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IT guys and gals... Internet options vs. MiFi...


Moto-Brian
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OK, living in the country is cool. We got land, get to run around like goobers and burn my trash. Love it.

But, internet is KILLING me!!! We have Verizon MiFi and we are paying close to $200/month for 20gb.

Now, not only is that stupid expensive, we have been blowing through it. I don't understand how we are doing it and of course, Verizon cannot give me a breakdown as to what my usage is or at what times to validate what we are burning up. I am basically taking their word for it.

Now, my son has been playing online tank games and was playing against friends and I know that sucks the life out. But, he played two days after school this month and we are 4 days into the billing cycle and we are already at 75%!!!!

I don't do youtube much, no streaming anything, no downloads, etc. Everything is pretty much email and forum surfing.

I get the occasional 2-3mb files via email and stuff like that for work, but this is getting crazy!

We use satellite as we cannot get cable this far out. But, I heard satellite is worse...

ANY options out there at all? This is something that at $3k a year is getting out of hand.

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if you're paying 200/month, hughesnet would be better...

back when i had satellite internet, it was 100/month for the first year, then 70/month after that..

2 main complaints

1: ping, 2 seconds, so no online gaming in real time. in 2 seconds everyone has moved and you are dead. (not sure what ping is with mifi)

2: FAP, no not that, Fair Access Policy, if they decide you are using too much bandwidth for too long (in my experience was an hour of using maximum bandwidth) they kick you back to 56k for 24 hours.

other than that it was fine, nothing to write home about, but it worked, and I hear it has goten better since I had it last.

Edited by magley64
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You have to have something on that's using data while you think you're offline. I can't see even playing online games with friends using 15GB in just a couple days. I have also heard satellite is bad....it's the latencies that kill it.

I had a coworker that was using a line of sight/direct WIFI from a provider. Basically they setup repeating towers using high power antennas to provide you with wireless service. It wasn't great but it was better than satellite but I don't recall what he was paying monthly either.

I think that might be your only option. You can try to make sure all your wireless devices have their wifi turned off to be sure they're not using data when not in use.

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My buddy plays mw3 online and usually uses between 60-70gb a month! Thats with a 60hr a week job and a life!

Online gaming burns through it super quick!

This, your kid's online gaming through what is essentially a tethered phone connection, that's gonna be pricey

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You have to have something on that's using data while you think you're offline. I can't see even playing online games with friends using 15GB in just a couple days. I have also heard satellite is bad....it's the latencies that kill it.

I had a coworker that was using a line of sight/direct WIFI from a provider. Basically they setup repeating towers using high power antennas to provide you with wireless service. It wasn't great but it was better than satellite but I don't recall what he was paying monthly either.

I think that might be your only option. You can try to make sure all your wireless devices have their wifi turned off to be sure they're not using data when not in use.

How would they be using if web pages are closed? Meaning, I can see email coming in, but are they using even though there is no pages being left opened?

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True but it doesn't sound like his son is playing xbox games online. It certainly will use a good chunk, at 60GB/mo. that's only a couple GB a day on average. Can't see that blowing it out for him, IMO.

it's 20 GB/month...

even at 3 gb/day you're done in a week.

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Its the online gaming and any vid streaming you are doing that is killing you. FACT. Knock off the online gaming and Video/music streaming and I bet you couldnt hit your cap if you tried.

You also may have sytems doing auto updates, Backups to cloud, etc. All will eat your data limits in a heartbeat.

Dont forget about malware. You may have an infected system that is being used for "other" things..

Edited by flounder
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I had used 75% in the last 4 days. No gaming or anything. That was this morning. In the last 4 hours, we are now at 8GB over!!!!!

There's something going on...

someone near you connecting to your MIFI without your permission?

VOD on your directv?

netflix/hulu or other movie service?

Kids torrenting movies/games on their laptops

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someone near you connecting to your MIFI without your permission?

VOD on your directv?

netflix/hulu or other movie service?

Kids torrenting movies/games on their laptops

We are on 3 acres of our own. We have probably close to 15 acres between us and the next house. They would have to be sitting in my driveway and connect. I also can see the dots to indicate what number of units are connected...

VOD on Dish? Not sure what that is. We do not do anything via DISH other than watch TV.

No movies being watched and no downloads at all. The only thing we had going on was my son plays world of tanks online with his friends.

BUT< he was always doing this and it was never an issue. Plus, he is at school and I am the only one at home since we woke up. I only sent a few emails, surfed the web, no Youtube, no computer updates, no downloading pictures, etc. Hell, the emails didn't even have pics attached or a single file attached.

I went at 5:47AM of 75% of 20GB to 28GB at 9:02AM when I called Verizon. 4 hours and that much use?

Something is up...

These have locked up and we have had units sent to us twice to replace the ones with issues, had SIM cards replaced and still have these things lock up time to time. This has been an experience to where I spend almost $200 a month for shit service and problems. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Satellite is saying they have a 15GB/month package with 10-12mbs available for about $70 less a month. Not sure if it is worth it or maybe I would have better service and less issues. Obviously during storms it will suck, but who cares about that - I will tether via the iPhone if need be.

I just am really bummed I cannot get internet well...

Anyone know anything about the Recovery Act regarding rural internet service?

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Its the online gaming and any vid streaming you are doing that is killing you. FACT. Knock off the online gaming and Video/music streaming and I bet you couldnt hit your cap if you tried.

Video streaming isn't going on outside a casual video here and there. AND, we have cut that back in a BIG way once we increased our usage. The last month was where we were charged for 39gb of use!!! I had a $500 bill for that! I had my son stop doing the tank game and he was playing from after school around 5pm until dinner (Maybe a couple of hours each day) for two days. I had him stop completely and the last two days he hasn't even had his laptop turned on.

Now, 4 days into billing and we are over??? This isn't making sense, man.

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I have the mifi in the sticks & no issues. Are you sure a DVD player or something isn't linked to your mifi? I bought my cheap blue ray at Marc's and it had wireless I didn't know about. Maybe your sons watching stuff?

Edited by Gump
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have you looked into DSL? i live in the sticks as well (Radnor Ohio) but we are able to get DSL from Frontier. it's not cable modem fast. It's rated at 3mb/sec down and 768k/sec up. when i run speed tests i get about 2.7mb down and 1mb up. kids play Xbox and we can stream netflix in HD. We still have a land line since i have kids at home and want them to able to use the phone if needed. the entire package is about $75 a month.

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Here is a thread that is interesting and looks to be something a good number of people have had issue with recently...

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/733756

We have actually throttled back as we have increased our use. But, as we decrease, we are constantly using more.

I am thinking of checking out Huges Net. Anyone use this?

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have you looked into DSL? i live in the sticks as well (Radnor Ohio) but we are able to get DSL from Frontier. it's not cable modem fast. It's rated at 3mb/sec down and 768k/sec up. when i run speed tests i get about 2.7mb down and 1mb up. kids play Xbox and we can stream netflix in HD. We still have a land line since i have kids at home and want them to able to use the phone if needed. the entire package is about $75 a month.

HAHAHA! Fellow sticks guy! But, I am even deeper sticks that you! We cannot get DSL yet from Frontier...:(

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Oh, and yes, the printer is on WiFi and while it is not transmitting data, apparently it is counted. I print a decent amount of stuff, but that has not changed since we have moved here. In fact, again - I am doing less than before... I am baffled...

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Oh, and yes, the printer is on WiFi and while it is not transmitting data, apparently it is counted. I print a decent amount of stuff, but that has not changed since we have moved here. In fact, again - I am doing less than before... I am baffled...

Not to take away from your thread, but how did you get the pritner on Wifi? My Brother LJ is made for Wifi but I can't figure out how to get it to work via WiFi. I don't know where the disc is of course, but I tried to find how to do it online and failed. I have wireless through the house for internet, but my wife's office is in the basement right now, and mine is in the office upstairs, but we are looking to consolidate to do some work in the basement and around the house. The kitchen table will probably be a workspace at times and in front of the TV.

Thanks man, or anyone.

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I"m going with malware infection or something as flat fish suggested. There IS something using data even when you're not "surfing". Turn of the wireless on all devices when not in use...this will stop things dead. You can selectively do this and find out which one is causing the issue also.

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Online gaming will not take up that much either. Battlefield and MW do things a little bit differently, not sure about you sons game. Battlefield is hosted offsite and sends individual players locations (essentially) whereas MW hosts the entire thing on a local machine so it transfers quite a bit more information back and forth. Either way I don't think it would be the root cause. I know a lot of people that game over their Mifi. While it is not ideal they don't blow through data like that.

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Oh, and yes, the printer is on WiFi and while it is not transmitting data, apparently it is counted. I print a decent amount of stuff, but that has not changed since we have moved here. In fact, again - I am doing less than before... I am baffled...

WIFI printers should not go outside your LAN and use data whatsoever unless I'm missing something unique about how things are setup there.

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FYI, the VZW hotspots will log ALL data that goes through them and not just what goes out to the internet. So if you have computers connected together at home for backup or other stuff, that is adding to your data usage.

Stupid I know but thats how they do it.

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Not to take away from your thread, but how did you get the pritner on Wifi? My Brother LJ is made for Wifi but I can't figure out how to get it to work via WiFi. I don't know where the disc is of course, but I tried to find how to do it online and failed. I have wireless through the house for internet, but my wife's office is in the basement right now, and mine is in the office upstairs, but we are looking to consolidate to do some work in the basement and around the house. The kitchen table will probably be a workspace at times and in front of the TV.

Thanks man, or anyone.

Go to Brother's website, find your model and download the driver/utility package. This is what I had to do to get my Brother MFC working over Wifi. Once you download the software it's pretty self explanatory.

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