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I went ahead and placed an order via Verizon's website. I got free two-day FedEx shipping on it. When the gateway arrived, I was very surprised how easy the setup was for the it and to begin using the service. Literally, since I already had a Verizon account and a login setup, it was a five-minute process to unbox the unit, for it to connect and have the Wi-Fi up and running. Literally I plugged the gateway in, it connected to Verizon's network then I just had to scan a QR code a couple of times. After the gateway connected to the Verizon 5G network, I began the process of connecting devices in my home to the Wi-Fi network or directly to the gateway via the two available ethernet ports. I needed to work some more on my work from home job, so I went ahead and plugged my work laptop into one ethernet port for the sake of testing it. I was immediately impressed that my Citrix connection to my work was fast and as responsive as my AT&T Fiber connection overall. upon doing speed tests, I found that I could get a consistent 300 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps up. The only thing I noticed is that the ping times are around 40 milliseconds as opposed to the typical 20 or so I get with AT&T Fiber. However, for me, this isn't a dealbreaker. I don't do gaming, the only thing I do regularly that ping times could affect is video conferencing. After my initial tests on my work laptop and cell phone using Wi-Fi, I then began the process of migrating other devices in my house to the new Verizon Wi-Fi network. This included streaming devices for DirecTV Stream, my security system and cameras, my thermostat for my HVAC, and finally my cats' Litter Robot! Yes, even their litter box is on Wi-Fi! After a few days of depending on Verizon Home Internet, just keeping AT&T Fiber online as a fallback if my testing of the service doesn't go well, I must say I am really impressed with it as a viable internet service provider. In the case of a 5G fixed wireless someone must understand that results can and will vary depending on location. However, in my case it is a great alternative especially when considering price. Overall, I consider the test of their service an overwhelming success in my case. I am not 100% sure I will drop AT&T Fiber; I think there is a good chance of me doing it though. For me, it comes down to a matter of money. I am going to be saving about $35 a month and then also am getting the price lock for three years with it. If I decide to keep Verizon Home Internet, I will update this post as time progresses. member for 19.9 years, 1533 visits, last login: 106 days ago updated 180 days ago
I have the 10 GB package. It suites my needs. member for 10.3 years, driveby review (so far) updated 10.3 years ago
10/13 - No longer subscribe to this service directly. Got a Galaxy S4 with unlimited data and spent the extra $30/mo to tether via WiFi. That service works great. Ended up saving about $35/mo. -------- 12/11 - Started noticing stability issues with my KPC-680. Wouldn't keep a connection or would revert to 1x and stay there. Called VZW to get help. They sent a new card. New card wouldn't fit into my laptop (it was the correct size, but still to big to slide in and out of the card slot). They sent another card. And as they were, I noticed the 1st new card was doing the same thing (staying in 1x, unstable, etc). It dawned on me that I'd never forced the card into EVDO only mode like I had on my old laptop. So, I ended up sending back both "new" cards and keeping the KPC680 with it forced in EVDO mode. Since then, no issues and even managed to pull down a 2.1Mbps speed test! Still wish it was cheaper. Really getting tired of dropping $60 a month on this thing. Would use my Thunderbolt and save $30/mo, but it does not have a stable 4G (or 3G) connection where I use it most. ----------------- 1/11 - Still truckin'. No issues. Speeds are fine. Wish their LTE service had an unlimited data option. I'd upgrade to that. 4/10 - No issues since the last update. Card is performing very well. Was in Myrtle Beach, SC in January and recorded a 2.5Mbps download speed test! Get around 1-1.5Mbps at work where I normally use the card. On occasion the connection will drop. And the only way to get it back is to reboot Windows 7. It happens maybe 2 times every 6 months. Annoying. But not enough to research and fix. 12/27/09 - Got a new laptop in June of 09. Switched over to the RevA card they gave me some time back (KPC680). Service has been flawless. 1.4Mb/sec down, 800Kb/sec up is my best speed test. My account is due for renewal at any time now. I'm going to hold out until Q2 2010 in hopes that big red will release a 3G/4G card. 1/09 - Service at work (where I mainly use this device) had some issues awhile back when Verizon moved their tower from a building to a stand alone tower. Tech support wasn't very helpful but I finally got to some folks that knew a thing or two. Still using a Rev0 card since I've not upgraded my laptop to use the RevA card they gave me this year. Service works fine and the issues at work seem to have magically disappeared. My bill still says "Unlimited KB per month". But I only download around 500MB a month. Too lazy to test them on their 5GB quota. ----------- 3/30 - Noticed my bill had gone up $0.60 this month. I called in to inquire why my bill had gone up (I never use my minutes, roam, call LD or go over my data plan). The person I spoke with said that the administrative fee had gone up $0.30 for both the data and voice lines. I told her I was going to review my customer agreement because when I bought the plans I agreed that my rate would not change for 2 years. She agreed and said that she would credit my account every month for the remainder of my contract for the said $0.60! Now that's service. Also, sometime back in February my data card decided that it no longer wanted to maintain a stable connection. Called them up on a Friday afternoon and had my new card on Monday morning. Took 1 10 minute call to get the new card up and running. 12/1 - recently, I grabbed Dr TCP and modified my laptop's RWin settings. Speed is now running around 1.3Mbps down and 130kbps up. Latency is still a little high - average to www.yahoo.com was 208ms. Not too bad for surfing or telnet applications. Still worth the coin to me. Wish I used my cell phone as much as I use this card. The one complaint I have is the connection reliability during rain/thunderstorms. The card has a lot of trouble staying connected. I've got 4 bars of signal and it will still drop quite a bit in nasty weather. I quit using the VZN Manager software once tech support told me how to configure DUN to make the connection. VPN issues are gone now that I use a Juniper client instead of a Checkpoint client. The Juniper dealie is a ActiveX plugin for Internet Explorer and seems to work very well. Every time the card has connection issues I call up tech support and complain. I use this card 99.8% of the time at work. I've used it at home twice. I am too far away from the tower for the card to work with any speed. If my primary internet connection failed and I just HAD to get to the internet it'd be ok. ---------------- So I came into the early 90's by getting a cell phone. Actually, I was more interested in the wireless internet than the cell phone. Service, without voice is about $100 a month. I figure I'm getting the cell phone for free in this case. I started with the free 5740 something card. It worked, but not so well. No external antenna on it. Did manage to get a 700/200ish connection standing next to a tower. I took the card back before my 15 days were up and ordered the Kyocera 650 card. It has an external antenna as well as antenna ports. Took them a week to get me the new card (even though after a delay and screw up of the order and a reorder via over night). This new card works much better at my home. I'm sure it should prove to work as well as if not better at work (were aforementioned cell tower lives). Got 400/100 at the house on 2 bars. Hope I like this service to keep paying $60/mo for 2 years. And that I don't go over my "unlimited" 10GB/month allotment of bandwidth. Paid $19.99 for the card using my work's discount plan. So far, it's worth the 20 bucks. member for 19.6 years, 8254 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 10.4 years ago
Update 11/2012 Have the GNex. Stock android phone. Their 4G service is still fast. So far so good. ------------------------- member for 13.6 years, 533 visits, last login: 11.3 years ago updated 11.3 years ago
When my Megapath/COVAD T1 went down for the zillionth time my small business was stuck yet again without phones, fax or Internet service. I had to ship an urgent job with Fedex and needed to file my SED for export (requires the Internet). Long story short I ran over to Verizon Wireless to pick up a Verizon branded 4510L MiFi 4G LTE hotspot. They explained how it worked, up front pricing and set me up with an account. It all went down in about 30 minutes and I walked out with the device. Got it fired up and it synced in about 45 seconds to a minute and provided 12Mb down and 3Mb up. I was floored as this is in an interior office of a concrete tilt-up building. And obviously the MiFi device allows connection sharing so I was able to get a few of the office computers connected and I was able to ship my job. I was also surprised to see sub 100ms latency reliably. A far cry from the 200-300ms I see with my AT&T 3G iPhones. It works so well I dropped the 3G plan for my iPad and am just going with the MiFi since the battery lasts me more than 4 hours with minimal power savings settings. It would probably do more if I turned on those power saving features. The only drawback is the low usage cap, but since this is a backup for my horrible T1 I don't use that much data. Lucky for them it is capped because I would be using it all the time. The overage fee is darn steep too at $10/GB but they were upfront about it. I certainly knew what I was getting into before signing a 24 month deal. Device: Verizon MiFi 4510L 4G LTE Price: $50/mo+taxes and junk fees for 5GB/mo ($80 for 10GB is an option) Overage fees are $10/GB Typical Speed: 12Mb/3Mb Typical Latency: 90-100ms Overall I am very pleased and if the iPhone 5 has 4G LTE I will definitely switch. Attachments: member for 12.7 years, 57 visits, last login: 12.6 years ago updated 12.6 years ago
The internet side of my Verizon FIOS service is outstanding. I have found the techs well trained and the service for years has run darn close to 100% up. I have never noticed an outage. I especially enjoy the strong upload times as I work from home a lot via VPN. The negative is the TV side. The TV has good uptime but *if* you ever experience a problem, say with a STB acting up in need of replacement, they are trained to want to Hard Reset your router; something especially annoying if you've spent time configuring for various special purposes as I have. They always ask permission but when you say "NO" it results in a lengthy wait to talk to a supervisor to convince them you've already done the detective work regarding cause and effect (yes Mr. Phone Tech I really do know it is a bad STB because I have switched them and observed the logical results! I have the $50/mth package. Wired I get about 20/12 but usually I'm using wireless so that limits my speed. However, I do use a wired connection for my PS3 and XBOX and that makes all the difference in the world. member for 21.7 years, 22 visits, last login: 9.5 years ago lodged 12.7 years ago
Looked and shopped around, Verizon had the best coverage with consistent signal strength. Just Got the VL 600 modem for Verizon 4G LTE. Consistent speeds of 12M/7M all day long, no drops always on so far!! member for 19.9 years, 331 visits, last login: 11.3 years ago updated 12.9 years ago
After going unemployed something had to go and that was Comcast's economy for $40 monthly. There was no way Id get rid of my 3g smartphone so a friend let me know you can teher your cell phone connection to the PC by downloading PDA Net to your phone then install to your PC. Doesn't work for Xbox 360 trust me I tried and yes you need to usb connect your cell to your PC when you want to tether but its a great value for the bundle with 3g smartphone like speeds. I still have Internet to my netbook without the additional costs! member for 24 years, 2991 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago lodged 13 years ago
I've used Verizon Wireless Broadband for about 5 years. I'm grandfathered on an unlimited plan. I love the coverage, and the flexibility of the MiFi 2200 to run all my devices. If I need more speed, in many cases I can use Verizon wifi, by tethering the unit, but that does limit me to a single connection. Great for watching Netflix on the road, without paying the hotel's daily broadband charge. Keeping the software and coverage information up to date is a pain. It seems like I have to do it every time I use it. Also the installation process would try the patience of a saint. It has trouble locating the unit until you disconnect and reconnect it multiple times. One last thought, nothing beats working in the car, while someone else is driving of course. Overall, the nits are well worth putting up with. member for 13.1 years, driveby review (so far) updated 13.1 years ago
I walk to a nearby Verizon store on Sunday(5th) morning and decided to go with the Pantech 4g/lte usb (instead the LG, it has a flexible usb plug and provision for external antenna) It took like 15min to activate and maybe another hour to figure out how to configure it on my MacBook (there is no vzw manager for Mac so far, it requires network settings manual configuration) Once live, I got consisted speed tests around 10Mbps download/upload. Also I travel around the city with the notebook streaming tv from my slingbox with a steady, always over 2Mbps (limited by my home u-verse 3Mbps upload) The only problem is video streaming/downloading can eat the 10G allowance very quickly. I use 5G on the first day testing and have to deal with the remaining 5G for the entire month. After a couple of weeks everything so far so good. Much better than expected, maybe due the vzw/lte network almost unpopulated but anyway results are amazing. member for 20.7 years, 706 visits, last login: 5 years ago lodged 13.1 years ago
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