5 ms·

I find it absurd I have to count gb on a monthly basis to not get charged data overages in this decade. I literally use my phone lightly and one wrong mistake c

by r0m4n0 10y ago

I find it absurd I have to count gb on a monthly basis to not get charged data overages in this decade. I literally use my phone lightly and one wrong mistake can throw my entire family plan into a tail spin. I manage 7 lines and it's a full time job. Every change on my plan seems to throw Verizon into a major rework of my bill and subsequent phone calls to have the changes reverted. I'm all too familiar with creating customer service tickets, miscalculating promotional data, complaining and receiving credits. I feel like I might know Verizon's plans more than Verizon. It's enough to make me not want cellular data. Comcast has a mesh network in California I literally have free wifi (as a paying Comcast customer) anywhere I go. Definitely not a plug for Comcast as they are effectively broadcasting paying customers internet to freeloaders like myself. Morality of that is another debate though

c22 10y ago
Doesn't xfinitywifi use a separate channel to avoid impacting the subscriber's service? Or are you talking about something else? (xfinitywifi isn't really a mesh network).
- r0m4n0 10y ago
  Technically I'm not too sure... I know by default every router you pay Comcast to lease broadcasts the xfinitywifi network by default. I am constantly connected... I was even stopped at a traffic signal on xfinitywifi yesterday
- givinguflac 10y ago
  Xfinitywifi broadcasts on the same channel as the customers network, along with a 3rd hidden SSID they won't explain. (Current theory is its for their security systems, who knows.) It absolutely impacts their shitty routers performance, and causes wireless congestion. I work support for some consumer wireless equipment and there are lots of times where the only improvement is disabling xfinitywifi. I don't understand why anyone supports this- it may be ok for a middle of nowhere town, but in any reasonably populated building it literally doubles the number of wifi networks, which is a nightmare when you have a big apartment building and 2.4G interference.
  - swiley 10y ago
    I knew there was no way the equipment they wanted us to buy/rent was any good. I'm glad I went and some cheap modem + a Linksys router.
  - c22 10y ago
    I meant docsis channel, but I can see how extra rf might cause problems.
bane 10y ago
One thing to consider. Google's Project Fi, while having limited phones, has excellent and reasonable plans for how mobile phones should work. You don't really pay for overages, you just buy blocks of 1GB of data ($10/GB), unused bits of that GB are prorated and roll into the next month, the phone coverage is a combination of T-Mobile, Sprint and I think U.S. Cellular and Wi-Fi. You can change your prepaid data allocation at any time, there's no contract. My base phone bill every month is $30 ($20 for service and $10 for 1GB of data) x 2 so $60/mo. If you choose to pay for your phone over 2 years it costs the same as buying the phone (they don't charge interest or anything else). Voicemail uses google voices transcription tech, etc. We switched a while ago from Verizon, got a Nexus 6P (I think the Pixels are next in line), and the coverage has been about the same. Call quality is a smidge lower though. And oddly for Google, support has been very good, you talk to humans, they're friendly and answer quickly. Management of the line is done through the user's google account and is very straightforward. http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8469571/google-fi-pricing-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8469571/google-fi-pricing-...
pascalxus 10y ago
Try USmobile.com They're awesome! it uses the t-mobile network, but at half the price. You can pick and choose which options you want, and you can't go over on the data, because it turns off if you reach the limit. :) Our bill for 2 people went from 110$ per month with At&t to 28$ a month on USmobile.

by r0m4n0 10y ago

c22 10y ago

Doesn't xfinitywifi use a separate channel to avoid impacting the subscriber's service? Or are you talking about something else? (xfinitywifi isn't really a mesh network).

r0m4n0 10y ago
Technically I'm not too sure... I know by default every router you pay Comcast to lease broadcasts the xfinitywifi network by default. I am constantly connected... I was even stopped at a traffic signal on xfinitywifi yesterday
givinguflac 10y ago
Xfinitywifi broadcasts on the same channel as the customers network, along with a 3rd hidden SSID they won't explain. (Current theory is its for their security systems, who knows.) It absolutely impacts their shitty routers performance, and causes wireless congestion. I work support for some consumer wireless equipment and there are lots of times where the only improvement is disabling xfinitywifi. I don't understand why anyone supports this- it may be ok for a middle of nowhere town, but in any reasonably populated building it literally doubles the number of wifi networks, which is a nightmare when you have a big apartment building and 2.4G interference.
- swiley 10y ago
  I knew there was no way the equipment they wanted us to buy/rent was any good. I'm glad I went and some cheap modem + a Linksys router.
- c22 10y ago
  I meant docsis channel, but I can see how extra rf might cause problems.

bane 10y ago

One thing to consider. Google's Project Fi, while having limited phones, has excellent and reasonable plans for how mobile phones should work. You don't really pay for overages, you just buy blocks of 1GB of data ($10/GB), unused bits of that GB are prorated and roll into the next month, the phone coverage is a combination of T-Mobile, Sprint and I think U.S. Cellular and Wi-Fi. You can change your prepaid data allocation at any time, there's no contract. My base phone bill every month is $30 ($20 for service and $10 for 1GB of data) x 2 so $60/mo. If you choose to pay for your phone over 2 years it costs the same as buying the phone (they don't charge interest or anything else). Voicemail uses google voices transcription tech, etc. We switched a while ago from Verizon, got a Nexus 6P (I think the Pixels are next in line), and the coverage has been about the same. Call quality is a smidge lower though. And oddly for Google, support has been very good, you talk to humans, they're friendly and answer quickly. Management of the line is done through the user's google account and is very straightforward. http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8469571/google-fi-pricing-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/22/8469571/google-fi-pricing-...

pascalxus 10y ago

Try USmobile.com They're awesome! it uses the t-mobile network, but at half the price. You can pick and choose which options you want, and you can't go over on the data, because it turns off if you reach the limit. :) Our bill for 2 people went from 110$ per month with At&t to 28$ a month on USmobile.