ZTE Verizon 890L Jetpack limited to 10GB?

[KMI2014]

I bought a ZTE Verizon 890L Jetpack and activated it without a contract. The area I live in is a rural area without dsl, cable and fiber, my only options are dial up, satellite, 3G Evdo and Lte only through Verizon wireless. I was surprised I could even get Lte here and wouldn't have known I could get Lte through Verizon if it weren't for meeting a guy online that lives in the same place as me. Verizon coverage maps don't list my address and being in Lte territory, only 3G at best so I wouldn't have ever known about it if it weren't for that guy and atm with the device sitting in a window I get three bars of Lte service. This is a good thing because I'm convincing my parents to ditch their crappy Hughesnet satellite service next year and go with Lte service through Verizon.

I actually have a couple questions to ask. I know Verizon offers higher than 10GB for data packages yet no higher package is given to me as an option to upgrade to. I'm not sure if 10GB will be enough, I'm not really a heavy user but do occasionally watch a Youtube video or two, stream some music, maybe a Netflix movie, play online multiplayer. Then there's Windows updates and updating games through Steam, I can update the games but for purchasing new games or re-downloading I'll be force to seek another option such as a portable hdd and downloading games on Steam at a friends house who has cable or fiber. Is there any way to get higher than 10GB, around 12GB to 15GB should be enough. I've only had the device for a few days,  watched a short Youtube video or two, browsed the web, streamed a bit of music, a few small updates and played online briefly to test out latency and already burned through almost 800MB of data. 😕

I really need some more leeway so I don't get into overage hell. The usage doesn't seem to update in real time and sometimes takes a bit to update which makes it more of a pain to track usage. Plus last night after turning off the device it seemed to somehow use additional data so I'm not sure if that wasn't my current data usage and it updated while I was sleeping or if it was phantom usage.

Another issue I am experiencing is the server browser for my online game is choking trying to load the list of servers. In fact the Steam client has trouble loading the list of servers, not just ingame. The servers will show up but if I refresh I'll get a dreaded "No servers responding to you inquiry" then if I keep refreshing servers will show back up. If I click to join a server I get a popup from the server browser "Server is not responding" but if I keep clicking join or refresh I'll finally be able to join. I'm not sure if I have to forward ports but I've never had to just to play in the past, my former Overdrive Pro with 3G Evdo didn't require me to forward ports and other providers such as cable and fios didn't require me to forward ports just to play.

Also I can't seem to find a way to change dns servers within the device, that option doesn't seem to be present. I always like setting dns servers from the device/router to Google dns and route everything through alternate dns servers since the dns servers from the provider seem to be unreliable.There also doesn't appear to be any way to tether via usb so either the device doesn't support it or there is something I have to do before I can tether via a micro usb data cable.

If anyone could answer my inquires, offer solutions and let me know if any of this is possible with this device I'd appreciate it, thank you.

[KMI2014]

I wanted to say that data usage seems to be inaccurate. I really haven't done that much and burned through almost 900MB of data. Last night I was under 800MB, around 750MB of usage. All I've done is a bit of web browsing, no heavy image videos or data heavy stuff and am at almost 900MB now.

I think I'm going to need at least 12GB to 15GB to stay within my limit and avoid possibly being subject to overages.

Can I switch to the More Everything plan with a data package higher than 10GB? I'd also appreciate a response to my other inquires, thank you.

[KMI2014]

I wanted to add that I figured out how to upgrade to a higher data package. I had to click the Explore More Everything plan link. Other inquires are still unresolved, in the meantime I've been trying to dig around for answers to those but have come up empty handed so far.

Sorry for the double/triple post but I don't see an edit button or a way to edit my post.

[vzw_customer_support]

Congratulations on your new device, KMI2014. In all honesty, the jetpack was not designed to be your main source of internet. It is more of a backup plan to have internet service on your tablet or laptop when you are away from your home internet (which isn't available in your area).
The Jetpack data plans only go to 10GB. Streaming music or movies will cause that data to climb significantly.
vzw.com/datacalculator

We are not able to support the change of DNS servers on our end.

The jetpack is wireless so you are not able to tether it.

TamaraH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[KMI2014]

Typical consumers on the go don't have requirements for higher data packages, usually 3GB to 5GB is sufficient. The majority of customers on higher data packages are those who reside in rural areas where there are literally no options because corps like Verizon and Time Warner refuse to expand to service those areas. For most of us this is our main source of internet as there's nothing better. Satellite internet is a horrid experience plagued with issues and dial up is obsolete and not worth considering anymore. You are aware of Home Fusion that uses the same cellular towers and network? It's an alternative home based broadband solution from Verizon, typically geared towards those in rural areas who have no other decent options for internet service but can get Lte service. However I could not find anywhere that allows outright purchase of the Home Fusion hardware nor could I find if there are no contract plans for Home Fusion hence why I went with this cheaper alternative solution.

I did find out how to get a higher data package, I had to switch to the More Everything plan. Usually good devices and routers support alternate dns servers and usb tethering and even better devices have an ethernet port. It's saddening this device supports neither so I suppose I will have to consider a better device when I can afford it.

It seems my performance is acceptable today at around 12Mbps down and 2Mbps up. I found out the charger is junk and every time I used the device with the charger connected it suffered from severe performance/speed degradation. The wifi router in this seems to be junk as I mentioned so when I attempt to load/refresh servers on the server browser it kills the connection. That is mostly what I'm concerned about atm and would like to know how I can prevent a server browser from flooding the connection? As for speed I can worry about that later, that may be caused by signal quality so if I hook up a passive antenna and amplifier it should hopefully prevent speed from dropping too much.

[KMI2014]

Gee Verizon it sure would be nice if data usage didn't take so long to update and either updated in real time or with a slight delay. Sometimes it takes hours or almost a day for usage to update; you want to provide low caps, charge a fortune for not only service but overages as well (average price per GB is around $0.01 so major markup at $10 per GB) then not give proper adequate means to monitor usage. -_-

Are there actual members here that respond other than Verizon reps? I'm still waiting for suggestions on how to solve this issue with the Steam server browser as the other inquires have pretty much been answered elsewhere.

It would surely be nice if someone knew if/when Fios, DSL or cable will ever come to my area. But every time I asked that Verizon blatantly gave false information or gave a generic response they didn't know when. I take it the bottom level never knows what going on up top or has a channel of communication with corporate.