# Limited internet.



## roadless (Sep 9, 2006)

My only access to the Internet is through a T- mobile Hotspot I bought and my Samsung notebook.

I pay monthly, no contract.
All has been well the past couple of years. This morning I was unable to access my usual sites, my mail, and YouTube....
When I try to log on it said your data plan does not work on this device!
What the heck, how is it I could for the past few years?
Why can I be on this site? Weird

I tried to call the company and couldn't talk to a real person ( vesta gosmart).
I went to the store where I bought the Hotspot but they moved.

Please excuse my ignorance on the workings of the above, I would just like to have full internet at a reasonable price without a contract. 

Any idea what's going on and the least expensive way to remedy this?
Please speak in layman's terms, I am not at all computer savvy. &#129300;


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

roadless said:


> My only access to the Internet is through a T- mobile Hotspot I bought and my Samsung notebook.
> 
> I pay monthly, no contract.
> All has been well the past couple of years. This morning I was unable to access my usual sites, my mail, and YouTube....
> ...


............Is it possible that you have used up your allotted time you have prepaid and need to purchase More ? 
............Has your hotspot's battery run down , and needs recharging ? 
............Have you checked your internet connectivity to see if your computer is connected with your hotspot ? These maybe stupid questions but sometimes , it's the simple things that can become a problem . 

............Look in Control Panel >then click on Network and internet to see if your hotspot is shown as your internet connection . , fordy


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## Jena (Aug 13, 2003)

Maybe your hotspot is outdated and no longer works. Try and find a different t-mobile store or google how to get a real person on the phone. "Gethuman.com" used to be pretty good for that.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

You didnt mistakenly buy a phone plan? I have two hotspots, neither tmobile, but when I add data, the hotspots use different plan than phones do. A phone plan wont work on a hotspot and vice versa.


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## roadless (Sep 9, 2006)

Thank you all for responding. 
My bill is paid, battery is charged ,notebook is connected to Internet, thanks fordy

I have never heard of that site ,I will try that thanks Jena.

Hermit John, I didn't do anything different , that is what is so baffling. I don't understand why I can be here but not other sites.
What hotspot plans do you use? Are they reasonably priced? Thanks.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

............Check into Exede satellite internet service ! They offer service into remote area's that can't be serviced by either DSL lines or Wifi ! It won't be cheap , but neither is your current service I'll bet . , fordy


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

roadless said:


> Thank you all for responding.
> My bill is paid, battery is charged ,notebook is connected to Internet, thanks fordy
> 
> I have never heard of that site ,I will try that thanks Jena.
> ...


I have two hotspots. First was Straight Talk and it is Verizon network 3G. I got second cause the gizmo was super cheap. Its Net10 and on ATT network 4G. Both are around $10 per gigabyte for data plans. I use two because in all their genius, when you run out of data, you either need to make a very painful call to customer service to trigger your reserve plan (or buy a new plan) or need alternate way to get online to trigger/buy the plan in your account (their websites are very dialup unfriendly!). Well these are 60day plans so I just stagger them. Doesnt cost anymore, not using anymore data, but now I have alternate way to get online to trigger. Dont have to go to library or call up a friend to do it for me.

I could get new 4G gizmo with ST (4G is significantly faster so you can use up the data faster...), but the old 3G one works ok for my needs and unless you hit a really good deal like I did on the Net10 hotspot gizmo, they are overpriced and kinda expensive. You know they dont cost anywhere near that to manufacture. Its just marketing strategy, if you have bunch money invested in the gadget, you are less likely to jump ship.

Now back some time I tried Virgin Mobile wireless usb stick thing. Virgin was lot smarter, when you ran out of data, you could still go online and get into your account, only navigate to your account, nowhere else. Unfortunately they shrank their data plan options way down and they use Sprint network which is pretty hit or miss depending on weather and how many birds flying over....


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

fordy said:


> ............Check into Exede satellite internet service ! They offer service into remote area's that can't be serviced by either DSL lines or Wifi ! It won't be cheap , but neither is your current service I'll bet . , fordy


Mobile hotspot, even cheapest means you either pay through the nose or you learn to live without video and to lock down your system to where neither you nor it waste data.

Where they get you with satellite is you have to buy or rent their very expensive equipment. 

DSL just didnt come down my road and looks like it never will. Also local phone company has a monopoly and they only sell it bundled into expensive bundles of garbage services, that I would never use and am not going to pay for.

So my only options were cell connection or satellite or dialup. Dialup here is max of 24k making it useless other than maybe pop3 email. And landline plus dialup isp costs around $40 a month which is about what I spend for the hotspot mobile broadband connection.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Might mention its worth reading reviews on the hotspot gizmos on Amazon. Though its obvious some of reviewers are pretty clueless. You can buy the hotspot from Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, Best Buy, and I am sure many other places. You then either set hotspot up online or by phone. Seriously the online way is least painless though you need to follow setup details very closely. You will then have an online account with whatever service you use. 

Oh and last time I added data to Net10, system was in perpetual "wait" mode. In other words it told me to wait a few minutes until my device had updated. After couple days of waiting, I got a clue it wasnt going to update. I had choice of calling, or its kinda buried, but I signed up for their official help forum and posted. Got PM back how to privately "live chat" with a representative. Once I did the chat, took less than five minutes to correct problem. The live chat is definitely easier than phoning to Timbuctu and trying to talk to somebody with limited English or knowledge beyond whats on script in front of them.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

roadless said:


> I don't understand why I can be here but not other sites.


Sounds like your provider is having a routing problem. If that's the case then it should pass in a few days. I know it's irritating, but it happens with DSL & cable providers too.

If you really need to access an unavailable site then try a free web proxy website to relay the pages, like this one.

https://hide.me/en/proxy

It will get better on its own, trust me.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

Verizon announced unlimited data plan on Monday. I believe if used with hotspot, you are limited to 10 gb through hotspot. So unlimited data on phone and 10 gb through hotspot.


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## roadless (Sep 9, 2006)

Thanks All! 
I paid for Xfinity for a week until I could find something more permanent. 
I tried my Hotspot device and it worked after a few days of partial internet.
Good grief.


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