saintj
join:2003-07-12
Milwaukee, WI | Formerly Unlimited (really) 3G card I got the Sprint letter recently re the termination of my formerly unlimited data card capping it at 5G. This was the old account that truly was unlimited. I don't get this. I have a contract. I was told when I signed up this was an unlimited account. It must say in the contract they can terminate this feature any time or how could they do it, but then how can they tell you verbally it's an unlimited account. I suppose I sound naive. For my usage it's probably not a problem, but it's the idea that they can do this that makes me mad.
I have 3 phones on the family plan with an everything, including data, plan. We have 2 air cards for our notebooks - 1 unlimited and 1 not. My Sprint PCS bill is about $ 350.00 per month. How much more would tethering cost per month?
They just never stop do they?
Renne |
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Max SignalPremium
join:2008-03-07
Buffalo, NY
kudos:1 | Go to www.millenicom.com . Unlimited plan is on Sprint Network. No contract , no taxes ( 50 GB per month per card ) |
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WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX
kudos:5 | said by Max Signal:Unlimited plan ... 50 GB per month per card )
Hmmm......... OK. |
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WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX
kudos:5 | reply to Max Signal
said by Max Signal:Go to www.millenicom.com . Unlimited plan is on Sprint Network. No contract , no taxes ( 50 GB per month per card )
HAHHA....Just when I thought I'd seen every "fine print" way of defining "unlimited" as really limited.
said by millenicom :
*Fine Print: The unlimited service is for personal and family use and is not to be used for commercial purposes or as a public WiFi or broadcast to multi-dwelling units or any other extraordinary circumstance. Usage over 50 gigabytes in one month will alert our investigative team.
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Max SignalPremium
join:2008-03-07
Buffalo, NY
kudos:1 | said by WHT:said by Max Signal:Go to www.millenicom.com . Unlimited plan is on Sprint Network. No contract , no taxes ( 50 GB per month per card )
HAHHA....Just when I thought I'd seen every "fine print" way of defining "unlimited" as really limited. said by millenicom :
*Fine Print: The unlimited service is for personal and family use and is not to be used for commercial purposes or as a public WiFi or broadcast to multi-dwelling units or any other extraordinary circumstance. Usage over 50 gigabytes in one month will alert our investigative team.
It still beats the 5 GB limit if you signup direct with Sprint. Whatever dude - trying to help the OP out . |
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mojo1
join:2006-12-05
Atlanta, GA | reply to saintj
I purchased a Mifi in August with unlimited 4G service. Then, in October, that changed to a max of 5 gig per month. I called Sprint and they let me out of my contract with no ETF.
Tethering is $30/month and still has a cap of 5 gig. But, this is $20 less than a data card plan and is a month to month plan. My only gripe is that it doesn't play well with my VPN for work. If the connection isn't 100% rock solid, the VPN will drop. Other than that, it works well, especially if you are in a 4G area. |
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| reply to saintj
Yeah if you are under contract you can get out of it without the ETF. What they did is considered "a material change". i think the timeline is 30 days (might be wrong). After that you agree to the change by default. |
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Reviews:
 ·HughesNet Satell..
| reply to Max Signal
Yeah, I had to go and ask at Millenicom if there was an actual limit to the "unlimited". I guess they don't want people using Netflix. LOL.
Although quite frankly I'm capped at 475Mb per rolling 24 hour period for $80 a month with Hughesnet-- but that goes quickly because the modem software miscalculates and claims I load 10x what I'm actually loading. Plus it often times out so I have to reload things over and over. Internet goes out completely when it rains, is cloudy, windy or just randomly for no apparent reason. I'm so accustomed to not being able to download much that I can't imagine using an entire 50Gb. That would be a hell of a lot of porn. :P
To the OP, if your ESN on your air card/modem is clear you can probably get the BYOD plan with Millenicom so you won't have to purchase a new modem. That would save you the $99 plus $15 shipping fee.
There will still be about a $50 activation fee plus the $69.99 per month for the service. |
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criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
 ·Millenicom
| reply to MagicalPig
said by MagicalPig:i think the timeline is 30 days (might be wrong). After that you agree to the change by default. In my case, I called as soon as I got the notice and
1) informed them that I did NOT agree to the change and
2) was NOT terminating the contract.
According to a lawyer friend of mine who is NOT an expert in this specific area, that protects me at least until they try to start charging me overage fees.
I'm still working out what I'm going to do when and if they start doing that.
Nor am I sure that just telling them over the phone cannot be ignored by Sprint. For all I know, they can still claim that one is past the 30 days and still using the service, and therefore that one has agreed to the change. |
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Reviews:
·HughesNet Satell..
| Maybe you can get your lawyer friend to draft a formal letter to them. Most things require you have written notice. If you still have time, you should send them a written letter stating that you do not agree to the change.
Unfortunately I'm fairly sure that they will terminate the contract anyway. You might ask them for a credit to your account for your trouble since they violated the contract and reduced your service. I don't know if that would fly though.
I'm still waiting for my modem to arrive so I can test out Millenicom.
What did they say to you on the phone when you informed them of your decision? |
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| reply to criggs
Yeah I suspect they will just pretend to have not gotten the call. lol As suceress suggested, get it in writing.
On the side, you could prob cancel the contract and go monthly. I would think Sprint would rather keep you monthly then losing you entirely. That way you can see how your usage turns out. But be prepared to pay for any overages on the last bill. From what I have read once you 'ignore' the notice they tech have you bent over. They have the right to enforce the contract. |
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criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
·Millenicom
| reply to suceress
said by suceress:Maybe you can get your lawyer friend to draft a formal letter to them. Most things require you have written notice. If you still have time, you should send them a written letter stating that you do not agree to the change. Good idea, thanks. I'll run it by him.
said by suceress:You might ask them for a credit to your account for your trouble since they violated the contract and reduced your service. Hadn't thought of that either, thanks. However to ask for a credit concedes that the change has taken place. My current position is that they have not assessed me any overage fees and so far have not broken the contract. Furthermore I have told them I'm proceeding on the basis that I expect cooler heads to prevail at Sprint and that they will not, in the end, break the contract. Consequently I have not been damaged or injured by them yet, and therefore am not requesting any sort of recompense for that damage or injury.
said by suceress:What did they say to you on the phone when you informed them of your decision? They were extremely upset. They never said A WORD about the 30-day clock on the ETF waiver. Instead they tried their damnedest to persuade me to cancel the account and accept the waiver. They obviously didn't have a script for someone who refuses to cancel and refuses to accept the waiver. In fact, the first rep really seemed very uneasy. After trying to persuade me for about ten minutes, he transferred me to his supervisor (I didn't even ask to speak to him), who then basically had exactly the same conversation with me. I had the distinct impression they were improvising, and really were at a loss. Definitely not the response they were expecting. |
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criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
·Millenicom
| reply to MagicalPig
said by MagicalPig:On the side, you could prob cancel the contract and go monthly. I would think Sprint would rather keep you monthly then losing you entirely. Surprisingly, not true, though you think it would be. As you can see in my previous reply this morning, they bent over backwards trying to get me to cancel the account and accept the ETF waiver. They are EAGER to lose me as a customer (don't forget that my normal monthly download is 60 gigs).
Also if I go monthly, I've effectively conceded the point that my unlimited 4G is gone, and that I'll be paying overage fees. My formal legal position is that I don't expect that to happen, and therefore don't see a reason either to cancel the account or to accept an ETF waiver.
said by MagicalPig:That way you can see how your usage turns out. Not much of a mystery, I'm afraid. I'm running about 60 gigs a month. About 15 of that is live audio streams from Europe, since I listen to a lot of live operas (we only do Saturday broadcasts over here but Europe does them pretty much every day). Plus Sirius runs a Metropolitan Opera online radio service that runs 7 days a week, and I normally listen to about two operas a day. That's probably about another 15 gigs per month. Then there's a lot of Youtube viewing and live stream viewing of news events which totals another 30 gigs.
said by MagicalPig:From what I have read once you 'ignore' the notice they tech have you bent over. Which is pretty much why I had that conversation with them to make clear that 1) I was not ignoring the notice and 2) I fully expected them not to follow through on their statement, which I told them I expected to end up being an empty threat.
Frankly, I still expect them to implement the overage fees, but at least, at that point, I can date the violation of the contract from that point, rather than from the point in time of the notice, which, at least, may help me lengthen the clock a bit. |
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Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
 ·voip.ms
·Sipgate VOIP
 ·CenturyLink
| reply to Max Signal
How is 50Gb on 3G even a consideration? Realistically I don't see how anyone could ever use more than 1-2Gb. I tried Virgin Mobile on Sprint and it was so slow it I couldn't even open a web page! How would Millenicom be any better?
Besides Millenicom is a SCAM from the beginning, it requires the purchase of the mobile broadband device for $99.99, a one-time set up fee of $49.99 and a $15.00 shipping fee to get the account started. |
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Max SignalPremium
join:2008-03-07
Buffalo, NY
kudos:1 | Check out download speeds reported on this very forum by Millenicom/Sprint users . Virgin customers do no get access to the same back haul as Millenicom/Sprint customers . That is why Virgin was much cheaper. May not be right but that was little trick Sprint used to justify much lower price for Virgin data versus Sprint 3G. Sorry you had a bad experience with Virgin data offering . But in no way can you paint Millenicom /Sprint data with the same brush |
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criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
·Millenicom
| Let me second the motion. When I had unlimited 3G with Sprint, I regularly downloaded between 15 and 20 gigs a month, with no problem. When it works, it works fine.
Unfortunately more and more video streams no longer work with 3G connections, even ones that are operating in spec (minimum of 600kbps). If they did, I'd be switching back to the 50 gig Millenicom package so fast it would make your head spin; unfortunate.
There is unlimited 4G available out there from Clear. Unfortunately they throttle if towers experience enough traffic, and they don't offer the automatic switchover if you're in a non-4G area, a critical consideration since the Clear WiMax 4G rollout became frozen in place incomplete several months ago.
Wireless 'N' WiFi DOES offer an unlimited 4G/3G 5 gig combo, utilizing Clear for the 4G and Sprint for the 3G. Unfortunately you still have to deal with Clear's throttling. In addition, who knows how much longer Sprint will allow that reseller to include Sprint's 3G as part of their package?
In fact, at this point, if one wants unlimited 4G without throttling, versus the only option is a Sprint smartphone through tethering.
One also had that option, for a while, with Verizon Wireless smartphones, but they took that away too.
However both Sprint and Verizon Wireless now offer 4G phones with docks that mimic the computer experience. I gather the docks can even be hooked up to computers so one can operate the phones remotely (others here may know more about that, and whether that's accurate). Sprint offers the combination of the Photon phone and the Motorola Lapdock for a total of $450. Verizon Wireless offers the combination of the Razr and the Moto Lapdock for $500. This way you don't have to trigger the hotspot limitations. And Verizon Wireless now offers a special holiday offer of a 20 gig plan on their smartphones, which might make sense if you figure Sprint's about to kill their unlimited smartphone 4G deal (as many believe).
I'm seriously thinking about this option. If I sacrifice some of my news viewing I could bring myself down to 40 gigs a month, I think, and go with Verizon Wireless (assuming Sprint kills unlimited 4G on their smartphones). Then I only need two smartphones and the lapdock. I already have the HDTV and the external hard drive. The monthly cost with Verizon Wireless would be $160. If I went with the Sprint combo, the monthly cost would be $70, but if they impose a data limit I would still probably be better off with Verizon Wireless, since LTE is superior to WiMax.
Hmmm. |
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 Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4
·Northern Neck Wi..
1 edit | reply to ArizonaSteve
There are many rural customers that use a 3G connection for their primary internet access. Therefore even a 5 GB cap is often not sufficient for their needs.
Millenicom offers 50 GB per month with their Sprint plan. You do not have to buy the modem, you can buy your own and, thus remove the $99.99 from the total. That is called the BYOD plan which is clearly stated on their website.
To say Millenicom is a "SCAM" could not be further from the truth. Perhaps you should ask the Millenicom customers here at dslreports if they feel its a scam: »Millenicom
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... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ |
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Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·voip.ms
·Sipgate VOIP
·CenturyLink
| Jim_in_VA, all the high fees just to get started before you can even see if it works sure looks like a scam to me! Cricket and Virgin Mobile work the same way and both are scams, they are so slow here you can't even open a web page but you wouldn't know that until you buy their proprietary 3G modems. How would you get your own modem to work with Millenicom? I don't know of any way to do that unless you have the right kind before hand but they don't even tell what kind would work. Also you would somehow magically have to have it re-flashed with Millenicom firmware but how could anyone do that? Actually they couldn't so it's still a scam as far as I can see. |
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Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:4 Reviews:
·Northern Neck Wi..
1 edit | Quite simple. You buy a Sierra 597,598 or a Novatel U727, 760 off of Ebay ...usually for less than $25. Ask the seller to guarantee a clean ESN.
Millenicom is a 1 month commitment. If you are not satisfied, you cancel the account. No ETF. and you're done
Millenicom does not have any "firmware" they install. The modems used are exactly the same you would buy from Sprint. ANY modem that works on Sprint will work with Millenicom.
My suggestion is to buy your own modem, activate it on their BYOD plan, and enjoy 10X the data cap you'd get with Sprint directly.
A simple plan
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... need help? »evdo-tips.com/ |
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Reviews:
·HughesNet Satell..
| reply to ArizonaSteve
Millenicom has a tech chat on their website where you can ask questions ahead of time.
I went over and asked them numerous questions.
If you already have a sprint 3G modem (can't be 4G or 3G/4G hybrid) you sign up and pay the $49 activation fee plus the monthly fee of $69.99 (which is still cheaper than my monthly bill from Hughesnet). If, within 24 hours of activation, you find that it does not work you can contact them to cancel the service for a full refund. If Sprint works for you already then you can be fairly certain Millenicom will work because it just brokers a deal with Sprint to use the 3G stuff.
criggs, I should have specified that I meant you should request a credit to your account IF they go ahead and violate your contract. But do be sure to let them know of your intentions in writing. You may want to send the letter certified return receipt so they can't claim they never got the letter. Have your lawyer friend confirm that you signed and sent the letter if they try to give you grief.
How do you check your usage btw? I know that Hughesnet has a thing to tell you the hourly usage although it has a problem because it miscalculates a lot.
The opera thing sounds cool. I wish I could stream music and such on Hughesnet, but it sucks too much for that. Hence my intention to get a new ISP asap. |
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