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Review by airslot See Profile

  • Location: undisclosed location
  • Cost: $50 per month

Very reliable service, compared to Sprint. a great asset for any business that works throughout the USA

member for 8.1 years, 492 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago







Review by richlife697 See Profile

  • Location: Pittsboro, Chatham, NC, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
VERY reliable, decent speed
High cost
If there is no other high speed internet, this is worthwhile -- but understand data use
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(Note: The footnote says I just joined this week. I have a request in to DSLR to verify my Premium account from many years back.)

This is an honest and knowledgeable Verizon LTE Internet Installed review. Since being installed, we have gotten reliable, high speed service with no failures. All contacts with Verizon have been positive and produced excellent support.

The Verizon router establishes a subnet (internal network) for your home. Any data transferred within the subnet will NOT count against your data usage -- only data that exchanges between the router as an internet gateway to the tower will count against your usage. (If you have a weak signal, I've been told that dropped, and thus repeated, packets will count also. I have a solid signal and have never seen packet loss on the Verizon router. That is something you can only determine using the Verizon router diagnostics -- which are very minimal.) So traffic to your printer within your home subnet will not add to your data usage, but all traffic outside the Verizon antenna will.

I originally had questions about whether Verizon was overcharging or properly metering my usage. To resolve and get the answers, I bought my own router from Netgear. I used it connected via ethernet (not wifi) to the Verizon router which then allows me to subnet my internal network one layer lower. The Netgear routers allow much better monitoring and control over the outdated router model that Verizon uses. Netgear also has a nice app named Genie that helps simplify retrieving the information about your subnet. Note that ALL my internal home devices connect to the subnet (internal home network) established by the Netgear router -- none except the Netgear router connect to the Verizon router.

With the Netgear router utilities, I can monitor my overall usage daily, weekly, monthly (total and average) and match them against the reported Verizon data. For the past eight months of my monitoring, there has been a 100% correct correlation between my internal Netgear reported usage and the Verizon router reported usage found on the Verizon website. It is true that Verizon data may be reported late, but I have never seen a delay of over 24 hours -- 6-12 hours is not unusual. Any traffic on my internal subnet cannot get to the Verizon router unless internet access is required -- then the Netgear router passes the data flow to the Verizon router. Again, the data counted by Netgear and the Verizon router are a match.

When I first connected, I actually used the poor Verizon router traffic log to determine throughput (subtract current timestamp data total from a specific earlier timestamp data total to get usage for that day. The result was a near match to the Netgear reported throughput. (A few kbytes of data is insignificant -- your can never really get two devices to perfectly agree. At the MByte level, they agree.)

So, yes, I invested $120 in a good router and I have complete monitoring capability. And yes, I have always found the Verizon reported data to be completely correct within any given day. If you are having issues, you need to understand what it is that your devices are doing on your network. Verizon can only report what data flows through their devices including an LTE router and their data is correct. Phone to 4G data usage appears to have different issues. What I have written does not address direct phone 4G usage. We ALWAYS route all phone data traffic through our internal network and thence through the 4G LTE router. That is the only way to verify actual data flow.

As I mentioned earlier, it is imperative that you understand how data is used. Video streaming may use huge data amounts -- especially HD. Audio streaming is MUCH less data intensive. Most video sources (i.e. YouTube, Netflix, etc.) allow you to choose the level of video to reduce data if your are on a metered connection like Verizon. Microsoft Windows 10 allows you to limit updates if you are on a metered connection. Otherwise one new update may cost 3-5 GB of data. But regardless of how much data you use, if you identify the source(s) of your usage, you will most likely find that Verizon is reporting correctly.

WATCH OUR FOR CHROMECAST! Chromecast connects through your network to your gateway and CONTINUOUSLY downloads significan data. With one unintended connection, I used 5 GB overnight. The only way I know of to limit Chromecast is to completely remove it from your network (tv or whatever).

One last point. I personally would not rely on phone data reporting for complete accuracy. Too much depends on the strength of the phone 4G signal and that varies as you move from place to place. Or it may be erratic if your home has poor 4G reception. Also, you should not consider 4G LTE internet service if you do not get a strong signal. Verizon should not permit it. An addition problem may well occur if you use one of the Verizon portable 4G LTE routers for internet service and move it to a weak signal location.

member for 7.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago


Anon7b3ed
@state.ms.us

Anon7b3ed

Anon

Verizon 4G LTE Installed

I find your response very informative and helpful as I am considering the installed service. Will you assist me with step by step instructions on what I need to purchase (Netgear router) and how to understand my usage and monitoring it?

Review by richlife697 See Profile

  • Location: Pittsboro, Chatham, NC, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
Good service provided
Confusing wireless options
Be careful what you are ordering or reviewing
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(Note: The footnote says I just joined this week. I have a request in to DSLR to verify my Premium account from many years back.)

Edit: I should have noted that I live in a fairly remote area with almost no internet infrastructure. My only options besides LTE Installed are satellite (abandoned that many years ago) or slow DSL (about 500Kbps). My download speed of 20Mbps from Verizon is sufficient justification. This costs me at most $85 more than either other "option".

I ordered Verizon LTE Internet Installed -- a Verizon wireless internet capability, but it is not what most people call "Verizon Wireless". Verizon Wireless is basically cell phone service. What I have is 4G LTE Installed service (which is also different from using a Verizon portable wireless router).

My Verizon 4G LTE Installed service is stable and reliable. (Note, many people refer to "4G LTE" but these are actually "4G" and "LTE" -- separate capablities, though LTE is built on 4G.) We have separate Verizon Wireless service for our cell phones. Because the phones may be set to use our home wifi which runs through the LTE Installed service, we are able to keep our phone costs to a minimum which helps ameliorate the high cost LTE Installed service. This means that our only cost for phone service is when we are away from our LTE installed system or any other hotspot that allows our phone to run through wifi. We minimize phone internet access away from any wifi service and that allows us to easily stay within a 500MB/month phone contract -- we mostly use our phones as a phone when we're on the phones 4G capability (instead of the wifi).

At home we have found the the maximum LTE Installed contract of 30GB is needed and we still must avoid hi-res video streaming (most YouTube defaults to small lo-res video) and major downloads (like Win10 updates). With primarily phone usage, email, extensive (many daily hours of use and hundreds of websites per day) web browsing and AUDIO streaming, we typically use just under 1GB of data per day. We avoid the high cost of overage ($10/GB ) by monitoring our data usage regularly. And I have installed a Netgear router to subnet my home network so that I can verify Verizon reported usage -- they match.

Verizon offers both the LTE Installed and a portable LTE wireless service. A major difference is that the LTE Installed uses a high gain wireless antenna and fixed router while the portable service uses a "portable" router -- it can be taken out of the home and used as a standalone device from any location. This poses another data usage problem. At home, Verizon (should) verify that you have a strong, stable LTE signal before installing the antenna/router. When you have the portable router, you can operate it from anywhere. If the signal is weak, you may get lots of dropped packets (and therefore repeated retransmissions) which might cause much higher data traffic. (Remember, you pay for traffic from the towers to your router.) So even though your home LTE service may be strong, if you take the portable router to a location where the signal is weak, you could rack up large bills. That is your responsibility, not Verizons. That is why we chose the LTE Installed option.

BTW, the Verizon rate for 20 or 30 GB of LTE Installed service is much better than any other data rate from any company that I have found. Most providers do not offer "4G LTE" internet as a service at all. The only provide phone options. For those who don't know, phone (mobile) sites are optimized to use a minimum of data when compared to a desktop or a laptop. So using phone service (phone hotspot, for example) for internet may well result in very high costs.

member for 7.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago


Review by hdman See Profile

  • Location: New London, Waupaca, WI, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
  • Caps of 10 gigabytes/month
They sell you the product VERY well!!!
They lie, make promises they won't deliver, and they call YOU a liar as well
Run from Verizon. DO NOT BUY HOME FUSION AT ALL
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I was a Wildblue then Exede customer for several years. The last 3 were on Exede on a 10GB plan. In all the years, I never went above 8GB of usage. So along comes Home Fusion from Verizon. Same "bucket", better pings, etc. so I jumped. They also gave me 15G for the first 2 months, which was nice, but not (should not have been) needed.

First month, I went through 15GB, second month, I hit 90% by Dec. 22nd. So, as I am leaving with the wife for out of town, I turn the Verizon router OFF. After the first month, I had contacted Verizon to see what the heck was going on, and I have the emails back telling me to hang on, and they will let me know what the issue is. Anyway, I come home on the 27th, and begin the process of calling Verizon to see why, again, the usage is so high. Guess, what, while I was gone, they had me showing over 500MB of usage!!!

After weeks of going several calls, no return calls, trouble tickets that were issued, and never called me back on, I finally called to get to the bottom. I get escalated to Travis, a manager. He tells me that the tickets were closed because the usage was justified and that they believe somebody came into my home, turned on the router, and used that data. Not to steal my guns, cash, TV's, etc, but to use my internet service....AND turn it off when they leave.

Bottom line, Verizon is unable to properly meter your usage, and while you are within the period to turn it off and return the product, they stall you with emails telling you to "sit tight" while they dig into it. Oh, and they call on Sunday mornings, leave a return number and a name that you can't even get to the person via. When it all falls apart, YOU become the liar, and they will hit you $350 to terminate.

AVOID VERIZON HOME FUSION. If you know me, and my reviews, I do not pan a company easily, but this one was very easy. Verizon's home fusion/cantenna product is farse, and they can't meter it properly. You have been warned!

member for 20.3 years, 3449 visits, last login: 157 days ago
lodged 8.2 years ago

IanLee
join:2014-11-24
Woodland, WA

IanLee

Member

Just avoid Verizon entirely...

I currently have their mobile phone plan and it is nothing but a ripoff. Even when I carefully manage bandwidth usage I somehow end up using a lot more than expected. Apps like MLB.com or Youtube are particularly guilty of this, Youtube especially since it plays at the highest quality possible, there is no way for me to change the quality. So say for instance a 30 minute TV show, I may just as well used up 1 GB from just one episode.

Going over the limit results in $10 per GB. That is highway robbery, no ifs ands or buts. Verizon also locks you into a two year contract meaning if you want or have to change providers, you have to pay an early termination fee.

Hopefully T Mobile will start expanding their network so I can hop over to them when Verizon inevitably becomes a sinking ship. For a company trying to sell off it's wireline assets and become wireless only, they're doing a piss poor job at competing with the other three big wireless companies.

hdman
Flt Rider
Premium Member
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI

hdman

Premium Member

Re: Just avoid Verizon entirely...

I wish I could say it was Youtube or other video, but frankly, we don't use it. This was simple browsing and email. I never used 8G a month on Exede, but when I showed Verizon my proof, they claimed somebody went into my home, turned on the router, and used my service. I have been with Verizon for YEARS on my cell phones, and frankly, I will be moving on just as soon as I can from their phones as well.

Review by krypt0 See Profile

  • Location: undisclosed location
  • Cost: $50 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Great LTE coverage
Service capabilities limited with CDMA fallback
Good coverage, Limited monthly data allowance
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Secondary data service.

Hardware (All customer owned):
1. Novatel Wireless MiFi 4510 4G Jetpack
2. Pantech MHS291LVW 4G Jetpack
3. Pantech UML290VW 4G USB Modem
4. Novatel Wireless USB551L 4G USB Modem
5. LG VL600 4G USB Modem

Phone Plan Data Limit (monthly in GB): N/A
Data Plan Limit (monthly in GB): 5 GB
Provisioned Speed: N/A
Received Speed: N/A

member for 20.8 years, 1438 visits, last login: 1 day ago
updated 8.4 years ago







Review by exxtacypilot See Profile

  • Location: Fort Cobb, Caddo, OK, USA
  • Cost: $90 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
  • Caps of 20 gigabytes/month
Reliable, Fast for rural location
Cost, Data Cap, Limited installer capability, limited router capabilities
Much better than local WISP or alternatives
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This is a Verizon Home LTE (Installed) system with the 20GB data plan.

It was installed about June 2015. The installer was friendly and cooperative, but with somewhat limited capabilities. The service has been reliable since installation.

See the Verizon web page »www.verizonwireless.com/ ··· stalled/ for details about this service.

The installation includes an outside antenna, coax, and router/LTE control box. Although the included router has firewall, port forwarding and other features, there is no option to substitute my own router. This limits the ability to use advanced routers and firewalls. No UPS is provided. There is no option to add/include Verizon phone (VoIP/Cellular) service (yet). However, I have successfully used a VoIP service for outgoing calls.

As with any cellular provider, cost and data caps are the major negative. Even general, light browsing usage by one person will easily exceed the 10GB plan. I had been using a local WISP. The WISP could not provide reliable service and speeds, even though we had clear line of sight to their tower antenna.

member for 19.7 years, 3918 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
lodged 8.5 years ago


Review by Windfarmer See Profile

  • Location: Cynthiana, Harrison, KY, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (24 month contract)
  • Caps of 30 gigabytes/month
Home Fusion - Good speeds and great service
Home Fusion - Very expensive
Home Fusion - Don't use if you have cable, fiber, or DSL options available.
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If you have nothing else available, get this. Just saying.

Pros
1. Great connection reliability
2. Great daytime speeds
3. Faster than satellite

Cons
1. Ugly data caps
2. Very high prices
3. Gets slow during the evenings

»[4G Speed test: 30.49/14.52 73 ms]

member for 8.5 years, 406 visits, last login: 42 days ago
updated 8.5 years ago







Review by critis See Profile

  • Location: Mullins, Marion, SC, USA
  • Cost: $218 per month
  • Caps of 30 gigabytes/month
Better then other options
Caps caps caps
Decent
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My Other Reviews

·HTC Inc.
First I was a millenicom customer for years. But they lost deal with sprint. Then shuffled to bmi internet. To see the same happen again. So after the horror of the switch to bmi and then 3 times they had to replace my modem and the downtime when the gateway claimed I used 30 gb in 10 days while I was on vacation and the usb modem was unplugged. I decide to break down and go with the double data promo. So I went to Verizon store and the lady told me home fusion would be work best. So added it to my more everything plan and got 30 gb data added. With 19% discount turn out to save me around 20 dollars. Compared to paying cell and Internet plans separate. Order on Friday,installed Tuesday. Wednesday the net goes down. Reboot 3 times. It comes on again. Great speed when up. But Thursday down for 12hrs. Friday morning goes off again called Verizon and after talking to techs they say signal marginal for my area. They send out router with voice. During the talk they tell me that I could go on edge plan and upgrade phone. Wife saw the droid mini in store night we order so I thinking great she can get the phone.

So go to store Friday night after work with wife. We tell them what lady on phone said and the boy act like there doing us a favor to let us have phone.that really we can't go on edge then couldn't activate the phone and ends up my wife on phone with someone from Verizon saying we can't have phone. They told me right from start in store I couldn't do mine at all.

Store is 40 min drive from my house,so every married guy know the hell,I went through on way home from my wife. We get home she go to bed because she so mad,she gotten a headache. I get on phone to Verizon. Seeing I got my backside chewed. I'm going pass it on to Verizon. I explain to rep about my day and that I didn't get phones and have a upset wife.

Rep got not only my wife her phone,he put me on the edge program as well with new droid turbo and my tail out of the fire with wife.

I waited 3 month to write review to see how service would hold up. It been very good so far. Rarely been offline and speeds have stayed good. It way better the the 3G from sprint resellers and the 4g upgrade switching has been great. Overall been good service for wireless. Process was way longer then it needed to be. They really need to get the corp. store and customer service on same page.



member for 22.1 years, 5624 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8.6 years ago


Review by pioneer56 See Profile

  • Location: Michigan
  • Cost: $65 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
  • No Cap
Wow! Is LTE ever fast!!!
If you aren't on an unlimited account you will go broke with overages
Great for the unlimited people, costly if you want to enjoy the speeds on a Share Everything plan
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So I finally have 4G in the area and can use my plan the way it was suppose to be! The speeds and latency are incredible! 30+Mbps down and 5-12 Mbps up are insane! Service is still a little bit flaky as it is so new, but the advancement from the TERRIBLE 3G we have around here more than makes up for it. 4/5 Stars overall.

Update: 2015

I still have unlimited and still get 20-40mbps down and upload is usually around 10-20 mbps up. I am using a Pantech UML290 in a Cradlepoint Mbr 1200b. I had the Mbr 1000, but I think it finally died as I was getting constant disconnects and problems with wifi working.

Now that is is quite hard to get an unlimited plan I will be keeping this setup till Verizon does away with unlimited. For the cost, it can not be beat in this area as there is no cable or other high speed internet available outside of terrible satellite.

member for 16 years, 2262 visits, last login: 1 day ago
updated 8.7 years ago


Review by Caladus See Profile

  • Location: Beaverton, Washington, OR, USA
  • Cost: $93 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Fast and great coverage
Slow during the day in certain locations
Speed really depends on your location and the tower serving your area
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I've had Verizon 4G LTE service for a while now. I was lucky to be grandfathered in to the unlimited 4G before they went and got rid of that. Service is great on voice and txting. Data speeds are variable and depend heavily on whatever tower your device is pinging off of. If the tower is congested expect slower speeds. In my area after about 10am till about 10pm the tower that serves my house is saturated and speeds can and will drop to ~4/2 Mb or even worse. I typically do most of my usage at night however so I barely notice. At night the highest speeds I've seen are 35/25. Typically around 2 or 3 in the morning.

member for 14.7 years, 257 visits, last login: 7.6 years ago
updated 8.7 years ago