Does anyone have Slingshot prepaid wireless Internet?

[Yesteryear]

Currently we are using wifi from the truckstops, have been for the 3 years we have been on the road. Thought about getting an internet card through my cell phone company (AT&T) but would have to sign a 2 year contract. Don't want to be stuck with it for 2 years if I decide I don't like it. The contract on my cell phone is long expired and I like it that way. No obligation, can cancel or change anytime I want.
I saw an ad at the Pilot for a pre-paid internet. You have to buy a modem for 249.00 and the ad says it is 59.99 a month for 'unlimited' internet. Does anyone have it or know if it works? $249.00 is kind of a lot to spend if it turns out not to work so thought I'd ask if anyone else has tried it yet? Would be nice to have internet access anytime I want (if it really works and isn't a waste of money).

 

[Yesteryear]

Oh yeah, also would like to know if 'mobile broadband' mean internet for a laptop. Don't understand a lot of this computer jargon!

 

[ConfusedMuse]

Well Yesteryear,
we have AT&T it's ok.. Im not sure I would recommend it though.. I've been through Hell with them, last straws were it connected without a fault in Ontario one weekend ( of course) it said I racked up 373,000KB's in 2 days, and charged to my bill 1,800.00, then some soul cancelled my account with them, after I paid the bill in protest, (still fighting it too), I reconnected with them month by month because quite honestly it's nice to log on while partner is driving or vice-versus down some road. The service though can be spotty it's not 100% It definatly is NOT 3G everywhere, but, it does work when it's up.
It isn't meant to be confusing but AT&T is confusing!

 

[MentalGiant]

I would never recommend AT&T for mobile internet. Their coverage is not as good as Sprint and Verizon. Plus, I know a couple who had cell phones with them and told them they were terminating their contract because they were using other towers to much. Well, guess what, they do expediting like we do. Plus, they had AT&T mobile internet at the time and I used their connection just to compare it to mine, it sucked. Sprint was doing about 4 times faster and this was near a major city.

Just so everybody knows, slingshot is on the Sprint network, if you didn't want a contract, I would recommend them. If you want to see what their coverage looks like click the link and scroll down and click on Data, Email and Multimedia and will show were broadband connections are available.

http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?language=EN

 

[Yesteryear]

I would never recommend AT&T for mobile internet. Their coverage is not as good as Sprint and Verizon. Plus, I know a couple who had cell phones with them and told them they were terminating their contract because they were using other towers to much. Well, guess what, they do expediting like we do. Plus, they had AT&T mobile internet at the time and I used their connection just to compare it to mine, it sucked. Sprint was doing about 4 times faster and this was near a major city.

Just so everybody knows, slingshot is on the Sprint network, if you didn't want a contract, I would recommend them. If you want to see what their coverage looks like click the link and scroll down and click on Data, Email and Multimedia and will show were broadband connections are available.

Sprint - Nationwide Coverage

So your saying slingshot is sprint?

 

[cheri1122]

Yesteryear: I've used the Verizon aircard for nearly 2 years, it costs $60 per month for highspeed, [can't remember what the card cost, but it would depend on what kind of deals they're offering] and it works pretty well. Slow in a few places, but mostly pretty good.

 

[pjjjjj]

Yesteryear, with that Pilot Slingshot thing, would that mean it would only work when you're within range of a Pilot?? If NOT, and it would work anywhere, AND you don't have to have a contract, try checking out eBay or other online places for a used modem.
I don't blame you for not wanting a contract, I'd rather spend the extra money and be able to say 'buh buy' without penalty whenever they p*ss me off.

 

[MentalGiant]

So your saying slingshot is sprint?

Looks like they have expanded their operation since the last time I have checked them out. When I went to their home page and looked at their coverage area, they used sprints page. Now they don't. But I was reading which I guess they are hitting on all major companies to buy air time from their towers in bulk.

Slingshot High-Speed Wireless Internet service is made possible by using the constantly expanding network of third generation (3G) cellular telephone towers throughout the USA. Slingshot buys excess capacity from major network providers who own and operate these towers.

If this is the case, slingshot should work good with more locations to connect. But, hard to say though, they are not showing what kind of coverage they have right now, which makes sense they will need to make one of their own with all the towers they have access to.

 

[pelicn]

We have Sprint and love being able to connect rolling down the road.
I wondered about whether or not Slingshot works like that, but haven't gotten an answer

 

[Yesteryear]

Yesteryear, with that Pilot Slingshot thing, would that mean it would only work when you're within range of a Pilot?? If NOT, and it would work anywhere, AND you don't have to have a contract, try checking out eBay or other online places for a used modem.

According to their website you don't have to be around a pilot it is suppose to work like a cellphone. I'm just curious as to if it really works or not. Here is a link to what I'm talking about.

Slingshot Prepaid Mobile Broadband
moduleId=cSRBGImy&pageId=Bg86i3Ze

I'd rather spend the extra money and be able to say 'buh buy' without penalty whenever they p*ss me off.

Yeah, been thinking about it with At&t. But then I would have to sign another contract to go with a different carrier. At&t has terrible service. Plus the extra charges every month on top of the plan price. Hard to figure out exactly what I am being charged for. (note: took a load to Canada, was charged a 10.00 fee everytime the phone rang even though I didn't anwser, they said it still went to voice mail so was charged. Was billed 8- 10.00 fees from that load where the phone wasn't even anwsered and 3 from talking to dispatch so was quite expensive. Now, I turn my phone off just before crossing the border so it doesn't show me in Canada and I don't get charged for voice mail. If dispatch needs to talk to me they can just do it over the qcom!)

 

[finbar73]

yesteryear the first thing you wanna find out is will it effect your contract.The other thing is as a previous post mentioned is that Slingshot is associated with Sprint.What that means is Slingshot buys the internet space from Sprint and then sells it back to you.What you wanna watch is if Sprint is cheaper,because if you make log in as Slingshot and someone from Sprint is trying to long on with limited space left "like NYC @5:00pm)you will get no service,host company gets serviced first.The price for the hardware, the thing you stick in the computer is unavoidable.But when you make up your mind call the 800 number to get info NEVER trust the guy at the store.I live in Orillia ontario canada and worked for a call center that serviced cell phones for Nextel USA and received the after math of people going to the dealer first.We got paid by the hour the guy you look at gets paid by the activation fee so if he tells you he can waive that fee waive good bye

 

[finbar73]

as a call center agent we were always told to explain it this way.You are billed from "send to end " if you are in the stall no one else can come in, same idea.When you are in Canada be carefull roaming fees are ugly.Contractor (construction) in windsor working at the water front got charged international roaming because he was closer to the Detroit tower then the winsor tower and nver left Canada.