SHTF TEOTWAWKI: Netgear 4G LTE Modem LB1120

vendredi 7 septembre 2018

Netgear 4G LTE Modem LB1120

For those of us that live fairly remote our choices for home internet access is a bit restrictive. For the last 4 years I have been using battery powered hotspots on prepaid plans. The first was a AT&T Unite express (GoPhone now called Prepaid by AT&T) whose plan levels for Hotspots were 2GB/mo for $25, 5GB/mo for $50, and 8GB/mo for $75. I used it up until Spring this year when I switched to a inexpensive ZTE (refurbished) from Straight Talk (a MVNO) that had plans of 4GB/2mo For $40, 5GB/2mo for $50, and 7GB/2mo for $75. They piggyback off the AT&T wireless service.

The other day I was looking back at my AT&T account site when I noticed they have new DATA amounts. Now they offered 3GB/mo for $25, 8GB/mo for $50 and 15GB/mo for $75. Wanting to find a better Internet access device my search led me to find these 4G LTE modems from Netgear (GSM device) that are simple plug in power boxes with a Ethernet connection that can be directly plugged to your computer or hooked to a switch or wireless router (need to change the modem to Bridge mode in the settings. A complete owners manual is available for DL at https://www.downloads.netgear.com/fi...112x_UM_EN.pdf)

I received the LTE modem yesterday and proceeded to set it up. The first snag I encountered is it needs a micro sim. My old Gophone sim was full size and did not fit. I went to the AT&T website and attempted to order a sim for Prepaid service. I say attempted because the idiots that setup the website require you to buy a plan and all the plans are phone based and not the hotspot type. So what to do? At first I thought about buying one from Amazon that 3 party retailers sell for $10-20, but if I went that route I would lose my old AT&T account number and settings. It occurred to me to research if I cut cut down the sim and after Googling it I found a website that had a printable template for accurate cutting. http://www.thechinacellphone.com/micro_sim_template.pdf A few cuts later with a sharp set of shears and I installed the Sim and powered on the modem.

Success 2 bars connected! A bit more setup of router and modem and buying a 3GB plan from my AT&T login, plus updating the IMEI device number, and I am up and running. the device did update it self and seem to burn through about 350mb fairly quickly but has now settled back to my normal Data rate. I like the fact that it can just be left on during the day and I do not need to shut it off like I did with the battery powered devices. I also like the fact it hooks up wired and not wireless like the Hotspots.