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(EDIT)
Update from the future.
I went to the Verizon store first, and the guy there straight up said that he would not recommend a mobile hotspot for what I needed Internet for, since their best option was for a measly 5GB per month, tops. They don't even have unlimited plans, apparently. To his credit, he did say that upfront, right from the get go, and didn't try to swindle me on getting something that would have been subpar.
In the end, I went with Time Warner Cable (Standard Package for just Internet).
(/EDIT)
I'm going to need Internet access of some sort once I get back to NC, and just trying to snag occasional access at the home of someone else isn't going to cut it in long run. I've been looking into trying one of those "be your own hotspot" things, which would be good for multiple reasons. First, it wouldn't require there to be new cables run to the probably >100 years old house I will be living in. Second, having the hotspot thing would allow me to be mobile in a way that being wired into one place wouldn't, which would be good if/when I ever get around to joining the late 20th century and maybe getting a laptop or something. Speed isn't necessarily the main factor, though I'd prefer to avoid paleolithic dial-up speeds, even so.
At first, I was looking into NetZero, because they showed a bunch of commercials for it while I was back in NC and actually watching TV at all. However, when checking their coverage map, it has no 4G coverage at all (let alone 4G LTE) in the area of my mom's house, where I'd be living, and the 3G coverage has a weird hole near there that I'd be right on the edge of.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
So I looked into some others, namely AT&T and Verizon.
AT&T's online coverage map shows some oddities as well. There is a strange square of 4G LTE coverage close to, but not encompassing, the area where my mom's house is, but it does have "normal" 4G coverage there, at least, which puts it above NetZero.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
Verizon seems to have the best coverage, as their 4G LTE is pretty much everywhere, apparently.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
With that said, though, I've heard some unflattering things about Verizon, beyond just their technical ability (e.g. bad customer service issues, and the like).
So, I'm asking you, the reader of this post, for your suggestions. Any particular praise or condemnation you want to bestow on any of the above? Are there other alternatives to the three above that I've overlooked (and admittedly I've not done a whole lot of research on this as of yet, which is the reason I'm making this post)? Will it require getting an actual smartphone (which I don't necessarily need) or is there a device explicitly intended to allow a desktop/laptop computer to connect to the Internet through cellphone networks without requiring an actual cellphone? I'm not too familiar with this sort of thing, as I've never owned an iPhone or Android or whatever and don't really have much interest in doing so, for the time being. Again, speed isn't the most important factor here, either.
If I don't go with the mobile hotspot thing, there are other options as well, such as Time Warner Cable. Or I could even go back to dial-up if absolutely necessary, though I'd like to avoid that like the plague, not only because it's slow as molasses, but also because I'd like to avoid tying up my mom's phone for Internet stuff unnecessarily.
I will also be cross-posting this to both Facebook and to Twitter, so feel free to comment on this at one of those places if you don't want to do so here on LJ, but the actual post itself will be here on LJ.
Update from the future.
I went to the Verizon store first, and the guy there straight up said that he would not recommend a mobile hotspot for what I needed Internet for, since their best option was for a measly 5GB per month, tops. They don't even have unlimited plans, apparently. To his credit, he did say that upfront, right from the get go, and didn't try to swindle me on getting something that would have been subpar.
In the end, I went with Time Warner Cable (Standard Package for just Internet).
(/EDIT)
I'm going to need Internet access of some sort once I get back to NC, and just trying to snag occasional access at the home of someone else isn't going to cut it in long run. I've been looking into trying one of those "be your own hotspot" things, which would be good for multiple reasons. First, it wouldn't require there to be new cables run to the probably >100 years old house I will be living in. Second, having the hotspot thing would allow me to be mobile in a way that being wired into one place wouldn't, which would be good if/when I ever get around to joining the late 20th century and maybe getting a laptop or something. Speed isn't necessarily the main factor, though I'd prefer to avoid paleolithic dial-up speeds, even so.
At first, I was looking into NetZero, because they showed a bunch of commercials for it while I was back in NC and actually watching TV at all. However, when checking their coverage map, it has no 4G coverage at all (let alone 4G LTE) in the area of my mom's house, where I'd be living, and the 3G coverage has a weird hole near there that I'd be right on the edge of.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
So I looked into some others, namely AT&T and Verizon.
AT&T's online coverage map shows some oddities as well. There is a strange square of 4G LTE coverage close to, but not encompassing, the area where my mom's house is, but it does have "normal" 4G coverage there, at least, which puts it above NetZero.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
Verizon seems to have the best coverage, as their 4G LTE is pretty much everywhere, apparently.
Seen here:
( Image behind cut )
With that said, though, I've heard some unflattering things about Verizon, beyond just their technical ability (e.g. bad customer service issues, and the like).
So, I'm asking you, the reader of this post, for your suggestions. Any particular praise or condemnation you want to bestow on any of the above? Are there other alternatives to the three above that I've overlooked (and admittedly I've not done a whole lot of research on this as of yet, which is the reason I'm making this post)? Will it require getting an actual smartphone (which I don't necessarily need) or is there a device explicitly intended to allow a desktop/laptop computer to connect to the Internet through cellphone networks without requiring an actual cellphone? I'm not too familiar with this sort of thing, as I've never owned an iPhone or Android or whatever and don't really have much interest in doing so, for the time being. Again, speed isn't the most important factor here, either.
If I don't go with the mobile hotspot thing, there are other options as well, such as Time Warner Cable. Or I could even go back to dial-up if absolutely necessary, though I'd like to avoid that like the plague, not only because it's slow as molasses, but also because I'd like to avoid tying up my mom's phone for Internet stuff unnecessarily.
I will also be cross-posting this to both Facebook and to Twitter, so feel free to comment on this at one of those places if you don't want to do so here on LJ, but the actual post itself will be here on LJ.
