[…]I had to wait about four days for it to complete. Will My Phone Work with Mint? Mint uses the T-Mobile GSM network, so if you have T-Mobile now, your phone will work with Mint as long as it is unlocked. AT&T also uses GSM, so those phones should work when unlocked. Verizon and Sprint use a different system, CDMA. However, most modern iPhones have both GSM and CDMA chips in them. If you want to be sure, use Mint Mobile’s website and enter your phone’s model. The Activation Process I’ll admit, I was kind of nervous during the activation […]
[…]is costing me $50/month. If you already use Verizon for your cell phone service, it’s even less. T-Mobile offers a similar 5G Internet service. I haven’t tried it, but reviews have been good. You might think wireless speeds would be slower than cable, but this is 5G wireless. On cable internet, I was getting about 90Mbps download speeds. On Verizon’s Home Internet, I’m getting 240Mbps in my testing. Amazing! Read my full review of Verizon 5G Home Internet. 2. Check Out Fiber If you’re on cable Internet now, fiber might be a significantly cheaper alternative, with higher speeds. Your monthly […]
[…]you’ll need a digital receiver box to get digital broadcast signals. Q: Where can I get free Internet access? A: This is more difficult than getting free TV. See my suggestions to lower the cost of your Internet service. Q: Can I use my satellite dish to receive free broadcast TV signals? A: Unfortunately, no. The satellite dish is not the correct shape and has special electronics that make it not usable for receiving free broadcast TV. However, you can still use the coax cabling from the dish to your TV if you want to install a broadcast TV antenna where your dish […]
[…]out my recommended free streaming services. I’ve assembled the best streaming TV services on the Internet and put them on one easy-to-use page – your Internet “Remote Control”! Your smart TV has many streaming services built in. Or, you can buy an inexpensive streaming media player to watch services like Netflix, Hulu, Sling on your TV. These all require an Internet connection. There are many streaming devices available, including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Chromecast. But the one that I am recommending for most people is Roku. It offers the most channels, voice search across many content providers, and headphone output, all at a reasonable price. Read […]
[…]try to debug it with their customer service; it probably won’t help. Do not cancel your previous Internet provider when you order Verizon 5G Home Internet. Keep it for at least the first 30 days of having 5G. Are there any hidden fees? I have not encountered any. I pay exactly $50/month for my plan (which is grandfathered in at 300 Mbps), with auto-pay. I didn’t have any activation fees either. Is it a good deal? For me, it was a lot cheaper than cable. I was paying $80/month for cable so I’m saving $30/month. The coax cable in my […]
[…]Internet-connected devices like Ring cameras won’t work during that time. If you want to use an Internet-connected timer, just be aware that it will lose Internet access when it shuts off your gateway, so make sure it works without Internet! 6. Do a Factory Reset Honestly, I haven’t found many cases online where this solved the reboot problem, but doing a factory reset is a necessary part of debugging any processor-driven product. It’s easy to do, and it can solve the problem where your gateway stops working altogether. Give it a try. All you have to lose are your settings, […]
[…]5G wireless. We’ll see what happens, but I’m betting that 5G will be more reliable than cable Internet. My cable Internet would go down at least a few times a year, for a few hours at a time. I don’t blame the cable company for that though; it’s just the nature of physical cables that they are prone to breakage if a tree knocks down a telephone pole, or whatever. And It takes time for the cable company to find the fault, and send a truck out to fix it. A few hours of downtime is pretty good. Another thing […]
[…]So, I found it necessary to plug in my trusty Netgear Wi-Fi router into my Verizon 5G Home Internet gateway. The Easy Way Technically, you could simply plug your router into one of your Gateway’s Ethernet ports. As long as the Wi-Fi names on your router are set to different values than your Gateway, that setup should work for everyday web browsing. But, that means your Gateway is unnecessarily transmitting a Wi-Fi signal. It’s best to turn off Wi-Fi on your cube by accessing the Gateway at //192.168.0.1 and turning off both 5GHz and 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi. I actually used my […]
[…]a necessary feature of any 5G home internet system. Unfortunately, the web portal for Verizon 5G Internet Gateway models that begin with ASK-NCQ1338 (see the bottom of your unit for your model number) with firmware version 222656 do not display signal strength. If you have an ASK unit with version 3.2.0.21 or later, this hack is not necessary. To see signal strength with that firmware, go to Advanced -> System -> System Status, the scroll down to Modem where you can see values for 4G LET Signal Strength and 5G Signals Strength. How to See Signal Strength in the ASK-NCQ1338 […]
[…]carrier if you are looking to switch cell phone service, or if you’re considering wireless home Internet service, or if you already have wireless home Internet and you want to optimize the placement of your gateway. About Cellmapper Cellmapper.net is the tool that I recommend to find cell towers near you. It uses crowd-sourced data to generate a map showing cell signal strength and tower locations. Anyone with an Android phone can get the Cellmapper app to help gather data. The site is completely free to use, but since it is crowdsourced, there is no guarantee of 100% accuracy. It […]
