To catch you up, this is a 4G Cellular/Wireless modem. It has one Ethernet port, which you can plugged this a wireless router and have a number of wifi-enabled devices hooked up to it. Setup was a cinch, I never even bothered to look at the user manual.
The device itself costs $89.99, but you are given 1GB of free data a month - so if you are just using Freedompop to check your emails and Facebook, it's free for you. If you are an average user, you can pay for upgraded services, which I've listed below:
Faster 3X (3mbps) $14.99 /month
Basic (1.5mbps) $9.99 /month
The price includes 10GB of data, if you go over, they will charge you $0.005 per MB (which is about $5 per 1GB). I suppose it can end up being more costly than what I was previously paying for internet (Comcast's internet for $60 a month), but if you aren't doing super heavy downloading or video streaming then I think you will be fine.
I don't know what my usage will be, but I'll track my data usage closely to let you know if 10GB will cut it for me or the average savvy internet user.
As for the speed - it's pretty impressive for wireless (read: not cable or wires into the home). I'm on "Basic" 1.5mbps, and I think the speed works great. Upload speed averages .7mbps, which is not great, but I'm not doing heavy uploads. If I'm streaming YouTube, I don't really mind having to let it buffer for a few seconds. YouTube also know and determine the video quality to playback, so videos do load up okay, although the quality suffers. I will likely upgrade to 3mbps, which I think is a good half-way point. We'll see. I'll update this again when I upgrade my service soon.
FREEDOMPOP: WHAT'S IN THE BOX
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If you're not happy with your internet services right now, especially with steep pricing - I suggest looking into Freedompop as an affordable internet alternative. There's no contract, so you can cancel anytime. If you're not happy, you can even return the modem for a refund.
Anyway, I will update later if I have crappy services or problems.... but so far, so good.
UPDATE
I've been using Century Link, its not as good as Comcast but it is about 20-30 bucks cheaper. I had a few hiccups with DSL service during peak hours. Streaming looks pixelated or if everyone in the house is using wi-fi then I get really slow internet because of gaming. Also the internet went down twice since I have had it. The times it went down it was 24 hours to 36 hours before service was restored. The government needs to step in and put in place something for these ISP to reinvest in service. Kinda like what the government did for cell-phone companies. At one time the Cell-phone companies charged roaming rates, and they stepped in, now all the cell phone companies build all their own towers. People pay less now, but they have more customers, and in turn make more money with a wider customer base.
Posted by: jimi | 05/08/2013 at 12:13 PM