We just released our The Mobile Internet Handbook a couple months ago, and as crazy as the technology industry is – there are already some pretty major announcements that impact content in the book.
And that’s exactly why we launched the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center and our new premium membership service, Mobile Internet Aficionados – as compliments to the book to keep this information up to date.
1 + 2 + 3 = Big Changes for RVers
There’s THREE major news items this month that are causing internet dependent RVers to reconsider their options:
1) Millenicom Accounts Acquired by Verizon
The major breaking news in the past few days has been the very unexpected announcement that Verizon has acquired all Millenicom customer accounts. Millenicom was a top recommendation we made for folks who want lots of data on the Verizon network, and was a core part of our personal mobile internet setup.
It’s been sad news, as Millenicom has lost their core business and laid off most of their staff. It feels like losing a good friend who has served us RVers well for many years.
If you’re a Millenicom customer already, you may or may not have received an e-mail or two about this. We recommend keeping up on this news so you know how to best proceed.
Here’s our two recent public articles going over everything we know about it, and how it impacts Millenicom customers:
- Oct 16 – Millenicom Customer Accounts Acquired by Verizon
- Oct 19 – Millenicom Update: Still Waiting For Options
- Oct 21 – Millenicom Update: November Billing & Service Questions
- Oct 27 – Verizon Starting to Make Contact with Millenicom Customers
Looks like Verizon will be letting Millenicom customers keep their 89.99/month price for 20GB of data, but with a 1 year contract and overage fees. For some, that might make sense.
We’ll continue to keep on top of this news and offer guidance as we can, and recommend you check back to RVMobileInternet.com periodically and consider joining our free RV Mobile Internet newsletter.
2) October Double Data Deals
This month, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint are all offering ‘double data deals’ on their higher data mobile share plans. This becomes a great option for RVers who want lots of data. The downside? All of the promotions must be claimed by the end of this month.
Here’s our public article with more information and our general recommendations:
Our Recommendation: Use October to Re-evalulate your Mobile Internet Arsenal
Bonus Exclusive Content:
If you’d like more information and guidance, we also wrote a 5000+ word extensive article comparing and contrasting all of the options, costs and terms for the 4 major carriers. It also includes an archive of a webinar we hosted on the subject going over it all.
This is exclusive content for our Mobile Internet Aficionado members. If this topic is on your mind, we hope you’ll consider joining us.
3) Verizon Rescinds Threat of LTE Unlimited Throttling
In a surprise announcement at the beginning of the month, Verizon backed down on their intention of starting to throttle unlimited grandfathered in LTE plans.
This means, the option of buying and taking over a grandfathered-in plan becomes a lot more interesting, and may actually be a solution to Millenicom plans going away.
We decided to go through the process ourselves, and fully documented it. We even interviewed an industry expert, who helped coach us through the finer details to make sure it was done right.
And now with the price of unlimited Verizon plans tanking due to an iPhone 6 Apple glitch, the plans become QUITE tempting.
Bonus Exclusive Content:
If you’re considering this path, you might be interested in this brand new exclusive addition to our Mobile Internet Aficionados resource center guides: Acquiring and Assumption of Liability (AOL) of a Grandfathered Verizon Unlimited Data Plan
Changes to our Personal Mobile Internet Arsenal
October has not only meant a lot of our time put towards informing our readers and Mobile Internet Aficionado members about all of these changes and helping them navigate them – we’ve also been making switches to our own setup to compensate.
Prior to October, our cellular setup was:
- 2 iPhones on an AT&T mobile share value plan with 10GB/mo hotspottable data ($130/month + taxes)
- Millenicom 4G Hotspot plan on Verizon — 20GB/mo ($89.99/month)
- iPad Mini on a grandfathered AT&T unlimited data plan (non-hotspottable) ($29.99/month)
- iPad Mini Retina from Millenicom on T-Mobile (hotspottable, $10/mo for 500MB LTE, and unlimited non-LTE)
We considered our base monthly cellular costs to be $270/month, at least on months we didn’t need to buy a second bucket of Millenicom data or up our AT&T plan. Which was happening much more often bringing our monthly costs upwards of $400 some months.
There’s a lot of options going forward post-Milleniciom, and they can quickly become overwhelming. Here’s a post we wrote going over all of the realistic options to keep lots of shareable data on nationwide carriers.
Here are the changes we’ve personally implemented in response to all of the above news:
AT&T – Double that Data!
In the months leading up to AT&T announcing their ‘double data’ promotion – we had actually been creeping up our data plan to 15GB, and just days before the announcement – to 20GB.
So we were already getting used to paying $160-180/month for our plan to get a little extra data. Our work projects in the past couple months have just been more data intensive – between writing a book, processing lots of OS dates (thanks Apple for forcing iOS 8 on us!), keeping Coverage? updated, and some of our consulting projects.
When the double data deals were announced, it was a no-brainer to convert our 20GB plan to 40GB for no extra cost. We have a AT&T Unite Pro by Netgear as our dedicated mobile hotspot for AT&T, which will add $20/month to our plan.
So we now consider our AT&T bill to be $200/month (so $70 more for 30GB of extra data).
The downside is, we have lost the ability to adjust our data bucket as we need more or less each month – as after October 31, we will not have access to the promotional data deals if we make changes. We can however remove or add lines & devices as needed (such as the hotspot).
What we pay is actually less – as we share our Share Everything plan with some family members. If you have family or friends you trust who don’t need lots of bandwidth, sharing your plan is a GREAT way to reduce your overall costs. (There are also other discounts to be had with the carriers.. for a list: http://www.bradsdeals.com/blog/cell-phone-discounts). But we’ll go with $200 as our cost basis for simplicity.
We used to consider AT&T a fine compliment to the Verizon network. Now we consider them a strong enough carrier to be comfortable making them our primary carrier.
AT&T recently announced they have beat their estimates at LTE deployment, and RootMetrics now ranks their coverage and reliability as a close second to Verizon. In our personal experience, AT&T’s network has come a LONG way.
Here’s our thoughts on each of The Four Major US Carriers — Which is Best for RVers?
Verizon – Unlimited Data
When Verizon announced they were not going to throttle LTE unlimited users after all, we figured we owed it to our Mobile Internet Aficionados to investigate this option. We did extensive research into the process of shopping for, buying and transferring liability to our name.
We now have a grandfathered in data plan in our name, and an LTE capable Android (shiver) phone is awaiting us at our next stop tomorrow. That phone will serve as the holder of the plan, but the theory is that we can move the SIM to our Verizon/Millenicom hotspot and utilize the data plan that way without violating Verizon’s terms of service.
The plan we took over is about $70/month for 450 minutes of voice and unlimited data, with a 2 year contract remaining. So this also gives us an emergency phone option on the Verizon network.
We were already starting to contemplate if this plan might be able to replace our need for Millenicom, or if we might end up turning around and reselling it. When the Verizon acquisition came down a couple days ago – well, we were mighty happy to already have a replacement plan in the works! Assuming all goes well with using the SIM in the hotspot, we’ll be enjoying some sweet unlimited bandwidth for as long as the ride can last.
We may by the end of the month decrease our AT&T plan down to 30GB.. but with the loss of ability to change it later if the Verizon unlimited plan fails us at some point, it may be worth just keeping the 40GB. And we have encountered enough spots where AT&T just rocks and Verizon doesn’t.
Here’s our full article (exclusive for MIA members, or now available as a PDF download for just $5.99 for non-members) on how: Acquire and Assumption of Liability (AOL) of a Grandfathered Verizon Unlimited Data Plan.
iPad Plans
You’ll have to rip my unlimited and unthrottled AT&T iPad plan from my cold dead fingers before I give it up. The plans alone now sells on eBay for $800-1200. So we’re keeping that. We can’t tether or hotspot off it, but with a HDMI cable out to a TV screen – it’s a great entertainment device and provides our nightly dose of Netflix.
The few who had the T-Mobile iPad plan from Millenicom have all received notice that their rates are going up to $19.99 month, since the plan is no longer bundled with a Verizon hotspot plan. We dropped this option, and instead picked up a SIM from T-Mobile that gives us 500MB a month of FREE LTE data. If we do international travel in the future, we’ll switch to one of their other data deals to get the unlimited international data.
So, our new costs are:
- 2 iPhones on an AT&T mobile share value plan with 40 GB/mo hotspottable data ($200/month + taxes)
- Grandfathered Unlimited Verizon Plan ($70/month)
- iPad Mini on a grandfathered AT&T unlimited data plan (non-hotspottable) ($29.99/month)
We’ve gone from $270-400/month for a measly 30GB (plus unlimited AT&T on our iPad) to $300/month for bandwidth coming out our ears.
October is a good month to be a technomad!!
Click for a full illustrated guide to our setup, including all the specific equipment we utilize for cellular, boosting and WiFi repeating.
On Thursday, we’ll be hosting a special exclusive webinar for our Mobile Internet Aficionado members recapping all this information and answering their questions. If you’ve been considering joining our growing group of aficionados to keep in the know about mobile internet – this is a great time to join. We’re extending our introductory pricing of just $39/year for a bit longer.
I am a fellow GenXer, and just put a down payment on a used rig I will pick up in January. My Mom and I will do a couple local test camp runs , then were off for a month to the Grand Canyon @ end of Feb.I will then go back to Florida and drop her off and start my adventure. Before we leave we will pay it forward with a donation and membership. Your both to be commended for straight forward, honest, and truly helpful information provided to us..im sure some times it feels thankless, , I’m here to say Thanks! I appreciate all the inf as a new novice. Not to be a downer as Im optimistic and embracing my time here, but I have terminal cancer and will be using the next 18 months to RV across the nation to visit friends and family..the info I have learned from your site especially some of the detailed info like solar power has been invaluable to me. and will include you in my video travel blog once started. If I may ask your advice on a good simple camera to use to make the daily blogs, , one that I can suction to the windshield? I would appreciate any insight that you may have. Either way safe travels and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Christian Coppola
All the best,
Christian Coppola.
Hi Christian.. what an inspiring story, and GO YOU for embracing life!
Have you looked into the GoPro video camera? A lot folks use them for video blogging, and they have a lot of different mounting options available for them. We have one, but honestly haven’t had a chance to use it much.
As Cherie said, a GoPro is a great option.
Also worth considering is using an iPhone or even an iPad if you want to simplify the process of editing and uploading the video without needing to copy it down to a computer first. There are plenty of windshield mount options you can find.
Go you!
– Chris
First, thank you for your website Chris and Cherie! You share so much great information to for those of us choosing to live alternatives to the traditional brick and mortar existence. Your latest gem is the information regrading the inexpensive grandfathered Verizon unlimited plans! Your PDF on the subject is defintely worth the investment.
Second, I choose not go with Verizon’s offer to Millenicom refugees, and was told that service would end Nov 8th. Here it is the 10th and I’m still getting service with it. Have you heard anything in regards to this situation? I don’t want to notify Verizon only to have them turn the service off.
Our Millenicom service is still rolling along too. We received an email from Verizon saying that they had “extended the deadline” to convert over to a Verizon plan, but no detail on how long the extension will last.
Until it goes dark, we are going to keep enjoying it. 🙂
Just finished documenting our experience with AT&T this week in getting a new 30GB data-only plan (ongoing details can be found on the Techno-Gypsies blog – http://wp.me/p4UjWI-eQ).
The short of it is that it looks like AT&T corporate is only looking to support their (now extended) Double Data promotion for Mobile Share Value cellular plans, not their Mobile Share Data plans, even though the AT&T website advertises otherwise.
We’ll post further updates as they come in. AT&T has promised to contact us mid next week, which is cutting dangerously close to the November 15th Double Data promotion deadline, but hopefully we can get something resolved (or at least get their promotional advertising in order).
We also have two grandfathered UDP Verizon lines — but between throttling issues, rumors of UDP termination, and the occasional spotty signal it’s always good to have a backup plan.
In other news, it’s Nov. 9th, nearly 3am (MST), and the Millenicom JetPack hasn’t cut out yet. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Some of our MIA members experienced similar difficulties when trying to get a double data deal for data only. Some of them were eventually successful. But very annoying indeed for AT&T to clearly show it possible in their plan builder, but not make it easy to obtain.
In your case, if there’s no resolution – it might actually be cheaper/easier to bring your own dummy smartphone device to add to your plan for $15, plus $10 for the tablet .. than paying the $40/month. That would also give you the benefit of a backup AT&T phone line. But the important part is to secure the double date, you can fiddle with the lines later.
I just got off the phone with Verizon calling the number they sent on the Millenicom JetPack.
Results:
They picked up on the first ring, and she said they just had a meeting on the transition. She didn’t have info on the $90/month on contract deal, but will notify me if she finds it. Said she heard about it from another caller. I signed up for the $100/month no contract and will play it by ear.
All was done on the phone and was pretty effortless. According to my phone, it was a 17 minute call.
A couple other remarks, not terribly important but IMO interesting after talking to a Verizon rep:
1. VZW has special support teams in a handful of call centers around (the country?) that exclusively handle transitions like this one from Millenicom. It appears that each team is managed slightly differently, which explains why some reps offer the continuation of Millenicom prices under contract and others don’t. The other thing: Don’t use the fast-response number on GetHuman (my usual go-to), since normal reps don’t have the same info as these special transition-team reps.
2. The Verizon rep indicated that VZW won’t just “let you fall through the cracks” before the Nov. 8th shut-off date. Supposedly they want to make sure everyone transitions before service ends, and will proactively reach out to individuals who haven’t signed up for anything or declared themselves off-plan. Also, he said they won’t be offering their $100/month 20GB continuation plan if you go past the Nov. 8 plan and service gets shut off.
Thanks for your ongoing coverage!
Thank you for all your wonderful work!! We have the 4620LE mifi device that we got from Millencom. When I call Verizon to switch over, is there a better mifi device that Verizon offers that I should consider upgrading to? Thank you for any advice you can offer on this!
Oh gosh.. any of the current MiFi devices would be better than the 4260. Make sure you get something that supports XLTE.
Chris, Cherie… we appreciate all that you’re doing to help us abandoned Millenicom customers through this situation. I certainly don’t know how or why this all came about but I have to say that there appears to be a real lack of concern or care about all of us from either Millenicom or Verizon. I know things can take time, but would it be too much to ask for the owner of Millenicom to send a group email to his customers with some sort of explanation… and a thank you for being a customer? At this point I’ve had NO communication from either Millenicom nor Verizon. And now I’ll probably have to crawl back to Verizon for service… an organization that apparently can’t send a simple email to us either.
Sorry for the rant. My internet service has gotten noticeably slower and unstable over the past week… to the point its almost unusable. But there’s no one to call. A pox on both their houses.
It is a shame that most customers did not receive the two e-mails that Millenicom sent out about.. we don’t know why the messages were not received. But you can read copies of them in the first Millenicom posting.
For us, we’re focused on presenting as much information as we can gather to help folks navigate this the reality of this stuff.
Do I understand this right? The Millenicom Verizon Hot Spot will be activated with just placing an active sim into it? e.g. The Sim from my Driod… To avoid the 20.oo per month charge for the hot spot?
Where can I have the Verizon Sim Card copied to the Sim Card in the Millenicom / Verizon Jet Pac???
We don’t know of anyone who has been able to activate a Millenicom SIM directly on Verizon. You’ll need to either obtain and activate a new SIM (from Verizon), or use an existing activated one from another device. You may need to make modifications to your SIM card if the sizes are different however.
Thanks for all the information guys. Any advice on choosing a Verizon phone to use as a hotspot? Will any Droid or Galaxy do? I would be happy to buy one through your amazon site.
If you want to use PdaNet+ to create the hotspot, check to make sure the phone you are considering getting is compatible:
http://pdanet.co/help/devices.php
Some Galaxies have issues I think.
And we absolutely appreciate any purchases through our Amazon link!
– Chris
I purchased one of the approved devices HTC Incredible LTE, successfully completed the AOL process and installed PdaNet+ on the device and it is transmitting and my other devices can connect to the Foxfi address. The wireless icon in the tray does not indicate no internet access, but none of my devices can get access. Android 4.0.4. Tethering USB works. I opened a support case, but in the mean time do you know if I can just pup this 3FF SIM in my millenicom Jetpack and use that? Anyone else have success with an HTC Incredible LTE?
The MHS291L Jetpack uses a micro SIM size. But you can also use a SIM adapter kit to get it to fit. We’re fully tracking our experience with the plan, and using our SIM in our Jetpack, over at http://www.rvmobileinternet.com for our members.
I was able to pop the micro sim in my millenicom jetpack and I’m in business. Hopefully there wont be any surprises on my bill or when I cancel my millenicom contract. I dont imagine there will be. Thanks again for your guidance.
How does one acquire a grandfathered, unlimited data plan with Verizon? You mentioned that you’re taking over a plan. Any tips on how others may go about doing this? As always, thank you for the sound tech info.
Check the link in the article (http://www.rvmobileinternet.com/resources/acquiring-and-assumption-of-liability-aol-of-a-grandfathered-verizon-unlimited-data-plan/).. it’s a 5000+ word guide to doing so based on our experience, dozens of hours of research and interviews with an industry expert. As noted, it is exclusive content to our MIA members however.
Thanks for a great summary of our ever changing data options. We suspended our Millenicom account for the month of October shortly after the AT&T double data promotion was announced. Our intention was to evaluate AT&T during October as our primary data source. This would make financial sense for us since we already have two non-contract phones lines with them. We had considered keeping Millenicom in the future as back up for locations were we had no AT&T coverage. Given the unexpected take over of our Millenicom account by Verizon (BTW: still waiting for any e-mail from Millenicom) that option is off the table. We now plan on upping our AT&T data package to 40GB for a total cost of $180/mth for our two lines using one of the phones as our hotspot. This gives us 10GB more data for $40 less each month compared with our previous AT&T/Millenicom option. We will hang on to our Millenicom/Verizon hotspot figuring that we can buy a short term pay-as-you-go data bucket direct from Verizon if we find ourselves somewhere without AT&T coverage. On a related topic, I would like to see you compare these new data rates with what is offered in other parts of the world. The recent double data rate promotions are an improvement but I know we are still paying way more than any other country for our mobile data.
Glad you’re about the adjust your bandwidth too!
As far other countries… while that might be true (and those numbers are probably already out there somewhere), it really doesn’t help us US based RVers figure out how to best keep online while being completely mobile in this country. And that topic alone is keeping us plenty busy 🙂
Great Article as usual from the Technomadians.
I am interested in the AT&T Unite Pro Hotspot, and looking forward to you review. But do you have preliminary info if this device can be tethered to the WiFi Ranger outer like my (old now) millenicom hotspot device?
Many Thanks
The Unite Pro is supported according to WFR’s documentation. We’ll be putting it to the test to confirm. And if it isn’t, we’re sure the fine folks at WFR will quickly fix that 🙂