Calyx Institute - $500 1st yr ($400 after) for a Sprint Modem & Unlimited Data

[MarshieZ]

Ebay.

 

Every time I've looked, there's never one on there. And when there is, it has some crazy plan attached to it.

[belusnecropolis]

Every time I've looked, there's never one on there. And when there is, it has some crazy plan attached to it.

Inbox

 

Interesting. Would I have to be on the more expensive plan to use the 6100D, or could I buy any of them and replace the device with the 6100D? Also, is calling in easier or just setting up an account and doing it online?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am unaware of varying any level's of service through Calyx. You should be able to replace it with any Sprint branded mobile broadband, 6100d is such a device so you should have no issues.

 

I would say difficulty is subjective. Phone skills versus setting up an account. I set up my account and then called in, I stumbled across the device section afterwords and used it to test compatibility of some modems I had. It seems pretty painless either way, all you have to lose is not trying. Hope this helps.

[dedub]

DId you add your calyx device to a new/separate account, or add it to your existing sprint account (assuming you had one)?

[bipbapbam]

I am unaware of varying any level's of service through Calyx. You should be able to replace it with any Sprint branded mobile broadband, 6100d is such a device so you should have no issues.

 

http://www.4gcommunity.org/community-store

 

Looking on here, they have the 12 Month Premium Membership Bundle with Mobile Hotspot (ZTE Pocket WiFi Mobile Hotspot)

for $398 and $255 after the first year, then they have 12 Month Membership Bundle with Mobile Hotspot (Franklin R850 Mobile Hotspot) for $250 and $168 after the first year.

 

Any idea what the difference between these two, besides the device they come with? Both appear to be the same. Could one buy the second option and replace the device (paying less every 12 months)?

 

I'm still trying to figure out how all this works exactly.

[stuckinohio1]

if everyone is ok with using these modems on sprints network then everyone should be ok with me burning 200+ gigs off my phone with my rooted hotspot.

[jefbal99]

if everyone is ok with using these modems on sprints network then everyone should be ok with me burning 200+ gigs off my phone with my rooted hotspot.

I disagree, people are paying for the mobile broadband service as mobile broadband, you are using a contracted personal line for mobile broadband.  The difference is in the contract

[stuckinohio1]

I disagree, people are paying for the mobile broadband service as mobile broadband, you are using a contracted personal line for mobile broadband.  The difference is in the contract

i dunno man, this seems pretty wishy washy, this is using the sprint network as a home broadband connection and if anyone makes a 3xCA modem the home user would be able to pull like what? 300Mbps? if it were me id be downloading and streaming everything i could and it would make the user experience for sprint users very bad on that tower.

 

Either way it seems like network abuse and these companys that actually own the spectrum know exactly what they are doing, lease spectrum to sprint, demand use of all of their network or sprint doesn't get to use it, there have already been several topics in the past about these companies using this to re-sell internet service and its essentially a huge burdon on sprints network.

[jefbal99]

i dunno man, this seems pretty wishy washy, this is using the sprint network as a home broadband connection and if anyone makes a 3xCA modem the home user would be able to pull like what? 300Mbps? if it were me id be downloading and streaming everything i could and it would make the user experience for sprint users very bad on that tower.

 

Either way it seems like network abuse and these companys that actually own the spectrum know exactly what they are doing, lease spectrum to sprint, demand use of all of their network or sprint doesn't get to use it, there have already been several topics in the past about these companies using this to re-sell internet service and its essentially a huge burdon on sprints network.

I agree it is abuse, but your regular phone account and these accounts are flagged differently in the system.  If and when Sprint wants to throttle or shape this traffic, they can due to the existing flags in place.  You risk having your service canceled as you are violating the terms of your contract with Sprint.

 

If you were to have a secondary service via Calyx and bomb the hell out of it, then go for it.  But to say this service and rooting/tethering are the same thing, I can't agree with that.

[jefbal99]

Looking deeper into this, the membership pages seem to be unavailable, any existing users having issues?

[dedub]

the calyx page seems to work for me @ https://www.calyxinstitute.org/member/membership-levels

 

and I can log in to my account, not that it does a lot

 

as far a the device, it has never been very stable for me here in st louis, I suspect it has issues with the mixed clear/sprint towers here, as it loses internet while still showing 'connected', which either takes a reboot or a manual disconnect/connect to get working again.

 

the battery life is not that great either.

 

I am not likely to renew, I got the unlimited tablet data plan and it comes with 10gig hotspot on my ipad mini2, so between that and my phones I rarely need this hotspot service anymore.

[red_dog007]

if everyone is ok with using these modems on sprints network then everyone should be ok with me burning 200+ gigs off my phone with my rooted hotspot.

The bit here is the fine print.  What you are doing is likely against ToS.  Whether you agree or disagree, you are in the wrong.  It's also a place for these guys to make a little extra money, or entice users to a newer plan.  Cause these guys aren't in the business of selling broadband only devices.  I wish they were though.  I think they could be profitable lines of business for these guys. Sell home services in areas with bandwidth to spare.  If my local tower had B41 on it, I'd totally pay for this service. 

[jefbal99]

the calyx page seems to work for me @ https://www.calyxinstitute.org/member/membership-levels

 

and I can log in to my account, not that it does a lot

 

as far a the device, it has never been very stable for me here in st louis, I suspect it has issues with the mixed clear/sprint towers here, as it loses internet while still showing 'connected', which either takes a reboot or a manual disconnect/connect to get working again.

 

the battery life is not that great either.

 

I am not likely to renew, I got the unlimited tablet data plan and it comes with 10gig hotspot on my ipad mini2, so between that and my phones I rarely need this hotspot service anymore.

They have two different sign up links, one works and one doesn't

[ingenium]

I explained this process to @calyx, as they were unaware CS was an option. After emailing them, email trolling mobile citizen and then tweeting at Sprintcare I just called in. I just did not enjoy the idea of a battery powered standby plugged in all day per Note 7. Picked one up on Ebay, called in and got it swapped. Apparently no one ever tried this before. I just followed the instructions in the crappy aircard GUI to call x number for assistance. Nick and the Calyx crew were pretty excited about this news.

 

Who knew? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do you know if this still works? I saw them stating when they were getting an influx of members from 4gcommunity that there's no way to use 4gcommunity devices and they had to get a calyx hotspot instead. Is it possible that the policy regarding this changed in the last several months?

Also, is the netgear 6100D still the best device for this? I have an existing router that can support a USB modem in theory, so I was going to go that route. But I've seen some reports that at least with the Franklin devices they're offering now, USB tethering only seems to work in Windows, but not Linux (ie not the router). The hypothesis is that a hybrid driver is needed and it sends some kind of firmware or initialization sequence to the hotspot, and without that the USB interface shuts down.