StuartT
La Conner, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/17/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
Just a follow up to my posts above now that I have a few hours on my new tethered LG8360 cell phone.
I noted concern above on whether my laptop USB 1.0 port would work since USB 2.0 is the more current standard. It works fine.
Speed seems very similar to my DSL home line.
Gaining access to the Internet is quick. Select the Verizon Access Manager icon on your desktop, click on 'Connect', and within 5 seconds you're online. Your home page opens along with a separate window, which gives you a summary of your monthly usage to date, nice to make sure you know where you are.
When you want to suspend the service to avoid paying when you are in homeport, call in on #611 and cancel it. Activate the next time you want it live.
Simple as that.
StuartT
2006 HR Imperial
42 PBQ
|
CJBill
Rockville Md.
Senior Member
Joined: 10/09/2005
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
Well StuartT, I appreciate your feed back and your result seems real good to me. However I still have a puzzle. I went to the web site you posted previously to look for a driver for my cell phone and couldn't find one. I did see the Verizon Access Manager advertised but did not download it as I thought there was a charge involved and I was not sure that was what I needed. I hope to start some travels this week and hope to use it so I called the Verizon Tech support. I was told by a pleasant and intelligent sounding lady that I did not need a driver. If I understood her correctly she told me I simply activate the data service then connect the cell phone I have to the computer with my USB cable and I would "be online". I don't have to do anything the phone and Verizon would take care of everything for me. Can it really be that simple? If not at least two Verizon ladies have very cleverly mislead me.
Bill
CJ is the better half.
05/06 Roadtrek 190 Popular
Rockville MD
|
anchor
Spring Hill, FL
Senior Member
Joined: 05/27/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Your good to go. As I mentioned in my previous post we have been using this system for about 10 years both on our boats and RV. Now the last few years we now went to Verizon BBA. It's great.
2002 Class C 31' Gulfstream
2005 36' Keystone Challenger 5er
2000 Chev 3500 1 ton crew cab dually
2014 Ford Fusion
Trawler and Sailing (Ocean & Gulf Cruisers)
Fulltimers
Present Hobby: Cameras
Residents: Florida Gulf Coast
.JPG)
|
StuartT
La Conner, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/17/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
CJBill, the drivers for a particular phone are only part of what comes with downloading the FREE Access Manager from Verizon. There is also the actual software that resides on your laptop and guides the process of connecting the cell phone when you click on the Verizon Access Manager Icon and then click on "Connect". I would hate to contradict a Verizon support person, but if you don't download the software that makes the connection to the Verizon wireless system, you will be plugging your phone into a USB port and sitting there wondering what to do next. Unless there are gremlins in your laptop, what or who is going to make the laptop engage the cell phone? That is like telling you to write a letter on your laptop but forgetting to tell you to install Microsoft Word.
When you select download from vzam.net, you will be asked a couple of questions including what cell phone you have so that the correct drivers are loaded with the software. It is no different than when you installed a printer on your home system and you used the disk that came with it to install the drivers for that particular printer. All devices require drives installed to make them work. So I cannot fathom what that rep was talking about, but you can always try it as they told you. I will, however, be amazed if just plugging in your phone to your laptop is going to work. How will you connect and disconnect?
And don't be alarmed that downloading Access Manager is going to cost you something. It is not.
Humm, anchor, maybe that rep was talking about BBA with a Blackberry, which I know nothing about.
|
clinthia
Flathead County, Montana
Senior Member
Joined: 09/08/2004
View Profile
|
StuartT related. When you want to suspend the service to avoid paying when you are in homeport, call in on #611 and cancel it. Activate the next time you want it live.
Simple as that.
Wouldn't you get hit with an activation fee and early termination fee each time you did so?
Activation Fee: $35 per line.
Early Termination: Up to $175 fee per line for one– or two–year minimum terms
Just wondering, Clint
2007.5 Dodge 3500 4X4 Crewcab with 6.7 Cummins
2004 EC950 w/ slideout
2 Costco 6 volts
Yamaha EF1000IS
Kyocera solar panel
GO POWER 300 watt 12 volt PSW inverter
TorkLift tiedowns with Fastguns
Timbrens
Homemade bumpstops
The Schnauzers Madeline & Genevieve
|
|
|
StuartT
La Conner, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/17/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
Clint, I thnk I am beginning to see where the confusion is for a number of folks. According to the #611 rep I just talked to, there are two completely different types of connect plans. I have Mobile Broadband Connect for handsets, a "feature" as she called it on my regular cell phone, which is added to my Nationwide Calling Plan. I can activate and cancel this "feature" at any time with no fees or charges other than my usage, which is prorated.
The other type of plan is called Broadband Access and apparantly uses an air card, which I am not all that familiar with. That is a different plan, has a different level of commitment, and does have cancellation and activation fees. You will be on that plan if you use a Blackberry or equivalent, where I my "feature' is limited to basic cell phones.
Hope that helps clear things up. Darn, Verizon can get complicated.
|
anchor
Spring Hill, FL
Senior Member
Joined: 05/27/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
You do not need an Aircard to get BBA from Verizon. We have had BBA from Verizon for some years and only use a cable as I mentioned before. We will use it this month for a week and during the summer when we travel for 5-6 months. We are Fulltimers.
|
MrWizard
Traveling
Moderator
Joined: 06/27/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
black berries, require a data plan, there are (3) tiers available
BB email & web $30 month, add-on top of your call plan
the PDA/smart phone plan $45 a month add-on
the BBA tethering plan, which is $60 month add-on
before you ask,, NO you can not get the $30 plan and add tethering for $15 more, verizon will not do this, and there is NO way to hack a BB and use tethering on the $30 BB plan, its not about the plan its about the BB
USING a feature/regular Phone is an entirely different situation, where data can be turned on and off
RIM the people who make the BB's, sells the data services, verizon is simply your connection to the system, RIM requires that BB's, have a BB data plan on the account.
you can switch from a BB to a feature phone & drop the BB data plan, NO termination fees, IF you cancel the verizon account BB or feature phone or aircard, then you have termination fees
I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !
....
Connected using T-Mobile Home internet and Visible Phone service
1997 F53 Bounder 36s
|
StuartT
La Conner, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/17/2003
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
Okay, following another call to a Verizon rep on #611, and I need to make a correction and add some addition information. And MrWizard, thanks for helping clarify some of the confusion I have caused.
You are correct anchor, I misunderstood what Verizon told me this morning. You can elect to have BBA (Broad Band Access) on a compatible cell phone or Blackberry (not sure about PDA's). You will have a Verizon phone account and the BBA feature is added to your existing service. You use Verizon Access Manager on your laptop to communicate to the cell via a tethered USB cord. You can cancel or activate this feature at will anytime you want without charges. It is "that simple".
If you do not use a cell phone or Blackberry with your laptop, you must have an air card to connect to Mobile Broadband Access (MBA). This requires a separate Verizon line with a separate contract commitment. You cannot cancel or reconnect without charges and/fees as Clint mentions above unless switching plans like MrWizard said.
Verizon Access Manager is, as I stated before, the source of the software and drivers you download onto your laptop from vzam.net (for free).
This makes me wonder why anyone would want the RIMM MBA service with an air card if you only use the connection on occasion.
I really hope I got it right this time, but every phone call with Verizon flushes up something new so I can only hope what I am telling you this time is accurate.
|
MrWizard
Traveling
Moderator
Joined: 06/27/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Quote:
This makes me wonder why anyone would want the RIMM MBA service with an air card if you only use the connection on occasion.
you cannot get RIM services on an aircard, aircards are a VERIZON item nothing to do with RIM & BB's
aircards do have BBA, it is $60 month, requires a separate dedicated line/phone#, it cannot be turned on-off 'willy nilly' or be prorated, you can vacation it, for max 6 month period and that requires a service charge to do so
example NEW card 2yr contract, put on 'non-use' vacation for 6 months, the 6 months of non-use extends your contract another 6 months, every month of non-use extends the contract termination date another month,
AFAIK: 6 months is the max length time allowed for a non-use in a 12 month period.
a BB or PDA is a phone, it goes on a phone account line, the data is a feature-plan, data is REQUIRED on BB's and PDA's,
the advantage is you can change to another phone & drop the data charges, and then change back to the BB or PDA 'with data charges' when ever you want too. with out incurring termination fees..I know because i have this, with a Motorola Q9m and a HTC Touch 'xv6900' , these are PDA's running widows mobile.
AFAIK: you cannot change an aircard account to a phone account, you cannot to my knowledge take an existing line/ph# on your account and switch it to an aircard
|
|
|
|
