SPRINT HOTSPOT

[Jerry Rutherford]

First off... SPRINT SUCKS.

I needed a hotspot for our computers because we are going to a convention and the lovely folks at Hilton want to charge me $115 PER DAY for internet for the week.

So I call the folks at Sprint, the San Marcos store and the guy tells me that they don't have any hot spots because they are out... but if I can get one from Craigs List or eBay that I can activate it on my account for a month or two... do what I need, then deactivate it. Okay... so I hit Craigs List... and find a nice 4G brick that's 3x3 inches for $40... the guy's name is Ali... and he is going to South Austin for an event. Great... I arrange to meet him (nice guy) and pick up my shiny new hotspot.

I show up to the San Marcos Sprint store today all excited... and they say, sure... it's a TWO YEAR CONTRACT for $50 a month. I say, I don't want to pay $1200 to avoid paying $575 at the convention... I just want to turn it on for a month. He says... "Nope, sorry."

SPRINT SUCKS!

So I'm like... your guy HERE in THIS store told me to come here TODAY and he could do it.

Sorry, can't help you.

SPRINT SUCKS!!

I ended up calling Sprint...and getting hotspot added to my phone. This means that for the next two weeks... my phone will be a hotspot... no phone calls for me. (The device can't do hotspot AND phone at the same time.)

SPRINT SUCKS!

So... I have a nice $40 paperweight that looks shiny.

If someone is looking to buy a hotspot... and doesn't mind the 2 year contract... I'll sell it to you for the same $40.

If not... I guess it will end up on the hack shelf.

SPRINT SUCKS.

Okay... I'm done.

Askjerry... everyone else does.
Visit me online at http://askjerry.info
See my projects, video links, tutorials, and blog today.

[Chris Robison]

For what it's worth, I recently found myself in a similar situation with T-Mobile, at least regarding the hotspot function on my phone. I got a new phone (Samsung GS2) and found that they were now preventing people from using Android's built-in hotspot capability without paying the tethering surcharge. So, I begrudgingly added that to my plan (they gave me a steep discount anyway since I'm a long-time customer), and then found that I couldn't form a hotspot and have data connectivity on my phone at the same time.

So, I rooted the phone, and removed T-Mobile's hidden tethering app. Now when I tether, it uses the built-in Android software instead, and I now have unrestricted use of data on my phone. I can sort of understand T-Mobile wanting a little more money for tethered data, and I actually think they're being pretty reasonable with the price. But the weird restriction that kind of kills your phone while you're tethered, that's going too far. I have no remorse for having removed it.

  --chris

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[Danny Miller]

You might try a directional antenna and search for an open wifi network.

The Sprint store guy might be misinformed about the no-contract plan:
http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2265

In any high-traffic convention, there is a significant risk that there will not be enough tower bandwidth for the area, and people will get throttled left and right, regardless of the plan and provider.

Danny

[Jerry Rutherford]

Couldn't chance it... Got $7600 on the line between inventory, equipment, and convention costs. No internet no sales. (Online database, etc.)

[rc3105]

I picked up a $20 tmobile phone at wallyworld just for the new sim, a
droid from cl for $20, activated it on their $30/mo 5 gig/unlimited
plan & then rooted the droid into a hotspot

month-month, prepaid cards at wm/walgreens/etc, the first 5 gig is
3g/4g (megabyte a second or so on this 3g droid) and then it runs at
edge (7K/sec) until the next billing cycle starts.

my billing resets tomorrow and I'm at a little over 9gig :-)



*I wouldn't bet $8k that sprint data is going to work. is that $115
for a hardline? the Hilton folks might KNOW something or even have a
little jammer going. dirty pool, but VERY lucrative...

[Dan DeFelippi]

I use Virgin Mobile for my cell service. For $40/m I get 1000 minutes plus unlimited text and data, including tethering. It used to be true unlimited at 3G speeds but as of March they start throttling if you go over 2GB/m. VM is Sprint. To top it off it's prepaid with no contract.

I also have a Clear Apollo access point. So long as you don't flog it like everyone does at the hackerspace it's quite good in cities with Clear service. $50/m, no contract. The Apollo access point is cool piece of hardware too. WiMAX, WiFi, good sized dot matrix screen, buzzer, 2 buttons, USB ethernet emulation, 8h battery life, antenna hookups and runs BusyBox. The square hockey puck sized enclosure is a lot larger than the actual hardware, the PCB inside is pretty damn small and entirely self contained. My hope is to root it at some point, no one has (publicly) done it yet.

-Dan