Wireless Joint

I have a mofi4500 with verizon, which has been great for the most part, but I'm in an area right now with heavy congestion during the evenings which makes it basically unusable. I saw that the ATT Unlimited Elite plan went truly unlimited in the last month or so, and wondering if I should be trying it?

I know it is a phone plan, so wondering if it won't work on the mofi due to non phone IMEI?

Yes, so far post paid ATT Elite streams much better then T-Mob does at my location (tried the postpaid Magenta Max plan, what a joke, not to mention T-Mob's signal maps are a wildly inaccurate and you cant even make a call without going outside despite a "fair" signal or better on their map). I am in a rural area.

ATT so far no throttling and at times will even stream 4k when I tested it, although I usually limit streaming to 1080p. Can't say if it would work on a MOFI. ATT phone plans can be IMEI sensitive, you'll know pretty quick if the the MOFI doesn't get an IP address on an active SIM. I have used up to 600GB a month on one line (by accident) without throttling but this was through an android phone not a MOFI. Nearly all was streaming 1080p. You have to turn off the stream saver to get the higher res streaming, but that option so far works well.

I bet you could try the ATT prepaid plan and get the same performance, they say they might slow data after 22gb, but my suspicion in most locations they are not doing this. You would save a little money, but not get HBOMAX like on the Elite plans and would give you an easy way to drop the service if needed.

Since you already have a MOFI, I have also had good luck with UBIFI.net's unlimited ATT service (used to be $89 but is now $99 month, but is not a contract plan and you can cancel whenever). It too seemed to stream pretty well in my old Mofi Router, and they will send you a SIM if you already have a MOFI 4500. I am not sure what type of plan they resell, if it is a tablet plan or a business data plan, the SIM from them uses the broadband apn instead of the nextgenphone apn. It too would stream 1080p pretty well.

All ATT phone plans are imei locked.

Post paid tablet and hotspot plans seem to be the only thing not yet imei locked.

Didneywhorl wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:23 am All ATT phone plans are imei locked.

Post paid tablet and hotspot plans seem to be the only thing not yet imei locked.

My $35 ATT Prepaid iPad SIM can be placed in any device and continue to work. It's been that way for over 3 years now. Are you saying that's an exception?

mtnchar wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:23 am Yes, so far post paid ATT Elite streams much better then T-Mob does at my location (tried the postpaid Magenta Max plan, what a joke, not to mention T-Mob's signal maps are a wildly inaccurate and you cant even make a call without going outside despite a "fair" signal or better on their map). I am in a rural area.

Wait - so the issue is T-Mo has almost no coverage at your location - right?

It's not that you have good T-Mo coverage but its the postpaid Magenta Max plan that's causing issues?

mtnchar wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:23 am ATT phone plans can be IMEI sensitive, you'll know pretty quick if the the MOFI doesn't get an IP address on an active SIM

Could you expand on this a bit please?

Example: If you take the ATT SIM card from a phone where the SIM/plan works and place it in a MOFI but it doesn't register, can you place the ATT SIM card back into the phone where it worked before and have the ATT SIM card continue to work like before without any other steps?

mtnchar wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:23 amthe SIM from them uses the broadband apn instead of the nextgenphone apn. It too would stream 1080p pretty well.

1. Do any of the ATT LTE plans exclusively use the nextgenphone apn?
2. What's the difference between the nextgenphone and broadband apns? (I have been able to use the broadband apn on all ATT LTE plans while the nextgenphone plans seem to only work on ATT LTE phone plans - not plans meant for tablets etc)

I should have clarified. From what I have seen the ATT post paid voice plans, even with hotspot and unlimited data, have only been successfully used in a hotspot device when the imei of the hotspot has been tampered with.

The Pre-paid seems to also be more long term useful if the imei is tampered with, but short term they seem to work by simply swapping, but only under the broadband APN.

The nextgenphone APN seems to only work with plans registered to phone imei's.

I have limited experience with the newest att plans myself, I am going off of reading others posts etc.

Didneywhorl wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:01 am From what I have seen the ATT post paid voice plans, even with hotspot and unlimited data, have only been successfully used in a hotspot device when the imei of the hotspot has been tampered with.

I might be misinterpreting what you said, but to clarify, are you noticing that ATT postpaid data plans (that come with voice) are usually always IMEI locked?

Didneywhorl wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:01 am The nextgenphone APN seems to only work with plans registered to phone imei's.

1. Would the broadband APN work in that same plan?
2. Why would I use the nextgenphone APN if the broadband APN work? I don't want to trigger any flags etc - that's why I ask

LoveMeSomeCALTE wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:14 am I might be misinterpreting what you said, but to clarify, are you noticing that ATT postpaid data plans (that come with voice) are usually always IMEI locked?

I think of them differently. Data plans (hotspot only) don't come with voice but voice plans can come with data. That's how I think of the plans when saying voice plans or data plans. Sorry for con fusion there.

LoveMeSomeCALTE wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:14 am 1. Would the broadband APN work in that same plan?
2. Why would I use the nextgenphone APN if the broadband APN work? I don't want to trigger any flags etc - that's why I ask

I think the newest plans that have access to use the nextgenphone APN can use the broadband APN as well (some phones will use one of the APNS for voice and one for hotspot). Alternatively, exclusive use of the nexgenphone APN seems like it can access hotspot data as well as use voice.

I think there is also another APN for 5G, like nexgenphone5G, or something.

To be clear, I don't fully understand the APN system and the nuances. I just advise based on my experiences, or parrot from trusted sources.

Didneywhorl wrote: Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:23 am All ATT phone plans are imei locked.

Post paid tablet and hotspot plans seem to be the only thing not yet IMEI locked.

ah, Thank You.

1. In that case, would you believe, the AT&T - Unlimited Starter/Elite plans would be imei locked too?

2. If so, is it a matter of a simple phone call to the CS asking to add the new IMEI so the new device can connect out or IMEI lock literally means the plan can ONLY be used by the IMEI in which the SIM was activated, no exceptions?