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TC asked: “I have a question about the best MiFi with unlimited data I could buy. I can only buy Wi-Fi at home and I’d like to have Wi-Fi on the go for my smartphone, laptop and tablet. I don’t know what brand/company would be the best one to buy.”
Well, if you can find a company selling a dedicated portable hotspot with unlimited data, would you please tell us? Because we’re not aware of anyone doing that. The devices themselves are inexpensive. Where they get you is the data plan.
Now that’s not to say that you can’t find unlimited data plans. Depending on which wireless provider you choose, you may well be able to get unlimited data. For example, Sprint and MetroPCS are both offering unlimited data plans right now, and they both claim that their plans are unlimited high-speed data with no throttling.
Most unlimited data plans offer you a certain amount of data at full speed and then they throttle you,
Most unlimited data plans offer you a certain amount of data at full speed and then they throttle you, or slow down your data rate. You can have the data, but you can’t really use it for anything worthwhile. It’s simply too slow.
If you were willing to move your cell phone to one of the wireless providers offering unlimited data, you could pay a monthly tethering fee (it’s not much, usually $5 or $10) and use your smartphone as a hotspot for your tablet and computer.
But, when you walk in the store and ask about dedicated hotspot hardware, they know you’re a data power user. You’re going to use this with a tablet, or worse, a computer, and you’ll use lots of data. It’s not that they couldn’t give you an unlimited data plan, it’s just that they don’t believe they have to, and they want to charge you as much as they can get you to pay.
For non-profit organizations you can get this pretty cheap. Sprint MVNOs like MobileBeacon won parts of the wireless spectrum in auction and they let Sprint use them with a trade for cheap wireless service. MobileBeacon only serves non-profits and charges $10/month for unlimited $g (and 3G for some devices), but you need to buy the device from them too.
Cricket Wireless (AT&T’s cheaper spin-off) has an unlimited plan for $65.00 minus $5.00 if you
opt for auto-pay from a credit/debit card
I have Metro PCS and as for the unlimited data plan, I have found none that rival it. I’m a truck driver and since Metro has become part of the at&t family, I get service all over the country, a few dead zones but that’s expected in the mountains, and I use well over 35+ GB a month of data, using GPS, MAPS, YouTube, Showbox, Facebook, and many other apps including games. I usually get a warning around 32GB saying my speed “MAY” slow down, but I haven’t had the issue of dealing with this. Like I said I use well over 35+GB of data a month.