TechConnect no longer unthrottled all the time

[cwswine]

On 3/3/2022 at 6:52 AM, raypesek said:

To further prove your point, we moved from Bradenton, FL where we got roughly 3 - 5 M/bps with the Sprint Mifi 8000L. With the T-Mobile replacement Franklin T9 hotspot we usually got well under 1 M/bps during the day. We're now in Crystal River, FL.

This campground was kind of a dead spot for Sprint and we usually got 1 - 2 M/bps here, but the coverage matched the Sprint map well so we knew it would be weak. But Netflix etc. still worked with very occasional buffering.

With the T-Mobile T9 hotspot here in Crystal River we're consistently getting 16 - 20 M/bps anytime during the day and we're almost in the same spot as last year.

Unfortunately next year we'll be in Bradenton for all three months because they changed to a 3-month minimum for 2023. So now I need to decide whether to keep the FMCA plan or upgrade to the Calyx M2000 plan (which obviously could change by a year from now).

FMCA for Year 1 = 50 *12 or $600 + the $40 one-time device rental for a total of $640

FMCA for Year 2 = $600

Calyx for Year 1 = $750

Calyx for Year 2 = $500 

So after Year 2 Calyx currently is ahead on price a bit with a more capable device, currently.  

Decisions, decisions...

Ray

I think another important difference is the Hotspot is yours to keep.  I have the M2000 from Calyx and I think it worth the 250.00 the first year to own it.

[raypesek]

1 hour ago, cwswine said:

I think another important difference is the Hotspot is yours to keep.  I have the M2000 from Calyx and I think it worth the 250.00 the first year to own it.

Wait, what? The M2000 hotspot costs an additional $250 in Year One from Calyx, additional to the $750?

The Year One difference between FMCA  ($640) and Calyx ($750) is $110.

(I don't know if owning the hotspot is better than leasing it for us. When our first Franklin R910 went bad we got the Mifi 8000L for no charge from FMCA. That wouldn't happen out of warranty if we owned it.)

Confusedly yours,

Ray

[missalf]

No, from the website the device is included in the 750 (The M2000).  Lower membership levels include different devices.  Maybe the difference from year one to two is the device.

[cwswine]

37 minutes ago, raypesek said:

Wait, what? The M2000 hotspot costs an additional $250 in Year One from Calyx, additional to the $750?

The Year One difference between FMCA  ($640) and Calyx ($750) is $110.

(I don't know if owning the hotspot is better than leasing it for us. When our first Franklin R910 went bad we got the Mifi 8000L for no charge from FMCA. That wouldn't happen out of warranty if we owned it.)

Confusedly yours,

Ray

NO, the 750 for the first year 250 of that is for the purchase of the M2000.  I can see your point about not owning but I do like that fact that I do own.  

Just as a note.  For the last three days my Speedtest went from 300 to 400 on average down under 10.  The campgrounds that I'm in has their own Facebook page and there was complaints that T-Mobile phones was dropping calls and timing out on Facebook.  It affected both the Caylx and the FMCA and lasted about 3 days.  Know it's back and seems that averages are high then before the problems.  During those three days Verizon had no service seems that AT&T wasn't affected .  

 

[cwswine]

Here is important information on the FMCA Connect plan.  I called Calyx and was told there no plans to replace the M2000 and is part of their contract with T-Mobile.  

 

[starr4152]

It was nice while it lasted, but unfortunately the FMCA TechConnect plan is no longer a good value.

Per the original post on this thread "Unlike Sprint, T-Mobile strictly enforces their network management. The T-Mobile policy states that if a member is in an area where there are many people connected to one of their towers, and if the member has already used 50GB of data, their account will be deprioritized."

On our last two trips I have run into throttled download speeds more often than not. This never happened with Sprint, except when in remote areas where cell phone towers had limited capacity. It doesn't take long to to run through the 50GB limit, and download speeds are great up to that point. But once I hit the 50GB limit I find download speeds to be throttled to 2-3mbps. This has been especially evident on our current trip to Florida. Mornings are OK, but afternoons and evenings are slow to the point of being unusable. 

[cwswine]

On 4/4/2022 at 8:07 PM, starr4152 said:

It was nice while it lasted, but unfortunately the FMCA TechConnect plan is no longer a good value.

Per the original post on this thread "Unlike Sprint, T-Mobile strictly enforces their network management. The T-Mobile policy states that if a member is in an area where there are many people connected to one of their towers, and if the member has already used 50GB of data, their account will be deprioritized."

On our last two trips I have run into throttled download speeds more often than not. This never happened with Sprint, except when in remote areas where cell phone towers had limited capacity. It doesn't take long to to run through the 50GB limit, and download speeds are great up to that point. But once I hit the 50GB limit I find download speeds to be throttled to 2-3mbps. This has been especially evident on our current trip to Florida. Mornings are OK, but afternoons and evenings are slow to the point of being unusable. 

Yes, I have seen that also.  I have TWO M2000 on T-Mobile and can compare.  I find that evenings the FMCA one slows way down but still usable so far but my other M2000 speeds stay very close to the same in the mornings or during prime time in the evenings.   

[raypesek]

I'm noticing something odd with the new Franklin T9. I keep it plugged in inside a cabinet because we're on our winter trip and use it every day. It will give a message of "Battery fully charged" followed later by "Charging too long" or something similar.

When the second message appears I know it because every device connected including the cameras disconnect and we have no Internet access. I need to unplug the cord and plug it back in or, usually, just reboot the device. If we're in the motorhome when it happens...

I found a few threads where people reported the same thing. No, it's not the "Inactive time" setting because that's set to "Always on". Outside of putting a lamp timer on the charger, does anyone have a suggestion?

Does the M2000 have this problem?

Thanks,

Ray

[whiteeagle]

We put a timer on the T-9 unit cord and charge it 3 hours twice a day - seems to be working OK without any "charging too long" notices or effects...

[farmer]

I have had their AT&T internet box for about a year now, when I first got it, it worked fine, but now it is absolutely horrible. It won't even hardly run my computer. I'm just going to cancel it because at this point it's more frustrating than anything.