DataJack: $40 A Month For Truly Unlimited 3G

said by ropeguru:

Of course "unlimited" usually means "very limitied" in wireless industry parlance, but DataJack's website insists they really mean it. "Yes, DataJack Service is truly unlimited," says the company. "You can leave it connected to the Internet 24 hours a day and not worry about any overage charges," insists the carrier.

I can do the above now with any carrier and they do not care. It is if you are downloading data at full speed for 24x7 that is the issue. Seems like they are already side stepping the issue with their vague language.

I predict they will be no better than the current options.

said by Karl Bode:

? The article notes it's mirroring T-Mobile's existing coverage map:

»www.datajack.com/

said by Lazlow:

While I hope it is not the way they choose to go, they could be using a throttle similiar to the fap satellite uses.

As far as coverage, they provide a map which looks like Tmobile.

DataJack may suspend or discontinue providing the Service generally, or terminate your Service, either in whole or in part, at any time in its sole discretion.

said by Karl Bode:

Usually though they'll use more specific, vague language (if that even makes sense) when caps are present.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

Like all mobile services, they include legal language that allows them to drop you for ANY reason and also change TOS by publishing changes to their web site:

said by amigo_boy:

There's no way the available radio spectrum could be "unlimited." It defies the laws of physics. Now, everyone should let that 5-10 minute feeling soak in.

Mark

said by patcat88:

It can be nearly unlimited if you split cells. Look at campus wifi systems.

said by amigo_boy:

You're talking about a different band which naturally limits itself to 1000-2000 sq. ft. To create a mesh network like that would be something entirely different than what we have now.

And, even within that band you'd invariably have limits. Or, be forced to split to a finer mesh to serving fewer people per access point.

Nothing's unlimited except a dedicated pipe. In that case, you get exactly the limit you paid for -- and you pay for unused capacity just so you'll always have a connection that meet's your peculiar "unlimited" needs.

Mark

said by sonicmerlin:

So put up more cell towers. Same friggin` thing. The wireless carriers charge obscene prices for obscene plans (why does receiving a call use up minutes?), and make obscene profits as a result. Considering spectrum is tecnically a public good leased to them, it`s their obligation to provide optimum service to all their customers. Put up more towers!

said by sonicmerlin:

(why does receiving a call use up minutes?)

said by amigo_boy:

You're talking about a different band which naturally limits itself to 1000-2000 sq. ft. To create a mesh network like that would be something entirely different than what we have now.

said by patcat88:

Use lower transmit power plus encode each digital signal with properties for reject or detection by the client, IE »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_divis···e_access .

said by Gbcue:

CDMA is a dying standard.

said by amigo_boy:

...

Nothing's unlimited except a dedicated pipe. In that case, you get exactly the limit you paid for -- and you pay for unused capacity just so you'll always have a connection that meet's your peculiar "unlimited" needs.

Mark

said by rradina:

We need to define unlimited. If we're talking about providing your customers as much as they can eat ...

said by amigo_boy:

I would say you hit the point right there. When we define "as much as they can eat" it becomes an average of "they."

When the buffet calculates how much to charge, it considers how much the average customer eats. If a group of boulemics show up, and plan to spend the day binging and purging, I'm pretty sure the buffet will throw them out. And, average customers (for whom "all you can eat" was defined by) will completely understand.

Now, I'm sure someone will say buffet's aren't a good analogy. But, they'll object regardless of what analogy is used. To them, "unlimited" is a literal word (even if 95% of those it is targetted at never reach a limit, and thus experience "unlimited" service in the sense the provider used the term).

Mark

said by WernerSchutz:

Maybe they should read up on the definition.

said by WernerSchutz:

And yes, if a buffet advertises "all you can eat" and someone wants to eat 40 lbs of food, they should be able to.

said by WernerSchutz:

And yes, if a buffet advertises "all you can eat" and someone wants to eat 40 lbs of food, they should be able to. If they advertise 1 plate, or 2 lbs of food, whatever clearly defined, it is fair to enforce a limit.

said by RARPSL:

The "All You Can Eat" Buffet near me, where I sometimes eat, has a set of rules on signs near the door which are repeated on the walls. These include the usual of "Eat what you put on your plate" (ie: Do not waste food) and has a Time Limit listed. These former give them the right to toss bulimics (who were mentioned up thread) due to Food Wasting as well as exceeding the eating time limit (they only really enforce the time limit when the restaurant is packed.

said by Lazlow:

Just for curiosity I did ask around today(buffet). Most people I talked to do think all means all, as long as one is not wasting the food(not eating what one took).

said by amigo_boy:

I don't know anyone (except a few activists here) who would say a group of bulimics are entitled to binge/purge at the all-you-can-eat buffet just because the buffet didn't qualify the word "all."

It's just common sense. Everyone knows "all" doesn't mean "all" in the literal sense. It's defined toward the 95% of patrons who understand the term within their own usage patterns.

Mark

said by rradina:

I agree that bandwidth can be magnified by lowering transmission power and adding cells. This seems plausible provided customers are reasonably stationary. However, what happens when they get mobile? Can I really expect consistent streaming audio or video while driving down a micro-cell street that required a hand off every block? And even if that works well for a few folks, does it work well for hundreds without butchering the stream? And what about the ever increasing complexity of the backhaul with regards to tracking to which cell the packets need to be sent?

My calls get dropped all the time as I travel between cells. To be fair I am an iPhone user and obviously AT&T has some challenges in this area. But if hand offs are imperfect with respect to large cells and the measly bandwidth requirements of voice-quality streams, I think the wireless industry has a way to go to claim quality unlimited, low-packet-loss, low-latency, megabit or multi-megabit bandwidth to truly mobile users.

said by patcat88:

Thats GSM TDMA for you (not sure if an iPhone and ATT do voice calls over WCDMA). CDMA2000 does very good Radio Resource Management, the phone can tune to multiple towers and use their bitstreams for error correcting each other.

said by rradina:

As I mentioned before, adding more and smaller cells seems to work for relatively stationary mobile users but there seem to be ever increasing complexities as cell counts, simultaneous connections and hand offs rise.

Is this a case of most mobile calls are relatively stationary and therefore not that many calls have to consume bandwidth on multiple, adjacent cells?

said by fAcEtIOUs:

Like all mobile services, they include legal language that allows them to drop you for ANY reason and also change TOS by publishing changes to their web site:

»www.datajack.com/terms
Meaning that if they want to they can boot you if you truly become an annoyance by using more GBs/mo than they think is reasonable.

said by regor3:

As we all bash the newcomer there are some enticing aspects to this company's offering that exceed the mouth watering "no cap" deal (I'm sure this cannot last for long before the abusers bring them to thier knees).

1. For the sometime traveler to major metro areas the month to month terms are enticing. I don't need 3G for more than 3 to 4 months a year. The ability to turn it on and off at will is a nice feature for some.

2. The $40 per month price is very reasonable even if there were a cap. I have paid $10 a night for web access in some hotels and RV parks.

So far I have not found a 3G plan that doesn't require a full year (or more) contract. In my case 3G costs would drop from $720 a year to $120-$160. But even if I kept it on for the full year it would only be $480.

I'm goona give em a try.

said by SrsBsns:

When you do to their website and click the banner you see this.

850/1900/2100/AWS - Quad band 2G, 3G and 4G

Say what 4g?

said by jchambers28:

I would love to have this but there is no 3G service in my area. it is all edge which is really really god awful slow.

said by jchambers28:

i am in the United States t mobile only offers edge here.I I live in Arkansas.

said by neftv:

Would anyone give up Fios internet for this service to have the portability to take the internet with you if you wanted to?

I been struggling with that because now there is Clear close to my area too.
My first instinct is to not give up my Fios internet and perhaps change my AT&T Blackberry phone/internet service or eliminate it to have a service like this with a netbook or something.

said by El Gaupo:

Just like grid lock on the tollways adding million more on ramps does not help

said by firefly:

(snip)
So are they telling the truth? Do they really use more than Tmobile's network, maybe Verizon and Sprint as well? I can get 3G from Verizon and Sprint, so if DataJack is really using multiple carriers, this is the only way I would be covered. I don't know if I want to gamble with this company.

said by reedsr12:

I called to verify coverage in my area that is EDGE only on the T-Mobile network and only Verizon provides the "3G" speeds. The rep insisted that 3G coverage was available and if not I had 14 days to return the device minus the $15 restocking fee. When my Verizon contract expires in 3 months I may give these folks a try.

I need to find out if it will work with my cradlepoint router though.

3G provides high speed Internet service at average download speeds of 700 to 1.4 Mbps. That’s 2.4 times faster than many DSL connections.