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iansltx

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Everything posted by iansltx

  1. iansltx
    Or how many there were in '04. Also, now I know why the MMS gateway for all Sprint MVNOs is plspictures; I remember using that for STi Mobile back in '05 or so...whenever the LG PM-225 was new. And now with Ting.
  2. iansltx
    Get a FreedomPop MiFi. Or if you are still wondering about it in a month and change, drive up to Port St. Lucie and I'll let you borrow mine
  3. iansltx
    T-Mobile is NSN in Austin (and I believe most/all of TX). I'd have to ask which other markets. In any case, add me to the list of believers in their equipment quality; pings south of 30ms and speeds reasonably close to the in-field max I've seen from 5x5 LTE (probably less due to this being a populated area, rather than any failing on the equipment's part). I wonder if NSN will bring their gear into markets that are currently run by Ericsson and Samsung...I certainly won't complain if they do, as I'm very rarely in ALU territory (unless you count legacy equipment in Denver, heh).
  4. iansltx
    Here's a direct link: http://www.rootmetrics.com/blog/what-we-do-and-how-we-do-it/tally-of-airport-rootscore-awards-at-the-50-busiest-u.s.-airports/ The catch is that RootMetrics' numbers are a bit old in some cases. For example, VZW in AUS has gotten better than it already was, or at least it seems that way. And I'll bet AT&T has slowed down, owing to more LTE devices on its network. T-Mobile almost certainly got speedier as well. And maybe Sprint too. A lot has changed in the last several months.
  5. iansltx
    It's shared somewhere up the line. The last mile might not be shared. But if you're serving 50 customers off of a bunch of bonded T1s (12 Mbps, say), you're bound to have issues. Bandwidth at the central office/remote isn't infinite; not all of 'em have gigabit-plus Ethernet all the way to the 'net.
  6. iansltx
    Agreed on that. The question is whether "the system" is okay with would-be students realizing this, and electing to do something useful in two years rather than racking up debt and pressing pause on the grow-up button for four(ish) years. Without getting too political, I've heard the current administration mouth words in favor of community colleges et al, but not quite as the potentially disruptive force to "mainstream education" that they could be.
  7. iansltx
    Don't forget GMRS. If I remember correctly both FRS and GMRS are analog-only (except for Garmin radios that can transmit a location ping every so often), but GMRS could be used for a more complex radio topo than just walkie-talkies. IIRC digital systems like MOTOTRBO (which is a pretty impressive system...watched it in action a week and a half ago) operate in UHF/VHF rather than GMRS. So no 450MHz there. But as others have said, FRS/GMRS is far from the only consumer of that spectrum.
  8. iansltx
    Something like that. I will say that some departments send out grads with skill sets quite attuned to the industries they're going into (Petroleum, Geological, Mining, ChemE, EE, MechE), potentially at the expense of learning for its own sake. But there are majors who are somehow really enthused about the whole learning bit (ahem, Engineering Physics) as a whole, and there are of course examples of those types across the board. Folks too far out of that vein, or who aren't cut out for the particular fields that Mines caters to, tend to wash out to other schools in a year or two. I will say this though...it ain't a degree mill. EDIT: Personally, I could be doing exactly what I'm doing now, except not nearly as well, without the time I spent at Mines. I was there to learn how to solve problems better, though at times coursework was such that I didn't feel like I was heading toward that goal. So my goals going in color my perception of my experience significantly.
  9. iansltx
    How ironic, heh. The last time I went through ATL was December 2011. Didn't have much time to test connectivity, but it seemed to be fine at that point (I had an Epic, so I could catch WiMAX). Most of my surfing got done on the plane though...Gogo WiFi on a Cr48 Chromebook prototype ftw. Or was it my MacBook that I was using at the time? Anyway, I'll be back there in five or so weeks to see how LTE fares in ATL. As for LIT, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, data ranges from unusable to usable but not amazing depending on where you are in the airport. No LTE, but Voxer PTT worked okay.
  10. iansltx
    Meh, some schools are better at turning out competent problem-solvers who can produce reasonably good work on a reasonably good schedule (and this apparently pleasantly surprises their employers). And yes, as a relatively recent grad who could give a list of names of people who I would actually want to work with from the ranks of those who I had classes with, I might be biased in this.
  11. iansltx
    U-Verse competes on price. Comcast's 25M for $30 promo is just that, a promotional price. Modem rental is an extra $7 (or pay $100 to get your own plus a router). After-promo you're looking at $60 or so, again plus modem rental. I'm not on U-Verse here because they only offer 6M. If they had 45M at my location I'd seriously think about it, since their off-promo price is $76 for that tier, $9 less than I'm paying TWC now for 50/5, $20 less once my promo rate dials back next month, and $37 or so less than if I didn't have a promo price at all. And AT&T has promo pricing to lower 45M U-Verse's price further, probably down to the $50-$60 level for the first six months. Is the tech inferior? Unless you're on an overloaded cable node and are close to the VRAD, absolutely. But some people buy their 'net based on price, and $60 per month is a lot to pay for something that they don't spend every waking moment on.
  12. iansltx
    Bad idea. Have you ever used sat 'net? Going from DSL to that is a day and night difference.
  13. iansltx
    Nice find. After the first month I'll probably switch to an LTE-only plan since the MiFi won't be my only connectivity source. The rates are certainly cheaper...you give up 3G for it, but the rates are lower per GB at a given price level than Sprint proper across the board.
  14. iansltx
    Well, if I did you'd come right back and say that Poland's doing it so why not the US? To which my response would be that Orange.pl is using CDMA, not LTE, in 450MHz, and it has had the spectrum for ages. To which your response might be, what about Brazil? To which my response would be, "Wait and see."
  15. iansltx
    5x5 is enough for a single carrier to serve up decent speeds...or three carriers to serve up rather lackluster speeds. In either case you have a less-than-ideal situation. On the one hand, a monopoly that you have to clear spectrum for. On the other, three providers with low speeds that you have to clear spectrum for. With ViaSat exede hitting a fair portion of the US with 12/3 speeds, and with fixed antennas (that people in the US can afford) in 700MHz and eventually 600MHz (plus 900MHz fixed wireless in some areas), 450MHz doesn't really make sense in the US. You'd have to move heaven and earth to carve out 10MHz total, less than half of what is available in the ISM band...or LTE band 13 for that matter.
  16. iansltx
    Per the FreedomPop rep that I've been emailing with, here are the plans for the LTE hotspot: -4G LTE Only- 500MB - FREE -4G LTE with 3G Fallback- 500MBs $3.99/mo 2GBs $19.99/mo 3GBs $28.99/mo 4GBs $34.99/mo 5GBs $39.99/mo 10GBs $89.99/mo So the cheapest cost per GB (discounting the 500MB plans) is $8, at 5GB. Above that, you might as well just pay overages (1¢/MB). At that price point FreedomPop is a better deal than T-Mobile ($40 for 4.5GB) unless you're adding a line on T-Mobile. That's ignoring device costs on T-Mobile. And a bit less than Verizon or AT&T, though you have to pay for the device (but no contract!).
  17. iansltx
    I agree that Ting's data rates are expensive. However... They allow data pooling between multiple lines. They auto-adjust your data bucket, with no overages, depending on what tier you hit on a given month. So you don't end up paying $20 per month even if you only use 500MB during that month (they'll give you a few minutes/texts/MBs above their stated limit before bumping you to the next tier). Ting has to make their money somewhere. They subsidize the phones that they sell directly a little, so my guess is that the data fees recoup the comparatively heavier subsidies on smartphones. For folks like me who have brought multiple Sprint devices to Ting (so they didn't have to pay a subsidy) this seems a little unfair, but it is what it is. And, to be fair, I did buy three phones through them (all refurbs, so probably low subsidy). Hopefully Ting will lower their data rates in the next few months. Under 1GB is okay I guess, but taking 1GB down to $20, 2GB to $30 and 3GB to $40 (or changing 3GB to 4GB and selling it for $50) would be great. We'll see though.
  18. iansltx
    Meh, you'll give it up after WiMAX goes dark in a couple years. Also, by your logic, mobile broadband is not worth paying for. I can get an uncapped cable connection for $55 so why bother? Well maybe I want to use a computer or tablet out of WiFi range And $20 is less than $50. sent via my SIII on Tapatalk 4 beta
  19. iansltx
    Well, that escalated quickly. AUS - Didn't have much time in the airport this time around; my rotation of signal/speedtests was interrupted pretty quickly by SuperShuttle being ready to pick me up. As a result, I only got to test Verizon, which I'm pretty sure has the best service in the airport. 40 Mbps or better down. Either they have a DAS or they've got a tower very nearby. The next time I set foot in an airport will probably be late-ish September. I'll have info for AUS, ATL and PBI then, including experiences on a tri-band device (MiFi 500). If I figure out how to lock the thing to a single band I'll give individual reports on all three bands.
  20. iansltx
    Yeah, "get anyway" seems to be the best route. Otherwise you may end up with WiMAX devices. Like the older MiFi you were seeing. You don't want that. Yep. Pick a zip/address in an LTE area (or use "get anyway"); you can edit shipping/billing zip later. I'm not using the hotspot as a wireline replacement, which is what FreedomPop is targeting with the package you're quoting there. Which is only available in certain Clearwire areas, where you could just as easily get $50 unlimited with a different-colored modem. And because I'm not using it as a wireline replacement, I'm comparing its price to the price I pay for mobile data from other carriers. $40 for 5GB for T-Mobile. $20 for 1GB or $30 for 2GB for Verizon. Or you could compare to Sprint's packages, but they don't have anything below $35 for hotspots. In every case except comparing FreedomPop with Sprint's higher-end plans, FreedomPop wins.
  21. iansltx

    RT @Scribd: Uncharted Terrain in Publishing: Jeff Bezos (not Amazon), purchased the "Washington Post" today.

  22. iansltx
    Today FreedomPop announced the availability of the MiFi 500 (the tri-band one...they just call it by the internal model number rather than the marketing model number) on their service. This includes the free 500MB data option, as well as the more expensive plans (e.g. 2GB for $20). The device itself is $150. They're offering a couple of promotions right now that net you 3GB at no additional charge (beyond the device cost) for the first month. I'm trying to pick one up but am having issues getting their website to let me order anything. For folks who want to try out TD-LTE/LTE in 800 and don't want to sign a contract/don't need 3GB of data on their hotspot and don't want to pay $35+ per month as a result, this works. And the 500MB plan (400MB if you don't want the possibility of paying overages) is enough for occasional access...and it's free!
  23. iansltx
    I'd guess something like that; remember that AT&T has a good quantity of fiber-backhauled H+ sites out there that broadcast on CLR + PCS.
  24. iansltx
    MDSA will actually lease out their spectrum on pretty affordable terms if you're in their licensed area. But anything less than perfect LOS doesn't work.
  25. iansltx
    I'm trying to order this, but it looks like I'm in an indeterminate state with FreedomPop. Fired off a support request to figure out what's going on. Hopefully the issue will get sorted out soon; though this device doesn't seem to be on par with the Zing RF-wise, it is tri-band, it doesn't have the ping penalty, and no contract/cheap plans/$150 for the device sound excellent.
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