Freedompop has to be watched very closely even if it is free. Your data may easily get to their 500mb faster than you calculate.

Anyway, let us know. I use the t-moble $20 plan where it drops to 2G after you reach limit. I don't think anyone else allows that.

I just signed up for that plan; this is my first month. About 80% of my bandwidth is MP3s, which should qualify as Binge On (subsidized so it doesn't count towards the quota), but they have discounted only about 10% of my bandwidth as MP3. For the previous 2 years I had T-Mobile through basicaccess.com (formerly basic-internet.com), which did get the count right on my MP3s. What's your experience?

AT&T claims that they drop to 2G after one reaches the limit. I'd pay $5/month for only 2G speed. I remember 300-baud dial-up...

T-mobile was great except I needed to change my software update times to end of month. Beginning of month wiped out my high speed. In fact I had to limit all the bulk till the end of the month. Binge on was limited to I think the 6gb plans?? Found that out.

ATT claims you have to pay extra (a lot) on overages in my zipcode.

https://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet sez that all Simple Choice plans have Binge On. That's what was happening through basic-internet: I wouldn't get the slow-down message from t-mobile until I was at about 10GB. I upgraded my Slackware packages by programming an intermediary to download them automatically, rename them from .txz to .mp3.

Well I got the modem today and here are my thoughts.

As far as linux goes you just have to setup a Ethernet connection in the NetworkManager.The default settings work.

The modem needs the APN set to the ISP and that is it. It takes a few minutes for the modem to communicate with the browser so at first it seems like it does not work.The browser states that it is waiting. FreedomPop's interface is easy so that is a plus.The modem has better reception than my phone does.Once in a while it will stall but not very often.

I was using dial up because I don't have a resource heavy appetite but it was getting to be that 1/3rd of the websites I had to use would no longer work. Only Firefox and Dillo would work at all including Chrome, Opera, Midori and Konqueror

While using Dialup, kppp's monitor read that download speed usually averaged about 3kps.The cellular modem only averages 12 on the Network Monitor App but has no problems streaming videos which does not make any sense to me. I hear people complain that DSL will have issues streaming.

I'm trying to find a Linux App that will record Network usage by day/Week and month if possible or anything better than the Network Manager Monitor.

Any recommendations?

Sounds good.

The device or your ISP may have a web page that shows what "they" claim you used. However some ideas here. http://www.binarytides.com/linux-com...nitor-network/

You could place your old router in-between and use it's monitor also if you power up and down your computer.

Thank you for the link.

I have only been using this modem for part of the day and I have already used .4 of a gig.

I'm going to see how much I can conserve by disconneting the network every time a page loads. It's a hassle but it looks like traffic does not completely stop unless this is done.

ifconfig reports use. I also use lynx except when I need Javascript, block scripts and images in Firefox.

You're running something that uses that bandwidth. I can leave my computer connected and have it use no bandwidth for hours.

I jacked up a lot of Mibs early so I'm trying to see how well I can conserve data use. I'm using a Firefox addon called 'PolicyControl' and it seems like a real winner. You can filter out video, audio ,images and more. Along with disconnecting the network after every page is loaded makes the cell data plan somewhat feasible. If you don't conserve, your looking at a 1 gig plan lasting about 5 days.

One News page I opened consumed 8 Mibs!!! 5 of it was a video. At that rate I could only open 6 pages a day average with the 1 gig plan. That is obviously not very much.

This is about how many Mibs you get with FreedomPops 3 plans per day.

- 1 gig plan = 33 Mib a day
- 2 gig plan = 66 Mib a day
- 3 gig plan = 100 Mib a day

I was going to commit to Frontier DSL but I read that their first year deal of $20.00 per month the first year was only if you had their premium landline package. I also could not get any info in print of what a typical DSL bill is with all of the taxes and fees. I have tried to get ISP to reveal this in the past with no concrete response.

If you have DSL would you please post what a typical months service costs with fees and taxes along with the locale, so it can be found with a web search ?
Thanks for everyone's help!

I'm using the NetApplet to interface with the network.If you use the Network Monitor that comes with that you can see the instantaneous network traffic. If I don't disable the network the data use keeps trickling up.

It could be port scans I guess. My firewall is bombarded with them, around a 100 an hour. Some of the port scans are as big as 1 KiB.

A good hosts file would help reduce data. Best bet is to use text browser. Watch for background data useage.

DSL is about $45/month and up. Many places don't actually have DSL and you can't easily use your own modem. ATT also hits you for the bundle less price. I have ATT and pay $52 a month for the worst service in Texas. There is no one to complain to. Shame too. Two fiber lines run on my land. Can't get them to install a drop.

If you can live at 2G speeds then use T-mobile. It is by far the least expensive way I know of. I ran it for a year. Going back to it next month.

If I disconnect the modem with the browser interface, the network monitor displays that data is still trickling in???

If I disconnect with my network applet it does not show traffic.

I'm thinking that the celltower is continuously communicating with the modem just if the modem has established a connection.It has to have a way to 'stand by' I would imagine.

I live in Western NYS and you get the shaft for internet service. In big cities outside NY; like Philadelphia , you can get high speed internet for $10.00 a month. Frontier gets to make 4-5 times more just because of the location.

That's not my experience.

There are tons of background tasks that your isp may be counting as data. Turn it off when not in use is best practice. Saves data, saves electricity.

I used a networking command 'vnstat?' and it lists these as traffic when pages are not loading.


localhost.localdomain


all-systems.mcast.net


.deploy.akamaitechno