Best no-contract mobile internet access in USA???

J

Jabberwokky

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Apr 12, 2010
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I figured you Americans would know best...

I occasionally travel to the USA and am tired of searching for internet access just to do simple shit while I am on vacation.

What do you suggest in terms of mobile (tether-able) internet access? Preferably without a contract. Or with a contract then really damned cheap.

I have an address in the states so I figured I could sign up to verizon at $80/month ... but I'm really only going to use maybe 100 megabytes per year so $960 is a little steep.

Thoughts?
 


Fuckin' eh.

That virgin offer seems to be exactly what I'm after. $10 for 100 megabytes for 10 days and no contracts?

FUCK YOU you 24 hour limited hotel internet-selling highway robbers.

Thanks for the links.
 
You can go in most Wal-marts now and purchase the Virgin Mobile that Cut mentioned as well as possibly Cricket.
 
Thanks for the tip.

But odd, for some reason cricket will not let me view any price models on their website. I have to input a zip code to see them, but any random zip code I put in says "no accounts available in your area...".

Maybe they just have a really small coverage plot? But even 90210 doesn't work..? Maybe it's a geo location thing.
 
100 mb will never be enough. u'll be better off by just getting the $40 one which is unlimited and lets you watch porn without stopping at minute 1
 
Lol - I don't need this for porn. (I've got terabyte HDs for that!) :p

I'm just talking about checking my emails/making sure my sites/servers are not crashing - just trying to put myself at ease.

For the odd weekend or week I might visit the USA every year, 100mb here and there should suffice.

Apparantely wal-mart sells virgin cards at 1GB for $20. I know $20 for a gig is a god-damned ripoff, but when they allow it to be used over 30 days and you only need a small amount to begin with... That turns a potentially $150 ($5/day for 30 days at some hotels) cost into $20 bucks. And saves me the hassle of logging into their unsecured wifi network every 24 hours.

As for your comment BacklinksMonkey - I don't know if you have read any of the recent info about the UBB/CRTC debaucle in Canada... but Bell (our largest mobile carrier) is ruthless and currently charges about $6 per megabyte while roaming in the USA. That would make 100MBs cost $600... US/CAD exchange rate is currently about even.
 
Jabberwokky said:
As for your comment BacklinksMonkey - I don't know if you have read any of the recent info about the UBB/CRTC debaucle in Canada... but Bell (our largest mobile carrier) is ruthless and currently charges about $6 per megabyte while roaming in the USA. That would make 100MBs cost $600... US/CAD exchange rate is currently about even.
Click to expand...

Bah fuck me, I just checked the rates of my Vodafone and it's even steeper than Bell's $6/MB. I use roaming data plans when I travel abroad but I don't get close to your 100 megabytes so I can live with it. I assumed this would be good for you as well. It's not. Sorry! :thumbsup:
 
He no worries BM, thanks for the tips anyways!

I suppose if I was literally just checking emails then a few megs here and there through my phone would be ok. But we also have pretty tight restrictions on cell phone tethering here as well. I would have to pay an extra $20 or $30 per month just for the luxury of being able to tether my connection - lol.

Unless anybody has another pay as you go provider that can compete with virgin's $10/100megs/30 days or $20/1gig/30days offers then I will be picking one of those up next time I head south.

Thanks for all the help everyone,
 
+1 for Cricket wireless. A very nifty device to have; just use 60606 as the zip code then if you can use a mailbox forwarding address and then have it priority mailed to your address overseas...
 
UPDATE: So thanks for all the replies guys!

I ended up purchasing the Virgin mobile Mifi 2200 at a bestbuy on my recent trip to Ellicottville, NY.

It worked, incredibly slowly (EVL is not in 3G or even 2G territory!), for the first night of my trip.

The second and third nights however, it snowed like a banshee, and of course there was "poor reception" according to one of the call center reps I talked to. Basically I couldn't connect for the last 2 days of my trip. I didn't try to all that much, but every few hours it was down for about 48 hours straight.

Is this a normal thing for you Americans? My parents live in the boonies up in northern Canada. It snows about 20 feet per minute. I have never had their cell phone reception cut out because of a heavy snow fall.

Anybody else experience disconnectivity for multiple days on end while in the country using Virgin Mobile?

Needless to say I returned the Mifi. Neat little device but when it didn't work 66% of the time I had to take it back.
 
Virgin mobile FTW! FYI, they piggyback off Sprint towers. In the city I rarely experience disconnections.
 
Hrmmm, damnit. Looks like I just travel to off the map places.

Where the hell is that WiMAXX when you need it?!
 
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