5GB Limit. Really?

[Sirreel]

Crimedoggies said "Verizon's mobile broadband service was not designed to be plugged into a router and provide service to an entire household (thus the reason they don't sell routers for the USB cards). And it certainly was never intended to be used with your Xbox which uses a HUGE amount of bandwidth. I wonder if your connection affects your performance online? The bill signed by Obama refers to WIFI and Wired connections only, not mobile broadband provided by cellular companies. Obtaining high speed broadband service while totally mobile is a privelege not a right."

I have to challenge some of those those assertions.

Mobile broadband not intended to be plugged into a router to share internet on a home network? I don't believe that statement. Could you supply proof, other than by inference that Verizon doesn't sell routers? The folks I bought myservice, modem, router and antenna from would also disagree.

Not intended to be used with an Xbox? Again, have you any proof? Plus, you assume too much. I have never played an online game and wouldn't know how. The Xbox has been modded to run XBMC and I use it as a media center to play content stored elsewhere on my network. It connects to the internet to display weather info on my TV. Even so, I have no idea how much bandwidth actually goes thru it, tho I suspect the amount is very small.

It would be nice to be able to monitor bandwidth usage for my entire network from a central location. NetMeter and similar programs (VZAccess) don't do that as far as I can tell - they only work on one computer at a a time. I sent an email to Cradlepoint, the folks who made my router, and suggested they put that capability in their firmware but haven't gotten a response.

[#2]

I think his point is that 5 GB is not a lot of capacity and by inference, not intended for those uses.  I suppose you can use it anyway you want if you can keep your usage to 5 GB or purchase more than one plan.

[Sirreel]

gwhnewbie said "As for providing healthcare for FREE to everyone, well.,,,are you willing to give up over half your gross income in taxes in order to provide health care for people you don't even know?

I agree that health care should be provided to everyone for the asking. That is, one should be able to visit a doctor, etc., and have no bill to pay. A single payer system would do that, where (almost) everyone pays taxes and everyone gets health care. I doubt that tax would consume half of anyone's earnings since everyone would be paying into the same system. Government run health care programs now get the poor, the elderly all the sick people that the insurance companies won't cover. Naturally those programs are expensive and can't pay their own way. Put all the healthy people in the same plan and the costs of providing care would be covered but there would be no money going to insurance co's profiting from sickness. That's an instant saving that would more than make up for those who can't afford to pay. We don't need to change our health care system so much as we need to change our wealth care system.

Right now I'm paying taxes to maintain a navy. I live fairly close to the Mississippi river, but, personally, I don't need a navy. Too bad for the folks on the coasts who are subject to attack. I don't even know them. I don't want to pay for their protection. Can you imagine doing away with the armed services and employing a system that would allow (force) me to buy the protection I thought I needed from a hodgepodge of private secruity companies?

How about your local police and fire departments? Skip the taxes for them, too, and let them only protect the wealthy folks who can afford their services? Imagine getting robbed and the police telling you, sorry, you didn't pay your premiums.

How about public education? the FDA? NASA? Why do we join forces to pay for all that stuff, but health care is an individual burden? If you get sick and can't work (pay) you lose your insurance. It doesn't make sense.

[Sirreel]

One more thing about health care.

If I hear one more time from a congressman that the government can't run a health care program (or any program) because government programs are known for waste, mismanagement and incompetence, I'm gonna scream. These are the people who fashion those programs. They're in charge of those programs. They hire their friends to run them. Then they talk trash about them, like gov't workers can't do anything right. Aren't they really acknowledging their own incompetence when they do that?

[crimedoggies]

Mobile broadband not intended to be plugged into a router to share internet on a home network? I don't believe that statement. Could you supply proof, other than by inference that Verizon doesn't sell routers? The folks I bought myservice, modem, router and antenna from would also disagree. Did you buy your service from a Corporate employee of Verizon Wireless? I would wager not. Most likely you purchased your service from a third party retailer that was just looking for a comission and would sell you whatever is required to collect that comission. Verzion corp employees are trained to convey to customers that broadband cards are not made to be networked (in fact im pretty sure i was once told that networking a broadband card is a breach of the contract that you signed with Verizon since the card is designed to provide a SINGLE secure connection, thus the need for the MIFI card to be developed.) Not intended to be used with an Xbox? Again, have you any proof? Plus, you assume too much. I have never played an online game and wouldn't know how. The Xbox has been modded to run XBMC and I use it as a media center to play content stored elsewhere on my network. It connects to the internet to display weather info on my TV. Even so, I have no idea how much bandwidth actually goes thru it, tho I suspect the amount is very small. Most users of an Xbox use the internet to play online games as well as update game data, this uses a huge amount of data. i have never heard till now somebody modding their xbox for using xbmc so your data use might be less, but displaying a full video image (weather or not) still requires a significant data flow It would be nice to be able to monitor bandwidth usage for my entire network from a central location. NetMeter and similar programs (VZAccess) don't do that as far as I can tell - they only work on one computer at a a time. I sent an email to Cradlepoint, the folks who made my router, and suggested they put that capability in their firmware but haven't gotten a response. And you won't. They manufacture a product to allow you to use another companies product in an unintended fashion. installing firmware to track the usage is a risk they wont take. should they provide you such capability and you went over when their system indicated you were within your limits what would the impact be to them?

[Sirreel]

I don't believe the Xbox downloads a video image to display weather info, just the data to stick in that video image.

I don't believe Cradlepoint's routers are using broadband modems in an  'unintended' fashion. Those modems are intended to receive and transmit wireless broadband data. The router doesn't change that at all. You might be thinking Verizon didn't intend for a single modem to supply access to more than one computer but I see their MiFi devices do just that.

I also see that Verizon's new modems have VZAccess built right in so the user can monitor all the bandwidth used no matter if the modem feeds a network. That shows me Verizon is working on the problem of inaccurate usage data. Good for them.

[#7]

The VZAccess software installs on your computer.  The usage meter reads the same two or three day old data you see if you log onto the Verizon website.  There is still no way to get accurate "real time" usage unless you install NetMeter on each and every networked computer.  Also, when you are using a router, you don't run VZAccess.

[Sirreel]

I was looking at the PC 770 Express Card modem. The ad states it has " VZAccess software on board".  I was hoping that meant it was in firmware and could monitor all data flowing thru the card. (Don't know why the font seems bold - I can't change it.)

I only used VZA once when I enabled my modem. I wasn't very impressed with it. I didn't use it to monitor usage so I don't know if it gets its usage data from Verizon or if it counts bits as they flow thru the modem. As I recall, VZA won't install on a computer until you connect the modem. My desktop has no provision for attaching an Express Card. Since then I upgraded my desktop and laptop to Win7 64 which doesn't support my modem so I can't install the new version of VZA on either.

No, you don't (can't ?) use VZA with a router. The computer running VZA needs to have the modem attached to it.

If VZA gets its data from Verizon and doesn't count bits, it doesn't really matter if it comes embedded in the modem. What is needed is some way to count data flowing thru the modem in real time and use that count to issue warnings based on trends and/or thresholds to avoid exceeding the 5 GB limit. Firmware in the modem would be a great way to do that, and firmware in the router would be great for older modems, like mine, without that capability.

If I have to suffer a 5 GB limit I wish I could get accurate usage data and set up some rules to avoid overuse so I just didn't have to worry about it. That hardly seems impossible. Are the overusage charges too lucrative to let that happen? If overuse causes problems for the network, and if protecting the integrity of the network is the goal of the 5 GB limit, it seems logical that Verizon would provide an easy way for users to avoid overuse. If making a bunch of money is Verizon's true goal, then inaccurate data monitoring and no automated way to avoid overuse makes perfect sense.

So, how about it, Verizon? Is your network overused? Would it suffer if customers could use their entire allotment (without fear of going over, wouldn't they be more inclined to use all of what you sell them?)? Are your overcharges pure profit? Do they shift the burden of protecting your network to the users? Do they waste millions of man-hours every year when each customer spends time monitoring usage to avoid overcharges?

[#9]

When it says VZAccess is loaded on the modem, that simply means it installs on your computer from the modem and you don't use a CD.  VZAccess does not keep track of usage.  It simply goes out to the Verizon site and downloads usage from there.  I don't think Verizon intentionally feeds us old information hoping we will exceed out 5 GB.  I think it's their systems capability that sucks.  The answer for me would be for CradlePoint to install metering capability in their routers.

[Deamorei]

"Mobile broadband not intended to be plugged into a router to share internet on a home network?"

Actually the MIFI-2200 was designed to do this exactly. It just doesn't require a router for multiple connections. As to limits/caps I see those changing soon. AT&T and Verizon just lowered there wireless phone prices about 30 bucks a month. Why? To try and appease wireless customers who are being raked over the coals by them. They said it was to compete with other providers but that is simply untrue as there are no competitors. They did it to try and lessen the pressure from consumers that are tired of being ripped off. Net Neutrality, FTC and FCC investigations are on the move. Net Neutrality is going to pass and I expect these measly 5GB caps to be raised to allow us a fair amount of data for our money,

Oh BTW side by side Verizon Acess Manager and Netmeter reflect the same per session useage. Verizon just doesn't have a reliable way to maintain up to date useage reports on their site. They were 3 days behind earlier this week. This is unacceptable.