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StackSocial

Read More VPN I've been testing out some free VPN (Virtual Private Network) services. You may have a need for a VPN for various reasons: privacy, ad-blocking/ad-tracking, removing restrictions, etc. …

Ever since I bought my first purchase on StackSocial in Jan 2023, I’ve been addicted to the discounted website.

Looking into StackSocial, it’s own by American company StackCommerce, founded by Josh Payne.

The website specializes in flash sale… So these great prices are only good for a set amount of time. They’ve been around since 2011, even though I’ve never heard of them until earlier this year.

I like deals, and wanted to pass along some things that caught my eye:

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 Lifetime License for $39.99. I bought it for $29.99, but even at $10 more, it’s still a great price. Note that MicroSoft will not support Office 2021, instead focusing on their subscription product Office 365 in 2023.

AdGuard Family Plan: Lifetime Subscription for $30. I was looking for an ad blocker on my iPad or iPhone, so I saw this one-time fee for AdGuard. Unfortunately, reading its fine print, this only applies to new users. So, instead, I signed up for AdLock’s Lifetime for $20… which, apparently “Lifetime” means 10 years to this company.

RealVPN: Lifetime Subscription for $30. There are actually a bunch of VPN Lifetime Sub, so just do a search for your favorite. I did not buy any Lifetime sub, because I was already paying for Atlas VPN… but after my subscription expires, I will likely look for a Lifetime deal. A few years ago, I did some research on free VPNs (which is why I went with Atlas) … and while the “price is right” (free), there are so many drawbacks for free VPN. If you don’t mind paying a one-time price for a “lifetime” subscription, why not? Again, “lifetime” has different meaning to companies, so be aware that when they say lifetime, they mean the life of the company.

Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership for $60. This includes a $30 digital CostCo gift card, which needs to be used all at once. I believe this only applies to new members. I didn’t look that closely, because I had a Sam’s Club membership for two years, and I found that I don’t shop often enough to warrant paying a yearly membership.

Apple iPad Pro 12.9" 32GB WiFi Space Gray for $499. I already have an iPad Pro 12.9”, and I paid around $900, so for $500, it’s a good price. Note that this item is refurbished (not new), and, looking at the images, it is the first generation iPad Pro from 2018 (which I own at one time).

BirdBike eBike for $899. It’s snowing in Minnesota, and I’m in Winter Hibernation mode, so I’m not buying this eBike anytime soon. But I love the fact that I can pedal, and when I come up to that hill, I can get assistance from the motor. The bike looks good and it does come with free shipping.

PDF Reader Pro Smart PDF Editor & Converter Tool for $39.99. You currently cannot buy any Adobe products without requiring a subscription fee. I don’t have a need to create/edit PDF files, so I’m not buying this… but if you need this software, this $40 price by PDF Technologies is a deal.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Bundle for $4.99. You get two Knights of the Old Republic game for $5, so you’re paying $2.50 for each game. You need Steam to redeem the games.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Lens Update and Winter Hibernation

Read More Sony I’m in the market for a new high end camera, so I was debating on buying the Sony A9 (used) and Sony A7 IV, as they were about the same price. For non-Sony camera enthusiasts, let me break down …

Happy New Year!

I wanted to buy the Tamron 50-400mm lens for the Sony E-Mount last Aug 2022. On paper, it looks like it was exactly the lens I needed. When I am shooting a concert, I prefer to shoot from the back of the room… and for that, you need a big reach - in this case, the Tamron would go up to 400mm.

When the lens came out in Sep 2022 and the reviews started coming in… it felt more and more like the lens would not be a good fit for my needs. In all the reviews I’ve read and watched, the consistent downfall to the lens is that it did not perform well indoors. For low light lens, you need to a low F-Stop, and for the Tamron 50-400mm, the F is 4.5-6.3. Since I needed the lens for concert photography, this was a deal breaker.

The other thing is the price. I originally thought it the Tamron would cost, at most, $800 (based on other similar lens in this category on other camera companies) … but when I read that the retail price is $1,300, it was a sticker shock. I’m sure the price is fair, based on Tamron’s stabilization system and USB-C updates and settings.

So where does that leave me? While I am pretty happy with the Tamron 28-200mm, I am still looking for a nice, fast lens.

What I am eyeing, is the rather expensive Sony 70-200mm G-Master Lens. It retails for $2,500, but I have seen it as low as $2,000 during the Black Friday/Christmas sale. I know the price is way more expensive than the Tamron, but what the Sony lens offers is the ability to use a teleconverter with the native Sony lens. Essentially you can double the distance, making the Sony lens a 140-400mm lens at the cost of losing some F-Stop.

Speaking of which, the F-Stop for the Sony lens is constant 2.8. This is why the lens is so expensive, you rarely see telephoto lens with this low of a number. It’s supposed to be the best of the best.

One final thing, the Sony G-Master lens has built-in stabilization in the lens. I’ve own and used older native Sony lens, and their stabilization is top in its class. My current Tamron 28-200mm doesn’t have stabilization, so I have to rely on the camera’s body stabilization. I can tell you that it’s not as good.

Since I’m still officially in hibernation, buying the lens is not a priority for now. So, hopefully, by April 2023, when I come out of hibernation, I can find the lens for $2k.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 Lifetime License for $30

Office Professional 2021 includes: Microsoft Office Word Microsoft Office Excel Microsoft Office PowerPoint Microsoft Office Outlook Microsoft Office Teams Microsoft Office OneNote Microsoft Office Publisher Microsoft Office Access Read More MicroSoft Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600. …

Happy new year!

I’ve previously said that I hated the idea of “renting” software. When MicroSoft decided to go to a subscription-based model for their Office produced (called Office 365) in 2013, I gave up on MicroSoft Office. In the past, I have worked with other alternative software, such as LibreOffice, and, recently WPS Office (which I wrote about in Sep 2022).

So, all of that has changed as of today, January 1, 2023. I’m completely back on MicroSoft Office (in fact, this article is written on Word). That’s because I just bought the Microsoft Office Professional 2021 lifetime license for $30, after reading about it on C-Net. The article referenced Stack Social, which I’ve never heard of until today.

There are some restrictions: the license only grants one computer at a time and you have to pay the one-time payment using PayPal or Venmo. That’s actually not a choice, since PayPal owns Venmo. My PayPal account was burned a while back when hackers got access to it, so it’s permanently disabled for the time being. My only option was creating a Venmo account, and that went pleasantly easy. You need a phone and an app, and it seemed pretty secure. Just set your privacy to private, as by default, it’s set to public.

After payment went through, you’re given a code, which is tied to your MicroSoft Windows account. After installing Office, everything just worked. I now own Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and so many other Office productivity software. What a deal for $30.

I still stand behind WPS Office and will likely to use it on my laptop or my iPad, considering that my MicroSoft Office can only be used on my main computer. I can live with that, since most of my productivity will be done on my primary PC.

So far, I love being back in Office. It’s been a long time. I do miss it. No matter how amazing the copycat software are, nothing compares to the real thing.

If you have a business or a student, the life time ownership of Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for $30 is an amazing deal, I highly recommend you getting it right now. The sale ends on 1/8/2023. Even if you only want to use one of the products, it’s definitely worth it. If you decide to pass this up, you are going to kick yourself when you need Office in the future.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Daymare 1998

Read More GOG As you know, I’m a huge GOG (Good Old Games) fan and was very excited about the news of GOG Galaxy 2.0 in June 2019. I have been using the GOG Galaxy …

My favorite gaming e-retailer, GOG, is giving away their sixth, and final, free game giveaway in the next few days: Daymare 1998. I’ve been a big fan of GOG, or previously known as Good Old Games, as they were the only company that sold their games DRM-Free, which means you can take your game anywhere, without restrictions. Unfortunately, big Triple A game companies, like Sony and Xbox will not allow their games to run without DRM… so, as a result, GOG was never a big hit with mainstream gamers.

Sure the free games like Worms Revolution Gold Edition and Broken Sword: Director's Cut, aren’t going to impress anyone… but they’re part of PC history and I’m happy to have them in my library.

PS, I have tried to run GOG on the Steam Deck using the Heroic launcher… but I can’t seem to get a game to run correctly on Steam OS (which is based on Linux). I wish GOG would make an effort to make an official launcher or something… I would love to run my GOG games on the Steam Deck.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

EmuDeck: Emulators on Steam Deck

Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

Since upgrading my Steam Deck to include 1TB of internal storage, I’ve had more space to play around with.

I started dabbing into emulation to see how well it works… and no surprise, the Steam Deck can emulate almost everything! You can do this officially using RetroArch on the Steam storefront … for other emulation software, such as YuZu, you are going to have to manually install it using the desktop mode of Steam OS.

There are too many emulation software... so the best and easiest way to install all of them, you are going to want to use EmuDeck (via their website emudeck.com).

Follow the instructions on their website... but it’s pretty easy. Once you install it, find the ROM folder and add your ROMs. It might be hidden, so you’ll need to change your view.

Next, run Steam ROM Manager and click on “preview”. This will automatically download artwork and index your ROMs. Click on “save”.

Now, when you start your Steam Deck, you should be able to see all your ROM games in “Non-Steam Deck” folder. You can launch each game individually… or as I prefer, I use Emulation Station, which is an all-in-one launcher.

So far, I’m having a good time testing out old games to see how they run. Most will run, some might take some tweaking. I can’t see myself spending too much time on these old games… but I like the idea of carrying around all these games in your pocket!

I wish Nintendo would just make their old games available for purchase on Steam… as of this writing, this is the only way of getting these games on the Steam Deck. Before you rage, Nintendo doesn’t even make their old games on their Switch (which I also own) without paying a monthly fee. There’s no option of paying for a game.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Technology.

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Humble Bundle

Read More Humble Bundle Game On: Humble Bundle I already own at least five of these games (on discs and digital), but I couldn't resist paying the average price to get these games again. When I donated, they gave me a breakdown of how ....

I’m currently a Humble Bundle subscriber since September 2022 when I got my Steam Deck. I previously joined for one year, starting April 2019 to April 2020, because it was a great way to building up your Steam library without paying too much. The only downside is that you don’t actually know what you’re going to get.

It’s a good deal, but unfortunately, because you don’t know what games you’re going to get - you may end up getting duplicate copies (if you previously own these games).

Anyway, there are some great charity Humble Bundle going on this month.

The Essential Content Creator Bundle

First, I wanted to spotlight the The Essential Content Creator Bundle, from Magix. You get six software (one of the software ProDAD mercalli v5 is only good for two years), but the clear stand-out product is the video editor VEGAS Pro 18 Edit. This is a $250 software that you can get for $25. For $25, it’s worth it just for Vegas alone.

Just a little background, but I used to use Vegas when it was own by Sony, it was one of the best video editor that rivals Adobe’s Premiere. Sometime in 2016, Sony sold it to Magix.

I own Vegas Pro 14 and I recently tried to install it on my new Lenovo Legion PC and it wouldn’t register unless I de-activate previous installations. Keep that in mind if you intend on installing the software on various computers.

When I installed it on the new computer, last month, I contemplated on actually paying $150 to upgrade to Vegas 18… but I decided against it because it’s just too expensive. I’m glad I waited, because now I can upgrade to Vegas 18 for $25.

The other amazing deal is the Black Friday Encore: Lone Wolf & Cub and More by Koike from Dark Horse. If you missed the Black Friday deal (like I did!), here’s your second chance. For $18.00 you are getting over 7,000 pages of Lone Wolf and Cub. That, by itself, is an amazing deal. You also get Kazuo Koike’s other works like Crying Freeman and Samurai Executioner. I’ve own most of Koike’s works, so was happy to see they’ve included some books I’ve never read before.

I started reading Color of Rage, and it’s a hoot. It’s about two prisoners who escaped from a slave ship. One of them is a ronin and the other is a black man. The two travel throughout Japan helping people and trying to survive. It’s about racism, it’s about a stranger in a strange land... it would make for a great television show.

I’ve been reading the manga on my iPad Pro 12.8, and although it looks fine… the battery life is terrible and reading for an extended period time on a glossy LED screen is not recommended. I’ve been giving a lot of thought on buying the new Kindle Scribe (10.2 inch) or the Boox Nova Air Color (7.8 inches) to read comic books. They’re both e-ink, but the Boox having the ability to display in e-ink color (which is what I need if I want to read digital color comics).

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

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vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Upgrading the Steam Deck to 1TB Internal SSD

Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

I had a little trouble trying to get a hold of the Inland 1TB m.2 PCIe NVME 2230 SSD at Micro Center over the weekend. Unfortunately, due to the Black Friday sale, the store was a mad house! I could not get any help, could not get anyone to open the secured glass display to sell me the SSD. I had to basically give up, and rescheduled my shopping on a week day (when it’s not so busy).

The good news is that I finally bought the Inland 1TB SSD and installed it on my Steam Deck.

A couple of things to address. If you’re on Windows, you need to unzip the Steam Deck recovery image. The file that you download from steampowered is in a bz2 file format ( steamdeck-recovery-4.img.bz2 ).

I didn’t have a Windows application that can unzip the bz2 file, so I downloaded Bzip2, but it did not work. I’m on Windows 11, so perhaps it’s not supported. I had to download 7 Zip, over at 7-zip.org, which seemed to work for me. I am assuming other software, such as WinZip, would also work.

Rufus

Steam recommended Rufus (rufus.ie), which is what I used to write the IMG file… however, in the past, I have used Etcher (balena.io), which I think has a better user interface.

You’ll need a USB memory stick, at least 8GB in size. I had a free 32GB stick that I got from Micro Center a few years ago that I used to create the Steam Deck boot drive. I think perhaps I will permanently use this 32GB stick as sort of a recovery backup.

Because the Steam Deck only has one USB-C input, you will have to get a USB-C adapter, or if you have the Steam Deck Dock, you can use this as well. Once you have the USB Memory Stick plugged in, you need to hold the Volume Down and Power Button at the same time. When you hear the bootup chime, let go of the Volume button and you’ll see the Boot Manager on your screen. Use the EFI USB Device option.

Using the trackpad and trigger buttons, you can pick “Re-image Steam Deck”, which will perform a full factory reset and replace it with the stock SteamOS.

Warning: It will seem like forever when it’s reimaging the Steam Deck. Once it install the original Steam OS, it will want to update to the latest version. This, again, will seem like it takes forever. Let the Deck do its thing. If you think you are stuck on a installation screen, you can hit “B” and then “A” and try again. This happened to me during the update process.

Now that I’ve gotten my Steam Deck back in action, complete with a 1TB internal storage and 1TB MicroSD external storage… I’m ready to move some games from the slower external SD card to the internal storage. This will seem like it takes forever… again, just have a little patience, it should be able to move your games to the faster NVME storage.

Since it’s a fresh Steam Deck OS, I had to re-install Decky Loader. If you want to install this, you have to turn on Developer Mode (System -> System Settings toggle Enable Developer Mode). Now you should see Developer option, go there and under Miscellaneous, enable CEF Remote Debugging. Reboot.

Next, switch to Desktop mode (Power -> Switch to Desktop). Launch the terminal (“Konsole” under System). Set your password, type in “passwd”.

Copy and paste (or type in):

curl -L https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader/raw/main/dist/install_release.sh | sh

Reboot and click on on the Quick Access menu (the “…” button). Find the Plug In icon and Find and install VibrantDeck. Set your Saturation to 250 and now your Steam Deck looks amazing.

I also had to install my custom Pip-Boy startup video. Head over to GitHub for the instructions:

curl -o - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BunnyStrike/deck_revealed/main/boot_videos/pipboy/install.sh | bash -

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

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vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Upgrade your Steam Deck to 1TB!

Read More Steam There’s no more waiting… You can now buy Steam Deck, right now, without reservation. According to steampowered, it’s been more than a year since it was first announced, but due to numerous supply chain issues and …

Since I bought my Steam Deck in September 2022, I’ve been looking to upgrade my internal storage for the Deck.

I bought the cheapest model, which comes with only 64GB eMMC storage. That’s a joke, as the size is only big enough to contain the system software and various shaders. I installed all my games on a 1TB MicroSD card, and have run out of space.

So, yeah, I wanted and needed to upgrade my tiny eMMC storage…. but the main reason why I hadn’t done it by now, is because I wasn’t sure which NVME m.2 2230 cards to buy. I’ve read that some overheated and destroyed someone’s Steam Deck. I’ve read that some won’t fit flush in the system (since some are double-sided). I honestly didn’t know which drive to buy.

Inland Advertisement

Recently, during my Black Friday shopping spree, I came across the Inland TN436 1TB 3D TLC NAND PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe M.2 2230 Internal SSD on MicroCenter’s website. It is advertised as compatible with the Surface Pro and Steam Deck!

In fact, the Inland marketing on Amazon is specifically targeted to the Steam Deck user base with photos of the Steam Deck and its SSD.

The other important thing in their marketing is that this chip has “Lower Power Consumption” with supports Power Management APST, ASPM and L1.2. No idea what any of that means, but generally lower power consumption would result in better battery life and less prone to overheating (since less power is required).

Reading the comments on MicroCenter’s website, it appears to be working for Steam Deck users… so I’m pretty confident that this Inland 1TB SSD will work with the Steam Deck.

So, tomorrow, I’ll probably be driving to my local MicroCenter to buy this SSD. Once I get it, I will have to open my Steam Deck and replace the eMMC with this 1TB SSD.

Here is the full instructions on how to install Steam OS on the Steam Deck (which I will be referencing tomorrow):

Steam Deck Recovery Instructions

1. Download the recovery image here (click).
2. Prepare a USB key (8GB minimum) with the recovery image:
   • On Windows we recommend using the Rufus utility. Select the recovery file and write it to your USB drive (this will format the contents of your USB drive). When it's done, select 'Close' and eject the drive.
   • On MacOS you can use Balena Etcher to write the recovery file to your USB drive.
   • On Linux you can also use Balena Etcher to write the recovery file to your USB drive - or if you prefer you can do this directly from the command line:
     bzcat steamdeck-recovery-4.img.bz2 | dd if=/dev/stdin of=/dev/sdX oflag=sync status=progress bs=128M (set /dev/sdX to the USB device you inserted)
3. Use a USB-C adapter or hub to plug the boot disk in.
4. Shut down your Steam Deck if it isn't already off. Hold 'Volume Down' and click the Power Button - when you hear the chime, let go of the Volume Down button, and you'll be booted into the Boot Manager.
5. In the Boot Manager, boot from the 'EFI USB Device' (your USB key)
6. The screen will go dark while it's booting - give it a minute.
7. Once booted you will be in a desktop environment, you can navigate using the trackpad and trigger.

Recovery options

In the recovery environment, there are four different options to choose from.

• Re-image Steam Deck - This performs a full factory reset - all user info, installed games, applications, or operating systems will be wiped and replaced with stock SteamOS.
• Clear local user data - This reformats the home partitions on your Steam Deck, which will remove downloaded games and all personal content stored on this Deck, including system configuration.
• Reinstall Steam OS - This will reinstall SteamOS on the Steam Deck, while attempting to preserve your games and personal content.
• Recovery tools - This opens a prompt with the ability to make changes to the Steam Deck boot partition.

Instructions seems fairly simple enough. I have all the necessary tools to do this, so hopefully, it’ll all go well tomorrow.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

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vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Black Friday 2022

Read More Black Friday Sure, I didn’t need all those extra things in my life, but I couldn’t pass up these deals. The prices are Black Friday level (even better in many cases). …

With Black Friday coming up this Friday (November 25), we are already starting to see some really good deals on Bluray/UHD discs. Some of my favorite A24 films are on sale, including X, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and The Green Knight. I bought a ton of discs this week. Most UHD discs are $10 and Bluray are either $5 or $8. It’s really the only time that I make mass Bluray purchases.

Over at Target, the best deal I’ve seen is $200 for the Xbox Series S. That’s $50 off and a $50 Target Gift card (which is as good as cash). I’m very tempted to try and buy it, even though I already own the Xbox Series X (the superior version). But the price is so good that I’m really thinking about it. If you are going to buy an Xbox this year, you might as well get Elden Ring for $40. This is the lowest price I’ve seen for this amazing game. Honestly, Elden Ring is my Game of the Year.

Walmart has the best deals on 4K TV. They have a 50 inch ONN 4K LED for $150. Onn is Walmart’s brand, and for that low bottom prices, I’m not sure if it’ll have the quality. On the bright side, the TV has Roku built into the television. If you want to upgrade, Walmart also sells a TCL 65” 4k TV for $228 (also with Roku).

If you’re looking for a Macbook, Best Buy is selling the M1 MacBook Air 13.3” for $800 (a $200 savings). If you want this year’s MacBook Air, with the M2 chip, you can get it for $1,050… but from what I’ve read, it’s not worth the upgrade.

LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $570

Also, the best OLED TV prices I’ve ever seen is for the LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $570. This is a $730 savings, and I’m definitely looking at this very closely. I think the biggest problem is that I rarely watch TV. I spend all my time sitting at my computer and watch YouTube videos or movies I’ve ripped from my Bluray…

So maybe the better money might go to another 4k monitor? My current favorite monitor is on sale for $230. I bought the monitor for $320 in Apr 2022 and absolutely love the “Picture in Picture” feature: “There is another feature that they highlight, and I found it really useful. The monitor has the ability to do Picture in Picture (or as Samsung lists it PBP). What this means is that the monitor can display two simultaneous sources on the monitor at the same time. You have some options, side-by-side or a small popup screen (which you can position in four areas and with varying sizes). The P-i-P is the best thing about this monitor.”

If you’re looking for a new PC or laptop, I would recommend looking at MicroCenter’s Black Friday sale. They have my Lenovo Legion PC for the same amazing price of $850. I’ve said it before, the video card (3060) costs $400 by itself(!), so to have it come with your computer, it’s a steal.

MicroCenter also sells really cheap Wyze cameras. Their v3 camera with color night vision is $30. I currently own two Wyze cameras that I use for my security cameras.

This year, I’ve already started my Black Friday shopping last week. Most retailers already started their sale last week. I’ll be looking at bigger purchases sometime this week, since some retailers won’t unveil their biggest deals until closer to Friday.

Read more Black Friday, Movies and Television.

Vu’s Early Black Friday Bluray/UHD purchases

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Update on Straight Talk Home Internet: It's amazing!

Read More Tracfone The other day, I ran into an endcap display of Straight Talk Home Internet. I was interested, because two months ago (in September 2022), I got rid of my DSL home internet service and was basically using my phone’s internet as a hotspot. …

So here is a two weeks update on the Straight Talk Home Internet service. I have to say, when everything is working, this is an amazing service from Tracfone, which is own by Verizon.

In my experience, I will address the bad things first: you have to pay for the 5G Home Internet Router before you can even use their service. This device is $99, and may actually discourage people from trying out the service. This is a hard sell, because if you decide to not continue with their $45 home internet service, you are going to have to eat that $100.

The Straight Talk router does not have a very good range. For example, I’m using my desktop computer downstairs and it would barely connect. When it does connect, I’m reduced to 10% of the speed that was promised. I have solved that problem by upgrading to a TP-Link’s WiFi 6 Deco 6000. Since using the mesh network, I’ve consistently experienced over 80 to 100mbps downloads and 10 upload.

If you want to maximum the best WiFi access, is that your computer or device needs to have the latest WiFi chip to benefit from WiFi 6’s speed.

You also need to live in a location that can benefit from Verizon’s 5G service… so it might not be ideal for you if you don’t live near a Verizon 5G tower or if you are roaming in a mobile home. For mobile internet, I would recommend just getting the $30 Visible (also own by Verizon) phone service and using the hotspot. That makes more sense to me than maybe having a router that won’t always work based on your location.

Anyway, so far, I’ve experience 80-100 average speed. It’s probably because in my area, fewer people are using the Straight Talk Home Internet network. This might all change if more people in my area sign up… but right now, based on my location and usage, it’s been very good for me.

You have to understand that I am coming from very slow first generation of Cable Internet (4mbps) and DSL (4mbps). I was paying as little as $35 to as much as $75 (Comcast) for very slow internet speed. Plus, with Comcast (now Xfinity), they had put a data cap on their service. So, getting 100mbps for $45, with no data cap, was a massive upgrade for me. For the first time, I can freely download all the games for my PC and Steam Deck, and stream in 4k, without worrying about a data cap. Things that I couldn’t do before, such as GeForce Now (which I couldn’t use in 2019)… that’s all possible now with my fast internet connection.

The service may not be for everybody. Perhaps you’re paying less or getting much faster speed (such as Fiber), but for my situation and location… this Straight Talk Home Internet is just perfect for my needs. I would highly recommend it.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

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vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com