I recently, like so many others I'm sure, received an email regarding the new service Tech Connect+ serviced by Sprint and administered by FMCA. I generally applaud FMCA for this new service offering. The claim is that for about $50/month one can get truly unlimited data through a rented device as a "Hotspot." The device has a one time rental fee of about $40 and must be returned within fifteen days after cancellation to avoid a $200 administrative fee. Well, so far so good and this sounded interesting to me especially since there was no contract, term agreement, or cancellation fee. In other words, sign-up, pay a fee/s and enjoy. I was particularly enticed since, after spending $1200 on a Winegard WiFi antenna I discovered how incredibly expensive their data plans are. For instance, to watch a 2 hour HD movie would take about 6GBytes of data and so require their 10Gbyte level at a cost of $80. Wow! That's one expensive movie.
The Sprint offering isn't a lot better unless you pay the upfront fee and do not interrupt or cancel the service. Here is what I mean. Suppose, just for an example, you use your RV three times in a six month period with a one month interval between outings. You could sign up pay $50/month plus the rental of $40 for a grand total of $340 (there might be taxes also). But, if you didn't want to pay for service while your RV is in storage or idle then you'd have to cancel the service, send the equipment back, and then re-subscribe for the time you did want to use it. In that case the three month expense would be $270 or 3 x $90 because you have to rent the device each time.
Maybe this makes sense for full-timers? I'd welcome any thoughts about all of this.
