On Thu, 15 Jun 2017 14:40:58 -0500 Richard Owlett <rowl...@cloud85.net> dijo:
>About a year ago my local ISP terminated dial-up service and was not >marketing wideband to home users. I decided against any type of fixed >point of service (i.e. telco, cable, or satellite). I looked for a >"cell network modem" (proper term?). The closest thing I could find >from a provider with a physically local presence was the Z915. Having >only 1 machine I have no use for its WiFi capability. For connecting >to the internet the hardware aspects are fine. My OS is Debian Stretch. I have a Note 3 phone, originally T-Mobile, now MetroPCS. MetroPCS has always had a deal with T-Mobile to use their network, and now MetroPCS is owned by T-Mobile. It used to be that you had to pay extra to use your phone (or modem) as a hotspot, but about a year ago someone told me that there is no longer an extra charge. I pay $30 a month for 5GB of data, and using my phone as a hotspot is included. Recently I had a problem with my new Centurylink gigabit fiber connection - no connection at all. Of course this occurred on a Friday night, too late to get anyone by phone. Have you ever tried to communicate with Centurylink when you have no net connection? Eventually I figured out how to turn my phone into a hotspot. My laptop saw the hotspot, but could not connect to it. I was tearing my hair out when it dawned on me to try a physical connection. I charge my phone with a USB cable from my laptop, so I just plugged it in. Voilà! I was on the net. And it wasn't even terribly slow. I never did figure out why my laptop couldn't connect to the hotspot by wifi. Once I had a connection I was able to get Centurylink to schedule a service call, although the earliest they could do was Monday. Knowing that I had only 5GB of high speed data I turned off everything that might use a lot of data. Over the weekend I used the connection just for e-mail and browsing the web. Once my fiber connection was restored I turned off the hotspot and checked my data usage on the phone - I had used only 400MB over the weekend. The point I want to make is that I did it with just my now several years old phone. So why do you need the Z915? Does it give you extra benefits? _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
