Mobile Internet While Roaming in our U-haul Camper

For a while, I have been thinking of getting a mobile hotspot device with service for internet when traveling/camping. My problem is that I do not need such a service all the time or even every month for that matter. So I needed to be able to do some sort of prepaid option that wouldn't cost a fortune and that I wouldn't need to pay for every month.

So let me take a step back and explain what I normally do for internet. I do have a cell phone with Verizon network that has data and tethering ability. And I can and have used it a lot when needed. I also try to find WiFi locations that I can use. So I will try to find a coffee shop or fast food place with WiFi and eat a meal while I use their service. I know this probably looks awful to some folks to see a dad hunched over his laptop while eating with his family, but in reality I'm looking for fun things to do with them or taking care of some business while I'm there so that I can be fully present with them later when we're being active.

Not all campgrounds have great WiFi. Many don't have it at all or you have to drive to the office/camp store to use it. Which for me means, driving up there after the kids are asleep and sitting in the car at 10pm to map out the next day's adventures, pay bills or handle other business. And to be honest, we're not full-timers and we aren't streaming netflix every day. We do carry portable dvd player for the kids to watch movies on.

I only want to pay for a month that I'm traveling. I also don't want to have to buy a new sim card every time I travel because the old one was cut off and I can't reactivate it when I need to. And if I'm going to get a service, it might as well be on the other big network provider opposite of what I have through my phone. That way I might have better coverage and 2 options. All of this went into me deciding to give FreedomPop a try. They happened to be doing a deal this summer where I could get the device and sim card for $9.99 and it came with 1 month of 2GB data + some other services. So I bit the bullet and gave it a try for our week-long trip this summer. I new that Verizon service where I was going to be wasn't the best; I hoped that AT&T was better. FreedomPop uses AT&T's network (I think they may have another option for other carriers too but AT&T was fine for me).

FreedomPop advertises a free plan, but lets be honest, nothing is really free. The one thing I quickly figured out was that there's a lot of things you need to tweak to downgrade after the first free month to the free plan. First you have to drop the 2GB plan they gave you and that will put you down to a 200MB/month plan. In the process of doing that, they will charge you $15 and put a credit on your Top-Up balance that's basically kicks in when you go over or get close to going over your data limit (if you ever cancel and close your account they can refund this; it's more of a security deposit). There is a way to turn off Top-Up but it requires adding another service, turning off Top-Up and then dropping that service. Which ended up costing me $.70 (that's right less than a dollar) since I did it 2 days before end of billing cycle. There's also services that you have to cancel so you won't get billed after the first trial period. For a lot more information, I recommend checking out this page which has a lot of good detailed info on how to get down to the free plan. So its a bit complicated and takes some time to do it, but you can do it.

My trial included 2GB of data which I estimated to be plenty for the week and it was. I think I used 1GB that week and it worked great. Note that I was not streaming audio or videos. I was simply using it to connect my laptop for chatting/messaging/emailing and web surfing. I plan to upgrade to the 2GB plan anytime I'll be traveling and then downgrade to the free plan after we're back. This should keep my sim active and allow me what I was originally looking for in a pay as you go service. Note that the free plan includes only 200MB of data (you could get multiple SIMs and go through the process for each if you really want to be frugal). FreedomPop also has a referral program where you can get 5MB per friend who signs up for up to 50MB more per month.

As for the device, what I received was a Netgear Aircard 770S (aka AT&T Unite). The device has a touchscreen for simple config, but you will want to access the web interface via your browser if you want more configuration control over the device. The device has built-in antenna that seems to work fairly well. I strongly recommend you see my full video review here and my web configuration interface walk-through here.

If you want to try to get better reception to the mobile network (not WiFi) via an external antenna, there are several options. There are 2 external TS9 antenna connectors. I bought a Wilson magnet mount antenna and a TS9 to SMA pigtail since the antenna has a SMA connector on it. I will try this out in the future when we're in low signal areas.

I was happy with the service and devices for what I needed. Now I have an option on a separate network from my phone that I can use for those times we are traveling. I'll do a follow up next year after we have some time to use it more and let you know how it's going.

If you are interested in trying out FreedomPop, please sign up via this link as it will help me get the bonus data (you will have an opportunity to get your own link to share with friends/family once you sign up): http://fpop.co/lAxr