Best Mifi (wifi) for the US? suggestions

I'm able to talk on the phone and surf the net, stream video or even be online with my ps4 at the same time.

 

I can too if I am at the area of 4 g. If not the phone will not work with the internet on.

Besides, it does not add that much to it.

 

Agreed, but remember not all carriers allow tethering your connection without paying! Easily bypassed by rooting your phone but many don't have the technical ability to do that.

The thing that changes with an MVNO (company that run's off a larger carriers network) is the loss of roaming agreements. For example I used to have my phone (prior to having a smartphone) on PagePlus Cellular which uses Verizon, I had all the same coverage a "real" Verizon customer would have BUT if I went into an area where Verizon phones where running on a roaming agreement like in Western VA (US Cellular territory) my phone would loose service and a "real" Verizon phone would work fine on USC's network. I also had a Smartphone once on Simple Mobile which uses T-Mobile's network and my data speeds where crap most of the time. I switched to "real" T-Mobile and my speeds were lightning fast.

This is the way I see it as a former Cell Network Technician

Verizon - I hate them but very good coverage. The downside of them is they were the last carrier to get 4G and ONLY have their LTE Network for it. Without LTE coverage your on 3G, Where AT&T and T-Mobile also have their HSPA+ 4G Network to fall back on. Sprint still has WiMax in some area's but it's going away.

Sprint - All over the map, can't decide what network to switch to, slowly going bankrupt and recently acquired by a Japanese holding company and rely heavily on roaming agreements with Verizon and USC, not the greatest choice for an OTR guy

AT&T - Huge Network and decent coverage, 2nd only to Verizon. Best selection of phones but like Verizon a little pricey.

T-Mobile - By far the fastest 4G LTE, and even their HSPA+ 4G system will typically beat the others LTE Speed....BUT their coverage outside of Metro Area's is nothing to be proud of. You'll usually wind up on EDGE (2G) much more than the other carriers. However they've recenly bought MetroPCS and using all of their bandwidth for LTE now and just bought a chunk of 700Mhz bandwidth from Verizon for $3 Billion (yup, with a B) and that band is VERY good at penetrating hard to reach area's so that could really turn the table's in the next year.



Short answer, Verizon #1 for OTR, AT&T #2

 

They only do data, but its much cheaper then strait through the V. I have a verizion cell, but at the amount of data I use, it much cheaper to just have the min 250mb (0.25GB) on my phone and 20gb on milinicom. 20gb hotspot on phone is way to much money. They dont throttle your data. I set my phone to connect to the device to so i can reduce data usage from verizion on phone. The antenna in the mifi device from milenicom is better and gets service in places my phone has no bars.

On an iphone 4s, i pay 55 bucks a month to the big V and 70 to milinicome. Both use the great verizion service. Total monthly is 125. Now for 20 gb on the iphone direct through verizion is 190/month. Also the coverage isnt as good since the iphone antenna isnt perfect. Also i cant use data while on phone. Using the milinicom device i can use data on phone while on phone since its using wifi for data.

Now, if you only use 7gb per month, its cheaper to just get it on the iphone through V. If however you watch a lot of netflix, video skype with friends, online gaming, you will use way more then 7 gb.

 

Rarely am i not on lte and their 3g is still fast enough to stream HD netflix (although i stick to sd netflix most of the time to keep from killing data) The jetpack device (availible through them or milienicom) has a great built in anttena and almost always find 4g. Only in the back wood of wv or desert out west does it drop to 3g or less. Ive never been out of coverage with it and when less then 3g i can still email and facebook. My v iphone on the other hand has a poor antenna and dropps to 0 coverage sometimes. The voice network for v is not as good as the data network.

 

You got that right! For now Verizon is still using their dinosaur CDMA network for the phone calls. After being with GSM companies for years (ATT,TMO) It's sucks going back to the very trebble-y sounding voice quality of Verizon. Supposedly MAYBE this year, but by next they'll be pushing their voice over LTE (VoLTE) as well which should be a huge improvement. It also forces them to close the gaps in LTE coverage which will be nice.

 

there don't seem to be too many places still in the 3g age.

and if you upgrade your phone plan. tethering is pretty much part of the plan these days.,

least, verizon did that to me. i'm not paying any extra now then i did before.

and there are apps that will do tethering without root. foxfi comes to mind.

 

I have reasons for research on the internet and contact with the people asking them when away from home. Tax consulting. It is a much more reliable way of doing it.

There are times the phone has a weaker signal than the air card, mifi does.

 

awww, you caught me in the middle of changing my post.

 

I used foxfi. Did not like the way it locked the phone up.

There are many 3 g areas and some 1x still. I know some areas the phone picks up the weaker 3 g and the new mifi grabs the 4 g.

When on the net, I can leave it hooked on the web and then leave with the phone to make a private call and not affect the browser.

It comes to each of their own.