TIPS Cellular.everything

[dicko]

HeHe, Some years ago I lived in a major conurbation in southern California but 15000 feet away from the 'exchange' , I managed to get a BRI from Pac-Bell under an unremembered initiative name and using a Gandalf aggregator got 144 kbs direct to a vsp in SF , It was not at the time painfully slow, bujt amazingly fast and made me a total hero with my 10 yo son and his friends who all bought their computers to my house to play whatever shoot-me-up game at the time, It cost lots of baloney sandwiches and many blown breaker resets.

Baloney sandwich = 25cents, + soda 25 cents times lots = 'Good Dad honor"

He is now 38 and making way more money than I ever did as a Sofware developer, Thank you Windows NT, Encarta and Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego .

 

[KNERD]

HeHe, Some years ago I lived in a major conurbation in southern California but 15000 feet away from the 'exchange' , I managed to get a BRI from Pac-Bell under an unremembered initiative name and using a Gandalf aggregator got 144 kbs direct to a vsp in SF , It was not at the time painfully slow, bujt amazingly fast and made me a total hero with my 10 yo son and his friends who all bought their computers to my house to play whatever shoot-me-up game at the time, It cost lots of baloney sandwiches and many blown breaker resets.

Baloney sandwich = 25cents, + soda 25 cents times lots = 'Good Dad honor"

He is now 38 and making way more money than I ever did as a Sofware developer, Thank you Windows NT, Encarta and Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego .

You probably gotten one of these, or used Microsoft's competing technology at the time to get the same speed for a fraction of the cost

 

[kenn10]

If you look at the fine print, using 5G is an extra $10 a month, bringing it to $45 a month. Visible includes 5G access in its pricing.

That is only if you have 4 or more lines on the account. Verizon does not have the "party plan." A single unlimited line would start at $70/month plus taxes.

 

[KNERD]

@KNERD Here is some interesting chatter on the Netgear discussion board about their LTE router and Visible. It sounds possible.

LB2120 4G Modem on Visible prepaid cellular | NETGEAR Communities

Have been using this modem with T-Mobile for several months and it works great!I just purchased the budget Android phone, the Visible R2, and activated...

community.netgear.com

According to that thread, all their routers just stopped functioning with Visible one day in 2019.

 

[kenn10]

all their routers just stopped functioning with Visible one day in 2019.

That's a shame but I guess I'm not surprised.

 

[KNERD]

That's a shame but I guess I'm not surprised.

It seems someone also pointed out it is against their TOS to connect a router.

 

[kenn10]

It seems someone also pointed out it is against their TOS to connect a router.

Well I'm just happy to have an unlimited, high speed service with 5G on my phone for $25. Fortunately, I have fiber to my home at $60/month for my internet needs.

 

[dicko]

You probably gotten one of these, or used Microsoft's competing technology at the time to get the same speed for a fraction of the cost

View attachment 3379

No, I had a

https://www.recycledgoods.com/gandalf-5242i-10150z2-lanline-router/

at both ends to where my mothership network was with its ISDN PRI's, bond the two SPIDS and add the D channel and 144Kbs !! either one pressed the 'connect' button or set the device for 'on demand' luckily for me both my numbers (locally via Pac-Bells Foreign exchange Centrex feature) and the PRI's where in the same Centrex group so zero cost personally and on-demand always These devices where used regularly by radio show hosts in the Hollywood Hills back in the day.

 

[KNERD]

Well I'm just happy to have an unlimited, high speed service with 5G on my phone for $25. Fortunately, I have fiber to my home at $60/month for my internet needs.

One idea which just occurred to me is to just get their cheap $50 phone, and it as the access point. There is a paid app which you can use Bluetooth, or the USB port on a phone to get around the hotspot restrictions. For a while I had T-Mobile when they had that first real Unlimited plan without restrictions back around 2014-2015. The hotspot was an exception which gave a limit on the amount of data per month, I tried the app with that, and it worked out great. To get a router connected to that.

 

[kenn10]

One idea which just occurred to me is to just get their cheap $50 phone, and it as the access point.

Yeah. I used to use the android app called FoxFi. I allowed me to connect via USB or wifi to my phone back when Verizon did not allow hotspot on the phones. It works quite well. I see it is still available.

 

[w1ve]

So, saw a message that the Cradlepoint AER1600LPE-VZ works perfectly on Visible; you install generic firmware and configure the APN. Anyone have experience with this? I see some on ebay fairly cheap.

 

[w1ve]

Also, I added an account and got the ZTE cheapie phone. I'm getting 75Mbps/25Mbps on it as a hotspot. Just another way to go.

 

[kenn10]

Cradlepoint AER1600LPE-VZ

Certainly an industrial solution but not an inexpensive one. Some on eBay with widely varying prices.

 

[Brianmac]

Any "simple" solution for International calling on visible?

 

[kenn10]

Any "simple" solution for International calling on visible?

Nope.

While they still don't offer any international roaming, they do now offer calling and texting to four locations: Mexico, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

 

[wardmundy]

FYI: Calling between Google Fi and Visible has been fixed.

 

[w1ve]

Any "simple" solution for International calling on visible?

Yeah. Are we not a PBX group doing VoIP? I call western Europe from my cell for $0.0012/minute. I just add a DISA to my PBX.

 

[Brianmac]

@w1ve, I am researching if this would be a good fit for my family, friends, and customers(I.T.). Most do not have VOIP PBX's(yet ). Don't think people they would want to switch to Visible only to have to setup a pbx to call international..

 

[wardmundy]

@w1ve, I am researching if this would be a good fit for my family, friends, and customers(I.T.). Most do not have VOIP PBX's(yet ). Don't think people they would want to switch to Visible only to have to setup a pbx to call international..

A Raspberry Pi running Incredible PBX takes about 10 minutes to set up. Full cost is well under $100.

 

[Brianmac]

I understand that for "us" its quick and cheap. I don't see running around setting this up for family and friends so they can call international. The minute the Pi dies, loses power, or something - who they going to call......