Calyx Sprint/T mobile device and donation

[DintyMoo]

I am asking for help. I am 62 and simply ill-equipped to play this complicated game of chasing a good signal.
To make matters worse I am committed to a nomad lifestyle moving every three weeks campgrounds mostly. Some have a weak service for a moderate price but lack consistency. I am looking for the best % suggestions as to hardware and service which has coverage of the coastal areas as well as the Southern and Northern Border States.I think the Sprint/Tmobile map associated with the Calyx 4g membership looks good but it is not clear to me if this is truly unlimited data with no throttling as advertised. As a user, I stream Tv 2-3 hours a day and can spend the same amount of time surfing the net sometimes at the same time service permitting. So I am all ears but understand I am a simple man and need simple suggestions in layman terms as I don't speak GB, MHZ, etc... Thanks so much and happy surfing !! Dinty

[gscheb]

Look into visible phone service. Has unlimited hot spot limit. Can use it right with your phone. Can connect one device to it. It is slower speeds but it will play Netflix and etc.
Visible phone service is ran on Verizon towers so should have good coverage. Don't get much simpler than that.

[Dr-BroadBand]

Some have a weak service for a moderate price but lack consistency.

Weak service?? is this the campground's WiFi or Cell Signal?

[Dr-BroadBand]

Look into the Nighthawk M5 MR5100

Not a fan of the TS9 connector for the antenna.
The not sure if the M5 will give you the control to do TTL and band locking.

https://www.att.com/buy/connected-devic ... black.html

https://youtu.be/CMRJm5T-JpI

[DintyMoo]

Thanks for responding Dr but I am a layman and do not understand band locking. Would you have
any suggestion on where I might find a Utube or article explaining the basics of broadband, signals etc..
as I would love to understand how it works without having to get a Ph.D. Thanks again for responding Dinty

[jonathan_winters]

My specific use case is different but our needs are similar. Here is what I do:

I have a calyx membership for my main connection. This comes with a Sprint/t-mobile sim with a device.

And then I am in a Visible group with $25/mo internet. This runs on Verizon’s network. Tethering on my account is limited speed but performs reliably.

I have a second modem/router that covers different bands than the one I got from Calyx. I bought a wifix, but I’m wishing I had sprung for something better. The important thing is to make sure it has sma connections for antennas.

This comes down to about $70/month recurring costs (on the annual calyx membership).

Between the two devices and services, I’m able to get decent coverage most places. Maybe not “super fast” but for sure serviceable. Calyx device only takes the calyx sim, but the 2nd device can use either sim. It is possible that this is all you’ll need.

From there, if you want to improve performance you have the option of adding antennas for anywhere between $35 and $150 (or more). So then when you get to a new location you can try calico and visible in their respective devices, and if calyx is your best option but needs a boost you can drop that sim into your non-calyx device with the antenna.

A lot also comes down to budget… you can get crazy with dual sim modems and just let it handle everything for you. In that case you’re exchanging $$ for convenience. I’ve never used those, but for the price I sure hope they work well!

[jonathan_winters]

Also, I’ve been using calyx for 2 years now and can confirm that it is truly unlimited and without throttling (other than normal network deprioritization).

[gscheb]

Also, I’ve been using calyx for 2 years now and can confirm that it is truly unlimited and without throttling (other than normal network deprioritization).

Was wondering if you ever moved around with that calyx? Even maybe on trip or something. Does it always connect to T-Mobile service? Don't have sprint coverage out here and was always concerned it wouldn't connect to T-Mobile.

Also just wanted to add to this forum that I also do about the same thing as you. Have T-Mobile home internet as the main source. Tether some with my personal Visible phone for supplemental data. Then also have a post pay AT&T sim that use in Netgear router just for back up basically for it if T-Mobile goes out. My son does use this AT&T to game on since the ping is lower on it.
Do all this because we work from home and need a connection all the time. And with LTE internet it can do allot. But sometimes it can go out with no rhyme or reason. So have to be prepared with a back up plan.
So my cost are $50 for T-Mobile and $24 for AT&T. For $74 per month. That Visible phone is $25 per month but it is my personal phone that would have anyway.

[DintyMoo]

Great information. I have the calyx with the T-9 Franklin .I will be traveling in my camper every 2-3 weeks to various states and locations most in rural areas so I will be putting the Sprint /Tmobile network to the test. I currently am in rural coastal Va. and am very pleased with the performance at my first location. I'll be moving 300 miles South in about a week to NC .I'm hoping to get the same level of performance.
On a separate note could someone explain what tethering is? What are the bands high and low and the differences? What's a ping? How do 4g and 5g vary? And last what is bandwidth? can someone explain it with a visualization so I might understand it better? Thanks for reading

[jonathan_winters]

I’ve traveled with my setup and it has worked great everywhere I’ve had a sprint or T-Mobile signal (last time I did that it would try to go to sprint first if available and fall back to T-Mobile.)

On a separate note could someone explain what tethering is? What are the bands high and low and the differences? What's a ping? How do 4g and 5g vary? And last what is bandwidth? can someone explain it with a visualization so I might understand it better?

Tethering is connecting your computer to your phone or mobile hotspot to piggyback on the cell data. Often it means via a cable (instead of via a WiFi signal). This is used/needed for anyone who is connecting the hotspot to their home network. You don’t need to worry about this since you’re (presumably) connecting via WiFi. Technically speaking you’re still tethering, but for these purposes I think that is accurate enough.

Bands (b71 vs b2) are the channels - think about analog tv where you had to tune to a channel and then adjust the antenna to fine-tune the signal. That’s essentially what we’re dealing with here. (again, this is a rough analogy but i think it makes the point well enough).

A ping is the most basic signal you can send and expect the same signal back. It is like sonar for the internet. Your computer sends it out to a target and then reports how long it took to get the signal back and whether any it was expecting to return went missing. It is very useful for checking basic connectivity. “Ping” on a speed test is sometimes mislabeled as a measure of latency. They *used a ping* to test it, but they’re really reporting how long it took for the ping to come back. The lower the number, the better - it means you have a faster response, which will improve your experience overall. Anything under 50ms is very serviceable for anything but the most picky gamers. Anything under 100ms is fine for general usage. Once you get past the 100ms mark you can start to notice it especially during video calls or any kind of synchronous communication. I am often in the 49ms to 80ms range and I work from home full time with a pick manager, and he has never commented about my latency (ping time).

Bandwidth is the size of your pipe, or rather the amount of data that can be transmitted in a given period of time, typically in a second. The bigger the pipe, the more water you can access at once (again with the failing analogy because water flow is also impacted by pressure, but just ignoring pressure I think the analogy works). The more bandwidth you have, the more things you can do at once, and the better your experience will be. Anything above about 4 or 5 Mbit/second (Mbps) is roughly the bare minimum workable speed for most general use one person will want to do. 20 Mbps is great and you’ll probably never have a reason to complain unless you have a handful of users sharing the connection. In that case 40 Mbps is about the minimum especially if anyone is streaming Netflix and/or running zoom calls and the like.

4g (LTE) and 5G are just different generations of cellular technology. I’m answering out of order so you have the context of those speeds from the bandwidth description. 4G/LTE/LTE-A (evolutions of the same generation) is extremely mature tech that can deliver speeds of 300 Mbps or more (this is very rare, but technically possible - more commonly the real world high end is in the 150 to 200 Mbps range, and often easily in the 30 to 50+ Mbps territory). You can aggregate multiple LTE signals together to get faster total speed, but that is a whole other can of worms (tape 3 hoses together coming from three separate spigots at once and you get 3x the water flow). By comparison 5G is very young and just on the verge of becoming widely supported and available. The main benefit is that it has a 20,000 Mbps theoretical maximum speed. It is nowhere near reaching that but with so much potential there is enormous room for extremely fast speeds even at a fraction of the theoretical maximum.

I honestly wasn’t intending to respond at such length to it all but I got typing and, well, there you go. I hope it was helpful - there are lots more resources online with probably much better explanations if you google a bit. And I’m sure you’ll find out where I was a bit (or a lot) wrong - someone else here may also correct me.

At any rate, best of luck to you. The traveling lifestyle sounds pretty fantastic!!

[Katgirl22]

Thank you so much for your explanation! I am trying to find a workable solution for my internet needs as well, and y’all talk in geek speak. Lol I appreciate your breakdown. What is TTL? I am seeing that as well.

[gscheb]

Thank you so much for your explanation! I am trying to find a workable solution for my internet needs as well, and y’all talk in geek speak. Lol I appreciate your breakdown. What is TTL? I am seeing that as well.

Hello,
TTL stands for "Time To Live". People modify this since allot of phone companies use it to determine if you are using on device data or hot spot data. To be honest there are more and more legit plans coming out where you don't have to worry about modifying TTL. This is used mostly on tablet and phone plans in a router.
Check out T-Mobile home internet or Verizon wireless internet. There are also prepay options for these too. Metro by tmobile offers it and can get straight talk on verizon network home internet at Walmart. In the last couple years been allot more options coming out. If it isn't available at your address but you know there is coverage there allot of people been getting service at a friends or relatives address. Then just taking the unit to their own home.