Cellular internet feedback

[pceinc]

I'm looking for feedback from anyone who is in the unfortunately situation of having to use cellular or satellite internet. I have a client who is currently on Wildblue/Excede satellite service with a 25GB monthly data cap and speeds that range anywhere from 5Mbps D /.5Mbps U to 15 Mbps D / 3 Mbps U all in a matter of minutes. I've called support for them and just don't get anywhere. My thought is it's due to the saturation on the service. They currently pay about $120/mo and often have to buy additional GB's when they go over.

When I am onsite I get 4-5 bars of LTE on my phone which provides speeds that are fast enough. My thought is they could pay for additional cell data and purchase a Cradlepoint router and still be ahead of their current provider. Cell isn't always affected by weather either. Snow and ice have caused problems for this client.

I'm looking for feedback from anyone in the same situation and how it's worked. I suspect the cell signal quality can vary as well. I'd hate to get them on a contract and find out the speeds I experienced where a fluke.

 

[mikeroq]

I currently use my phone for internet. I tether to my PC. Sprint 4g.

It's not the best, but it is faster then my Cable service was. Only issue is the ping can get high sometimes. But I stream netflix, other sites, youtube, download crap, everything seems ok.

Been doing this for at least 5 months. It's been as consistent or better then my cable was.

 

[katz]

Here in Penna. I have a few clients that use the jetpacks. I was recently onsite and the speedtest was a whopping 30 Mbps, as fast as my shop cable connection! They pay $70/mo., but I am not sure of their data cap. In my area Verizon is king...

 

[Markverhyden]

As far as I know every WWAN provider has tiered service levels. So you will get whacked with surcharges on overages and they are not cheap.

My AT&T WWAN device is a Sierra but it's 4G not LTE. I get around 8.5/3 on that with my laptop, 5 bars. I just tested my iPhone 5s, LTE, and OOKLA reports 33.5/13.5. However I'm not that confident that could be a sustained rate. Even if it drops back to 4G level that is still respectable. My base rate is around $130 for 20gb.

 

[Pants]

My AT&T WWAN device is a Sierra but it's 4G not LTE. .

I'm a little confused as to what you mean. I thought LTE fell under the umbrella of "4g".

I know that some "4g" carriers are not true 4g, or even come close to meeting the 4g standard...ie LTE and LTE Advanced come much closer to meeting the true "4g" standard...So I thought you might have been alluding to that.