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rb5505
join:2013-02-06
united state

rb5505 to compuguybna

Member

to compuguybna

Re: FYI: all Millenicom customers bills are to increase

I've got 4g coverage with VM, but what's the value of 6gb for $55 + tax/month? That is the price, correct?
ggultra2764
join:2007-09-13
Cambridge, NY

ggultra2764 to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
Only other option I'd have for wireless is going back to Verizon again with either their Shared data plan (which would nail me for $200+ a month between data, device usage fee and other taxes/ surcharges nailed on it if I wanted 30 GB of usage [which I'd need with my family's increased usage.) or Home Fusion (which I've heard of the firmware being buggy as heck with "phantom" data usage and random disconnections, even with the prices not being as steep as the shared plans.) This is really looking dire for this rural resident. -_-
YellowHammer
join:2004-12-09
United State

YellowHammer to rb5505

Member

to rb5505
Yeesh. I have 3 accounts in Millenicom. My bill is going from $190/mo to $270/mo.

That could almost pay for that T1 line that I've always wanted.
Expand your moderator at work
AC7880
Premium Member
join:2010-06-11
Rapid City, SD

AC7880 to Jim_in_VA

Premium Member

to Jim_in_VA

Re: FYI: all Millenicom customers bills are to increase

Here is a better explanation of what is happening:

»www.technomadia.com/2014 ··· no-joke/
mudtoe
join:2005-10-09
Cincinnati, OH

1 edit

mudtoe to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
I got an email that said my bill is going from $59.99 to $89.99 starting May 1st. That's $30 a month, not $20. It's also a 50% price increase! I'll be cancelling my service at the end of the month as there is no way I'm going to put up with someone raising my price by 50%. My phone is jailbroken and I'll just tether it to my laptop, even though it's always been a little slower than the Millenicom modem, but to save $90 a month I'll live with it.

Google123
@suddenlink.net

Google123

Anon

Welp, I'm canceling. Increased prices, no extra data for the new price, and "LTE" speeds for me have been crappy lately. No thanks.
done99999999
join:2012-11-05
Beverly Hills, CA

done99999999 to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
I know they have one set of plans for the country, one size fits all. And I know it won't happen. Just putting down more thoughts. With satellite carriers Exede offers a free download zone every night, Hughesnet offers a limited amount "bonus", but it's something. Wish there would be a way for Verizon/Millenicom to offer a bonus zone, at least in rural areas where towers aren't congested, or offer to people that have no other options for unlimited outside town. Also, lower speed, lower price, with more data. 3 meg like 3G was here, or 5, something, that would be faster than the DSL in town, we don't need 20+ meg in rural areas, it was nice, just something that gets the job done would work though for a lot of people. Verizon won't do it, but it would be an added value for Millenicom etc. (not that they could negotiate it in, because Verizon doesn't care).

Concerning data usage with Homefusion, a person would still have to use your own router, have all traffic through that, and set a usage rule to not go over, somewhere below the plan limit to be safer. I see you can't self install, but you own the equipment. You can't start out month to month, they don't let you at all.

Concerning the taxes, I know it doesn't matter. The links I posted were by trusted people, one a member of this forum for over a decade, one a trustworthy person from the Wildblue forum that I frequent. No reason to doubt what they say, I've seen mentions of low taxes elsewhere, if I could find them. It may vary by state it seems, some may be higher, and it may vary by device, say a hotspot that can share data with multiple devices (it's only purpose), vs. a device that cannot share data externally (at least not as its primary designed use) and is data only, vs. a fixed device that can't be moved. I don't know, but that would explain things.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA to AC7880

Premium Member

to AC7880
said by AC7880:

Here is a better explanation of what is happening:

»www.technomadia.com/2014 ··· no-joke/

Thanks for posting this. Now maybe the Millenicom bashers will have the real company to bash and that is Verizon.
Darlene7
join:2011-05-10

Darlene7 to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
I really thought this was an April fools joke. I am on the 3G only service so for me, my bill will be going up by 30 dollars a month. There is no way that I am paying 30 dollars more for my internet when it's not really all that fast to begin with. Looks like I will be cancelling and finding another option.
bacchus101
join:2007-02-09
USA

bacchus101 to Jack_in_VA

Member

to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:

Thanks for posting this. Now maybe the Millenicom bashers will have the real company to bash and that is Verizon.

This is less about "bashing" Millenicom and more about pointing out that Millenicom's service is now irrelevant. Previously they were a low cost alternative to Verizon. Now they offer Verizon prices without Verizon support. It's unsustainable.

There is practically no incentive for new customers to sign up and I suspect there will be a net negative churn over the following months as people leave at a rate faster than new customers replace them.

I am personally already invested in their system so I'll probably stick around for a bit until I fully flesh out other options. I would recommend others do the same. With the back to back blows of losing Sprint and having no competitive advantage over Verizon, I don't see how this company remains solvent over the long term.

If you value your internet service as an essential life tool, assume the next surprise email from Millenicom will be the end of service. That way you will not be left in the lurch when that day eventually comes.
mr981
join:2013-12-29
USA

mr981 to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
Late to this thread but here goes:

As recent VZW customer that dumped them for Millenicom a few observations:

-I was on a VZW 6gb plan, had a number of expensive overages that pushed me to Millenicom. I had to start disconnecting the aircard near the end of month to keep below the limit and have to say I think some of the usage numbers I was getting from VZW were bogus--very high indicated usage on dates when I knew there was little actual usage. They actually had the gall to come back one month and try to claim additional $'s from a previous month with no detail on the usage--just we found this, pay this. That was my indication that the numbers were funny and I needed to be somewhere else.

Having said that, I'm trying to avoid going back to those guys at all costs. My current usage with Millenicom is about 10-12 Gb/month so Sprint's $80/month for 12Gb may work fine. I wish VM would bump up their choices on hotspots--now currently 6Gb for $55-no contract. I have two smart phones with them now for $35/month and that is the way to go.

As high as the Millenicom rates seem, if you go to the VZW page and look at their rate structure, a hotspot plan that supplies 20Gb is $150 +$20 access--nearly double the Millenicom rate. That isn't going to happen for me. The home fusion looks interesting but with my lack of trust for VZW, I can't bring myself to sign up for another 2 year deal after just extricating myself.

So, as I sit here, my best options seem to be: 1) Millenicom, 2) Sprint 3) VZW HF if I want to get back in bed with them again.
ggultra2764
join:2007-09-13
Cambridge, NY

ggultra2764 to Jack_in_VA

Member

to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:

Thanks for posting this. Now maybe the Millenicom bashers will have the real company to bash and that is Verizon.

You've gotta be pretty ignorant to assume everyone's blaming Millenicom for this instead of Verizon, since the former has no choice in the matter but to make these prices to stay afloat.

There is practically no incentive for new customers to sign up and I suspect there will be a net negative churn over the following months as people leave at a rate faster than new customers replace them.

There's still some incentive. The price is only equal to Verizon's HomeFusion 20 GB plan, which still has taxes tacked on it with it and is a fixed connection while Millenicom's Hotspot plan isn't fixed and has no contract. If you went for a similar Hotspot plan with Verizon, you'd be paying close to $150 between data charges, device fees and any taxes and surcharges tacked on with it.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

Where the hell did you see me blame everyone? I said the Millenicom bashers which could mean 2 or 200. That's a far stretch to assume everyone. I realize that most know that the problem is Verizon not Millenicom but some....Brush up on your reading comprehension and BTW be careful of who you are calling ignorant.

I've searched for alternatives but there are none I can find that will give me 20 GB for $90 and no contract or taxes and fees. If you know of one post the information.
ggultra2764
join:2007-09-13
Cambridge, NY

ggultra2764

Member

said by Jack_in_VA:

BTW be careful of who you are calling ignorant.

Me and others have pointed out before how sketchy it is to trust Verizon with keeping reliable and accurate tabs on data usage, yet you still blindly trust what you're getting off their site when you also blame them for the recent price hikes. Why thrash on one aspect while you trust the other one that people also complain about?
rippentorn
join:2012-01-07
Hockley, TX

rippentorn to cmattax

Member

to cmattax
Itll prob be an immediate charge with anything over 20GB
rippentorn

rippentorn to bcltoys

Member

to bcltoys
Nope

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA to ggultra2764

Premium Member

to ggultra2764
said by ggultra2764:

said by Jack_in_VA:

BTW be careful of who you are calling ignorant.

Me and others have pointed out before how sketchy it is to trust Verizon with keeping reliable and accurate tabs on data usage, yet you still blindly trust what you're getting off their site when you also blame them for the recent price hikes. Why thrash on one aspect while you trust the other one that people also complain about?

Dude you better bone up on your comprehensive skills. I don't blindly trust anything and put no value on your perceptions and half-truths about Verizon's data reporting. I've never had a problem with Verizon's data reporting for two different account plus a cell phone so that is what I go by.

Why should Verizon not be blamed (held responsible) for the price increase? It is Verizon that is dictating the price Millenicom must pay for each customer they have.

You sure seem to have some sort of problem so take it elsewhere.
Jack_in_VA

Jack_in_VA to rippentorn

Premium Member

to rippentorn
said by rippentorn:

Itll prob be an immediate charge with anything over 20GB

I think they will require authorization from the customer before charging the $90 for an overage. I wonder if we can do a blanket authorization?
sundrop74
join:2012-01-25

sundrop74 to AC7880

Member

to AC7880
The article on Technomadia is eye-opening to say the least. This is all about Verizon being money-hungry. Believe it or not, Millenicom actually went to bat for us to keep the pricing as low as possible while giving us our 20GB/month without throttling. Verizon wants to throttle after 2GB of usage, which would completely defeat the purpose of paying for a 20GB plan.

This price hike sucks, but since I don't have any alternatives out here in the gorgeous countryside, I am thankful Millenicom exists. I can trim $240/year out of my budget some other way.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

said by sundrop74:

This price hike sucks, but since I don't have any alternatives out here in the gorgeous countryside, I am thankful Millenicom exists. I can trim $240/year out of my budget some other way.

Sundrop that's exactly the way I feel. There is no alternative that I can find. I commend Dennis at Millenicom at least getting us un-throttled 20 GB. I was one of the originals and didn't experience the throttling but apparently Verizon wanted to include every Millenicom customer.

We are going to drop the 3G account my wife uses. In March I used 10 GB and she used 6 GB so I think we can stay under 20 GB.

grisske
@myvzw.com

grisske

Anon

Somebody needs to do something about data, mobile and fixed. We buy all these expensive, high-powered devices and then have to spend through the nose to be able to use them as they are intended.

I live on the road and have no choice. But this is all getting really discouraging. There should be progress which should lower rates like devices have become cheaper.

fitzhem
join:2005-08-25
Middletown, VA

fitzhem to Darlene7

Member

to Darlene7
said by Darlene7:

I really thought this was an April fools joke. I am on the 3G only service so for me, my bill will be going up by 30 dollars a month. There is no way that I am paying 30 dollars more for my internet when it's not really all that fast to begin with. Looks like I will be cancelling and finding another option.

This is where I am as well. The alternatives are few and far between, and paying $30 more a month for internet is getting out of my range.

Oh, what to do....
mudtoe
join:2005-10-09
Cincinnati, OH

mudtoe

Member

I just cancelled my account. I got on chat and they told me that I could open a ticket with the cancel account option and then put in the subject line that I wanted to cancel my account as of 4/30/2014 rather than today. I also put that in the message that since I've already paid for April that I intended to use the service through the end of the month, but that I was cancelling before the new pricing went into effect. I also removed my credit card # from the recurring billing which should prevent an automatic charge to my card on May 1st, just in case they forget to cancel the account at the end of the month. Of course that won't stop someone from manually doing that as they have my card #, but I'm assuming at this point that they will in fact honor all the cancels and any accidental charges are more likely to be the result of them not being able to process all the cancels in time rather than anything more sinister. That said, removing the card from automatic billing should help prevent accidents of that type.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

said by mudtoe:

I just cancelled my account.

I'm not about to cancel my Hotspot account without having a comparable alternative. Which of course there is none. We're going to cancel my wife's 3G account. Actually we will come out cheaper. $90 instead of $180 for 2 accounts.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman to Jim_in_VA

Premium Member

to Jim_in_VA
I was visited, IM'd, and e-mailed by a few of my coworkers who I had helped subscribe to Millenicom. "Is there anything that will be less expensive?" was the common theme. Sorry, no.

I warned one away from satellite as the lag would be unacceptable. AT&T costs more per GB assuming you use 20GB. No old style WISPs available in any of the areas they live. No coverage from T-mobile, Sprint, or even regional cellular companies. The MVNOs have no better deals.

Dial-up? Yes, I even looked at that. The life cycle cost of doing that well involves getting another phone line just to handle the internet in addition to the ISP charges. In addition you need to factor in the need to not attempt to stay connected 24/7/365 as that is a violation of the typical POTS TOS for unlimited long distance or unlimited local toll call subscription levels.

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna

Member

While I would not use SATELLITE unless it was absolutely a last option, the lag and ping times of satellite have gotten better over the year or so.

I still WOULD not ever have Hughesnet again, even though its Gen 4 with a new sat . . . . still too many issues.

But EXEDE from ViaSat has gotten much better reviews. My brother has it out in the country. He's in the 12mb area on the new viasat bird. Hardware is revised and newer, plus they have a free time after midnight that you can download without metering. 10GB is $49 with no install fee. (2 year contract though)

Might be a last option for those of you that don't want to pay $90!

If you has AT&T in your coverage area, you can get an AT&T Unite 4GLTE hotspot for free, and if your employer has a discount, you can get a 5GB plan for $40 ($10 overage/1gb)...Of course, 2 year contract.........Or you can buy the UNITE as a prepaid device at Wal-Mart for $99, and 5GB for $50.

just suggestions folks.
said by davidhoffman:

I warned one away from satellite as the lag would be unacceptable. AT&T costs more per GB assuming you use 20GB. No old style WISPs available in any of the areas they live. No coverage from T-mobile, Sprint, or even regional cellular companies. The MVNOs have no better deals.

davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Thanks for the information.

The strangest satellite lag related issues I have been told about relate to connections to banking websites. It seems that some of the bank websites regard "excessive lag" as an indicator of a threat and timeout the session. No matter how fast you type in your log in data or try to move money with keystrokes, you get timed out or shutout. The other problem is that many of these people live in dense forest with very tall trees. Are the new satellites getting any of these types of issues?
SBR026
join:2013-11-05
Millwood, GA

SBR026 to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
I've had Millenicom for over 2 years now. I started out with the BYOD unlimited plan through the Sprint towers when it was 3G, and added a Verizon Hotspot when 4G LTE became available in the latter part of 2012.
Sprint had just upgraded the towers out here to 4g LTE a few weeks before the Sprint debacle last year, and the service was great. Even before that, the Sprint 3G was more dependable than the Verizon 4g LTE. When Millenciom lost Sprint last year, I switched to 2 Verizon hotspots. One of the hotspots died last month and it was no longer under warranty so I cancelled that hotspot. I'm down to one hotspot now.
When Millenicom lost their Sprint service, I had heard of another company, WirelessnWifi, offering service through Sprint 4G LTE, but they were not taking any new customers. I talked to them and have arranged to start service with them. The service will be the same price as Millenicom's new rate structure, but I will get 60gb of service a month through Sprint. The equipment was shipped today so I should receive it by Saturday. I'm really hoping this will work out for me.

Purged
@spcsdns.net

Purged to beck

Anon

to beck
said by beck:

I might end up having to cancel. Everything is up up up. Something has to give.

over the years, I have tried to get a "political" discussion about internet access and REDLINING going here on this Millen board. It was "to the post" Censored.

Keep Censoring and there never will be a loud enough voice to stop this kind of price gouging.

Gee give this post 30 mins max Before it is gone.