Is there a serviceable replacement for my AT&T broadband service?
June 12, 2019 3:26 PM   Subscribe

I don't use the Internet on my laptop enough to justify paying $70 a month for it anymore. Do you have advice on alternatives to broadband service that would fit my needs? (Details below.)

I would say that 80% of days, I don't use the Internet, other than through my cellphone's data plan.

1. I do not play video games or have a television.

2. I use my laptop less than once a week.

3. I would like service that allows me to open up my laptop and watch Netflix or send some emails, but I don't need anything greater.

4. I live in Los Angeles, just 2 miles or so from downtown.

5. I am a renter in a multi-unit apartment building.

If I were to, say, get a data-only tablet plan and a hotspot device of some sort, would this give me good enough download speeds to fit the needs I mention above? Is there any other, better option that doesn't involve the traditional cable / dsl / fiber / satellite broadband relationships?

Just not having an Internet provider of some sort is not an option for me - I like to be able to invite my friends over to watch a movie every once in awhile.
posted by kensington314 to Technology (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
How much data are you using? If it's truly a small enough amount it's possible you could just tether your laptop to your cell phone... or do that and also add extra data to your existing plan. That would probably be cheaper than adding a hotspot, which would most likely require that you add another device to your cell plan.

You could also conceivably ask a neighbor if you can pay for a share of their Wi-Fi. Failing that you could also just look for other providers. I would guess that you might be able to get barebones DSL or cable internet for 40 a month.
posted by thewumpusisdead at 3:42 PM on June 12, 2019 [3 favorites]


TMobile, that is how I use the internet. I use a wifi hotspot out of my pbone, or I use a tether. To tether I have to set a data limit, so I said 100 gigs and it said OK you can tether. I rarely use more than 13 gigs. But Spectrum internet just offered me internet for $14.99 per month. I might take them up on it.
posted by Oyéah at 7:38 PM on June 12, 2019


I would like service that allows me to open up my laptop and watch Netflix or send some emails, but I don't need anything greater.

How many gigabytes per month have you actually transferred over the last year or so on your existing $70 plan?

Any cellphone data plan that connects at 3G or better should get you adequate speed for Netflix, but cellphone data typically sells for way more per gigabyte than a fixed home service does and Netflix chews through those gigabytes fast enough that you could easily burn more than $70 worth of cellphone data per month with only fairly moderate use, especially if you end up paying excess data rates for a substantial portion of that traffic. So it's definitely worth your while to log onto your existing provider's web site and check your historical monthly data usage for the last year or so. That number will give you a good basis for comparison when you're shopping around for cellphone plans.

As far as equipment goes, when I'm out and about and relying on my cellphone plan for laptop internet connectivity, I just tether the phone itself to the laptop. I prefer to do that with a USB cable than to use the phone's wifi hotspot feature. Laptop batteries have way more capacity than phone batteries do, and it's nice to end a browsing session with a phone that's been topped up a little rather than one that's been drained by loads of wifi activity. Also, total power consumption is lower for an Ethernet-over-USB link than for a wifi link.
posted by flabdablet at 3:29 AM on June 13, 2019 [2 favorites]


Netflix is the thing that would make me hesitate to just pull the plug and go to only cellular-based internet. Cell plans (even "unlimited" ones), often have restrictions on how much data you can use before either being throttled or having to pay more, and Netflix is pretty data hungry.

If you can switch or threaten to switch to a different provider, AT&T may offer an incentive to stay, or the provider you switch to may offer an incentive to switch. It may be worth a try to look for deals like that, especially if you want to use Netflix.
posted by Aleyn at 3:49 PM on June 13, 2019 [1 favorite]


I am a renter in a multi-unit apartment building in Los Angeles and I am happy with Sonic. I have a plan one step up from their baseline and it's actually not hugely cheaper than $70/month by the time all the taxes and fees are tacked on, but I like having a provider that isn't one of the massive conglomerates, and the speeds and service are great. You can check availability to your address here.
posted by sigmagalator at 1:25 AM on June 23, 2019


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