For my needs, $90 a month is just the cost of doing business as work on the road. And it’s $90 of peace of mind!!! As opposed to driving around small towns looking for a signal 😜. Which I have had to do more times than I care to remember. Would happily pay more for a 30gb plan as well….Maybe someone with Millenicoms ear, could suggest that?!?! Cough cough. Cheers guys!
Thanks! And we have suggested a 30GB plan many times. Seems to be a no go for now. But that would really be a more perfect number for us too.
ditto here for 30GB plan
I’m in a house, but I have to pipe up here and just say, “Good on ya”, for keeping up with all this *stuff*. Gah! It’s mind boggling the amount of info that you’re able to put into some sort of format that is useful and informative.
That’s all.
Just wanted to say it.
Keep on truckin’.
Awww… thanks 🙂 We write how we’d like to see information like this presented.
Hear! Hear! 30 would be perfect…
Well this is certainly not the news any one wants to hear, but it must say I’m not surprised. Leave it it Verizon, for one thing. But at the same time, many of the mobile carriers in the US are changing things up quite a bit these days.
I’ve actually wondered if there would be changes coming to Millenicom, and others like them, at some point. Sadly, it is here.
All that being said, it is still, by far, the best deal of its kind on the market at the moment. I’m sure some will try some monkey-math to claim otherwise, but 20GB of LTE data for $90 is unlikely anywhere else, sadly.
Thanks for the great writeup to keep us all informed.
True that, I’m actually surprised for how long Millenicom got away with offering the plan for $69.99. That was a really sweet deal. It’s just now sweet.
Cherie, Thanks for all of the info on the Millenicom situation. Do you know how soon the “usage meter” will actually be working on more of a real time basis? We went over the 20 GB last month, & were shut down without warning. I don’t want that to happen again.
You can log into Millenicom’s website at any time presently and get general usage reports updated 3x weekly. I don’t know how long it will take them to implement their new stuff.
As always, thanks for getting the full story out to the community. Reliable internet is on our “must-have” list when we launch next year. While we will be leaving the “real life” and heading out just for a “fun life-style” :-), our usage will be high. So of course we had decided on M’s great plan. Bummed that the price went up of course, but for us we will be able to budget for the higher price.
Yeah, these fun lifestyles sure to eat up a lot of bandwidth with all the cat videos and such we spend our days watching. Hahaha. Yup, it’s a bummer.. but in the end, it’s all but a box of wine, or a pizza and beer.
Thank you for being on top of things for us. I love having you as an information resource. When I opened my email using my hotspot this morning of my first full day on the road this year I was surprised and not happy, but my first thought was: Check with Cherie and Chris, they’ll know whats going on!
And sure enough I got the straight scoop.
I am not a power user, just someone who wants connectivity to stay in touch. As such and this being my first trip away from my home DSL with the Hotspot, I have no idea of my usage demands, so I will be watching the daily usage.
Thanks again for all you do for our Rving community.
Ol Ponts
And thank you for being here and appreciating 🙂 Keep an eye on that data for sure, it can go by pretty quickly.
>And paying Millenicom $179.98 for 40GB of data is a way better deal than $320+ direct with Verizon.
You are looking at the wrong plan. Who would get a share anything plan just for data? The actual homefusion setup offers 20GB for the exact same price as Millenicom, 30GB for $120 a month and 40GB for the exact same price as Millenicom (plus applicable taxes). So the reality is, Millenicom is selling Verizon’s product at Verizon prices with no material advantages and less flexibility being there is no 30GB plan.
I see Millenicom going out of business in less than a year as customers flee and no customers dry up. There is no reason to pay retail at a wholesaler. There is no reason to pay retail and get second tier support.
Keep in mind.. only stationary folks can utilize the HomeFusion option offered by Verizon. We are not looking at the ‘wrong plan’ for our audience. We write specifically for the RVIng community (as we are RVers ourselves). The HomeFusion plan is not available to us or our regular readers.
My apologies. I did not notice this was solely about RV service seeing many comments from people here talking about home service.
For the home user, home fusion is an equal pricing option with Verizon support rather than second tier Millenicom support. For the RV’er, maybe Millenicom still has a purpose.
I am a home user but live outside the Home Fusion radius. Millenicom is still the best option for me.
This stinks. Many of us use this for home Internet. Service has been awesome but it was expensive at $70 for as limited as it is in this day and age. No other choices but Verizon, US Cellular, or Hughesnet (Exede is full and closed in this and many areas), no DSL etc.
Thanks for providing more info than the company provided to us.
While we sympathize with rural stationary folks who are impacted with this, our focus here is on mobile users like ourselves. Many of us consider internet to be essential to our chosen RVing lifestyle.
I know, but the product you mention has multiple uses, therefore will see comments as such, as your article is being referenced in a lot of places. People that use this service as their only source for Internet, as the best choice they had, for their homes, are going to come here. It’s important to them too, and not because of using it for a “fun” lifestyle, but for real life, that most of us have to do.
We are full time RVers, it is not just a ‘fun’ lifestyle. It is our lives, our homes and our businesses. Our lives are just as REAL as yours. We depend on mobile internet to enable our lives on the road. We work full time (plus) as app developers and consultants. This is not a vacation lifestyle.
We can’t control who else picks up the article and links here, and of course others are welcome to read our material. And that doesn’t change that our content is directly focused on how it impacts OUR lives as full time RVers, and comments that we are comparing to the ‘wrong’ plans are not accurate. Plain and simple.
We are not Millenicom’s blog, or a tech blog or a general internet resource. You have found Technomadia.. our *personal* blog about OUR lives on the road. Of course others can come here and read the information, but keep it in perspective for the intended audience it was written. We don’t cover stationary internet topics, because it doesn’t apply to us… and nor are we going to because a service we utilize has multiple purposes.
And… I sure would love to have a lot more FUN in our lifestyle! After non-stop 15+ hour work days for months, we’re ready for a little more play!
Hey Technomads – thanks for all the work you do keeping us current on data costs and options. We took one of our phones to T-Mobile for a GSM option while traveling and while they have great support the actual service has been killing me (They are telling us we used 3gb of data after we only browsed webpages for schoolwork about 8 hours over a 3 day period) so we are seriously looking at millenicom as an option. Sprint still shines on our side though with unlimited 4g for 80 a month (phone with hotspot). I’m looking forward to your reviews of the new Wilson 4g mobile antenna when it hits the shelves.
-Sean
As I understand it, Sprint’s “unlimited” plans actually are limited to either 1GB or 5GB of Hotspot usage per month, and Sprint has extreme limits on roaming usage. Is your plan grandfathered in with different terms?
– Chris
Chris – That’s a good point that I didn’t even think about. I was grandfathered in on an old plan but recently changed to their “framily” plan. My payment went down by 30 and I still am able to hotspot unlimited amounts of data from my phone. I just assumed it was included. Now looking back at the sprint website…it looks like I should be paying an additional 30$ a month for 5gb of hotspot. If they ever turn off my ability to hotspot it looks like we will have to jump ship over to Millenicom.
-Sean
It’s really too bad that they don’t have smaller buckets available and/or some rollover ability… So for example, you could buy 5gb to top off if there were only a few days left in billing cycle.
Or, in my case, my usage fluctuates wildly depending on location (I have another data provider as well) so it would be easier to stomach the $90 rate if there was some way — any way — that made it easier to actually get to use close to the 20gb/mo. Calculating usage based in a 3 month trailing average for example. Or some kind of rollover. Even if very limited time rollover before that data expires.
I have not been using my millinecom jetpack much for the last few months but didn’t suspend it. At $90… I’m going to have to do more to get the most data out of the plan as possible otherwise I’m going to try to find scalable data elsewhere. Even if more expensive per gb, it could wind up being cheaper than “effective” annual rate per gb with millinecom if I’m not maxing out gigs.
We personally like having a baseline 20GB from Millenicom, and then a 10GB mobile share plan from AT&T that lets us add on 1GB at a time overage for $15/GB. This gives us flexibility in the months when we need more data, but it is awkward to manage sometime.
I am actually pretty excited about the easy option to buy another 20GB now with Millenicom. There have been plenty of months in the past where we would have jumped for joy to have an additional 20GB at that price.
I do wish there was a move towards rollover data, or lower prices per GB. But sadly I see no progress at this time…
– Chris
The billing overhead of managing smaller data buckets, or roll-over, would add a lot of cost and resources – that negates the advantages of going with a bulk distributor.
That would be kinda like going to Costco and expecting to buy single serve packages at the same pricing as buying bulk.
There’s a reason we’re getting this service cheaper than direct with a carrier who manages more finite bits of data.
I don’t mind bulk… But I’d rather pay 3 months or 6 months, maybe even a year for a REALLY big bucket! That would help me get more usage out of the bucket. The last couple of months I really could have/should have suspended service I guess. No verizon service where I’ve been most of the winter. If I had a 6 month bucket I would have a chance to make up for the low usage months. On the other hand, where I was over the summer I couldn’t use my sprint bulk plan and was 100% reliant on verizon.
Millenicom now does up to 3-month vacation for free (haven’t heard any changes to the policy). We utilize them when we know we won’t need or be able to use the data. And you can re-activate after longer than 3-months for $19.99.
Sure, we’d love to just buy a bucket of data that is ours to use whenever we like. But the carriers don’t like that so much, as their rates supposedly have average use factored into them. One of the reasons Verizon likely increased the price on Millenicom is because the average usage of the 20GB plan was creeping up higher than they originally agreed to. As LTE rolled out, obviously, more folks used more data. And, more and more of us bandwidth junkies caught on to it. So thus less unused data was be turned back in at the end of the month, and actually – more folks were going over the 20GB cap. At least that’s our theory.
Regardless.. this is what Millenicom is able to offer. And we don’t see anyone else able to negotiate different terms. But if you want to try getting a deal with Verizon like you suggest, go for it – I’m sure many of us would happily subscribe if you’re successful. But I suspect you’ll just end up with a huge headache from hitting your head against a wall. 🙂
I do appreciate that you are thinking through your options.
However, can we kindly ask that you please curtail continuing to share all of the options you are considering? Our blog, and this post does not seem like the ideal place for that. This post is about the Millenicom plan, not a freeform conversation exploring all options — seems this would be more suitable for a forum or such somewhere?
Anyway, I am going to delete your more recent comments from the thread as they have lost the focus of this post and are distracting to new readers & commenters. Thank you for understanding.
When do you think one of these ISPs are going to start offering roll-over data (like roll-over minutes for voice)?
Hahaha… now there’s an April Fools joke.
Seriously, we’re seeing no signs of roll-over data on the horizon, as much as we’d love it.
Verizon has actually started to offer limited rollover data on it’s prepaid Allset plans, but it is not at all a good deal unless your needs are minimal. In addition to the $45/mo base voice rate (which included 500MB), you can get a bucket of 3GB for $20. This additional bucket of data takes 90 days to expire.
Some more info here: http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/4/5469506/verizon-allset-prepaid-plan-offers-rollover-data-but-no-lte
Oh, and the big catch – these plans are 3G only. No LTE speeds offered.
– Chris
Eeek! 3G only? Does that apply to the jetpack plan that is $90 for 10gb? I was just looking at that wondering if it might be better for me. I wouldn’t be wasting as many unused GB as I am with millinecom on that, especially if I used it as a “last resort” Internet option.
I’m not seeing an Allset 10GB option, looks like the max is 3GB. Unless I’m missing something?
I, for one, am happy that they will “freeze” at 20G instead of letting you go over and automatically charging you for the extra “gigs” as Verizon and AT&T do. No one likes price increases, but this is still, as you all say, an Awesome Deal. And I immediately turned to your website for more info because I KNEW you would give us a better scoop than that email did, thanks for that.
For a side note: Don’t know if you heard that we lost our motorhome in a RV Storage Lot fire last week in Palm Harbor that took out about 35+ motorhomes. Has not been a fun 7 days…. Dave (GoingRvWay.com)
Oh gosh.. yes, I did see your post about the fire and loss of your RV. I had the post up to respond to and send our sympathies and thoughts along, and got distracted. So sorry to hear it, and can’t even begin to imagine how ‘not’ fun it’s been for you guys 🙁
We too are happy to hear that Millenicom is working to freeze usage at 20GB, and making the overages completely opt in.
Perhaps Millenicom should nominate you to be their spokespeople. I wrote their sales department an email asking for more information since the email I received from them didn’t contain a whole lot other than the price went up by 50% (I have 3G). I would have been better informed and able to make a decision if they had provided as much information as you did. Perhaps next time they have momentous news, they have you write a blog entry and send us a link to it.
It sure would have taken a lot of the sting out of it. You have a gift for delivering bad news optimistically.
Oh… *blush* Thank you.
We kinda figured given the limitations that Millenicom is under by their terms with ‘the carrier’ that they would be limited in what they could distribute themselves.
While we’re not official spokespeople for them, and they have never asked us to share our side of the story – we do value their service, and feel it’s important to put things into perspective. Price increases are never fun news.
Thanks for the write-up. I don’t think I would have been nearly as annoyed as I was if they would have explained the situation as you guys have. As the previous poster mentioned, these things are supposed to be getting cheaper, not more expensive. Thank goodness the AT&T/TMobile merger didn’t go through I suppose.
I am surprised that something like TengoInternet (if it worked) isn’t more prevalent. I’d be happy to pay $2/GB to whoever for *reliable* and reasonably fast WiFi in a campground.
http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/500x/47998504.jpg
Reliable WiFi at campgrounds would be awesome… sometimes it is good. Which is a blessing when it happens!
I have yet to have reliable WiFi at any campground since we started full timing. The problem is typically that it is free so everyone is trying to get on an no one gets decent service. By doing a search of TengoInternet on the RV forms, there is certainly interest in a pay service as there are so many people complaining about performance and wasted money. I would be thrilled to pay for good service, using my mobile hotspots to augment data. I was just thinking this morning, hey there is a business opportunity here, but then thought in the 2 – 3 years it would take to get something like that rolling, ubiquitous affordable wireless data would be here.
We actually have had some surprisingly good campground WiFi experiences. But we consider them a bonus when they happen. Implementing good WiFi at a spread out campground for lots of bandwidth hungry folks, is not an insignificant endeavor.
Nooooo!!! After sitting on/noodling over/being trigger shy on my mobile internet setup (for FAR too long!), I finally jumped on the Millenicom rocket ship last month. Speedy, reliable internet was an absolute God-send (maybe I’ll get back to actually writing the blog again?!), but, despite the service continuing to make a ton of sense, the price increase email I just received still chapped my behind a bit. Oh well… I think the old UrbanLumbo needs to finally look into some remote work opportunities. Anyone need a capable, well-rounded, young chap who attended college on a full athletic scholarship and graduated at the top of his class (3.95 GPA)??? If so, I happen to know a guy 😉
BTW – we know that Millenicom got caught off guard by this just as much as everyone. Verizon didn’t even notify them that they had instituted a new throttling policy until Millenicom started to investigate why some customers were suddenly running slowly.
Even as early as this afternoon there was still some hope that Verizon would relent and let the old terms stand, but I guess in the end there is no arguing with Big Red.
Ah well… It goes from being an awesome deal to being just a “good” one, and it is still the best option out there for those who need bulk data.
– Chris
Well this explains a few things – thanks!
One is why my buddy’s and my new Pantechs suddenly went from 4G to slooow 4G to 3G-only shortly after we got them (in a 4G area).
Two explains why my buddy was “terminated” a couple of days ago for getting up to 20GB (heh, the fast 4G does have downsides :D). As you said, they offered him the choice of buying 20G more or just going without until the next month (when it would automatically resume). I guess we were just “early ins” on the new policies.
To their credit Millenicom took our complaints seriously and had us fixed up in no time (of course we had no idea what was going on behind the scenes then). And the Pantech routers continue to be absolutely rock solid performers.
Thanks for giving us the full scoop!
PS: Glad I didn’t hang onto my 3G dongle just because it was so cheap (would be hard to go back now after the Pantech anyway).
By the way, the account suspension for exceeding 20GB has been there all along, it was just a bit softer. We got suspended last month at about 23GB ourselves.
Now that we know what was going on, I suspect they switched your devices over to the older accounts to get around the throttling.
We have one of the Millenicom grandfathered 3G aircards for which we just purchased a $500 booster and antenna–in hindsight we should have seen this coming–no one offers 20GB of data for $59.99–yep we paid $59.99 per month for 20GB. We got the email today saying our rate would be $89.99 per month starting May 1. We don’t work on the road and don’t need 20GB of data–I may shop around for something cheaper.
Yeah, the price increase for the 3G service is very steep. 3G is on a phase out plan over the next years, and I believe Verizon is trying to migrate more traffic onto the 4G towers. Suspect a lot of folks will be dropping the 3G plan, especially if the cost is the same for LTE now.
And indeed, for consumers like yourself who don’t depend on mobile internet – there may be better options out there. Some are using the Straight Talk Hotspot which is 3G, but still – at 7GB for $75, the Millenicom deal is still looking pretty nice. All depends on how much you actually need.
Part of me wants to be angry and upset about this but the coverage Verizon provides in some of the rural areas we’ve been to is pretty unmatched. LTE service allows me to work anywhere. I just wish it was a few more GB’s so that the bucket matched the speeds better. But this stuff is still supposed to be getting (way) cheaper not more expensive. I still feel like we’re all getting ripped off for internet though (landline and wireless). They treat it like some kind of finite resource like diesel fuel but the fact is the system just has specific capacities so there should be no issue with for instance doing a bulk download at 2am when nobody is using the network anyway. Whatever happened to free nights and weekends?
We do agree that with the faster speeds, more data would be great. A 30GB plan would be more ideal for us.. which is about what we utilize a month between Millenicom and our AT&T.
We’ve been stationary for a few months so we’ve had brighthouse cable. Sadly I looked at our usage and it’s somewhere around 120-140gb/mo. We’re in for a shock in a couple weeks.
Yeah, always hard to unplug from unlimited bandwidth sources. We got spoiled in Cedar Key over the winter with really quite decent campground WiFi. Combine adjusting to capped data again and an RVillage launch to manage, yeah.. we kinda blew through our data in March.