Carrier AT&T Unlimited Data Plan for iPad

[Brandon86]

OK guys, finally had a minute to sit down and write this results comparison.

All results will be measured using speedtest.net on Windows 10 Pro for computer and the corresponding app on a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for mobile. All tests will be ran 3 times at 3 different times of day(0800 / 1400 / 2100). I will take the average of the 3 tests and list them in MBPS. I get FULL 5 bars 4G-LTE at my location.
They will be using a grandfathered AT&T iPad Unlimited Data Plan Nano-SIM.

First setup:
ATT Unite Pro (No antenna)

USB tethered to computer: 48 down / 11 up
WiFi to computer <5 ft. distance: 36 down / 7 up
WiFi to computer 15 ft. distance: 31 down / 8 up
WiFi to computer >30ft. one floor down: 17 down / 5 up

WiFi to cellphone <5 ft. distance: 37 down / 9 up
WiFi to cellphone 15 ft. distance: 34 down / 9 up
WiFi to cellphone >30ft. one floor down: 10 down / 3 up

Second Setup:
ATT Unite Pro (Netgear Signal Boosting Cradle)
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-AirCa...obile_desktop?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Ethernet port to computer: 52 down / 13 up
WiFi to computer <5ft. distance: 44 down / 12 up
WiFi to computer 15ft. distance: 44 down / 12 up
WiFi to computer >30ft. one floor down: 27 down / 7 up

WiFi to cellphone <5 ft. distance: 46 down / 13 up
WiFi to cellphone 15 ft. distance: 45 down / 9 up
WiFi to cellphone >30ft. one floor down: 22 down / 8 up

Third Setup:
CradlePoint MBR1400LPE-AT

Ethernet port to computer: 66 down / 26 up
WiFi to computer <5ft. distance: 61 down / 19 up
WiFi to computer 15ft. distance: 58 down / 19 up
WiFi to computer >30ft. one floor down: 45 down 11 up

WiFi to cellphone <5 ft. distance: 61 down / 22 up
WiFi to cellphone 15 ft. distance: 53 down / 21 up
WiFi to cellphone >30ft. one floor down: 38 down / 14 up

Fourth Setup:
ATT(locked) Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (broadband settings)

60 down / 24 up


Hopefully this information is helpful for those of you deciding what setup to go with. Honestly the speeds aren't like 50% faster or anything, but the piece of mind and security settings that you can enable to on the Cradlepoint make it a worthy investment IMO. You don't have to reset it every 5 days like I did with the other setups, and it has plenty of ports to use and integrate it into your home network as a full functioning router. You can set up VPN's if desired etc. etc.
I'm not sure if I would get much better speeds by hooking up an antenna outside or not, if I ever buy one I will update this post with those results.

I searched Ebay(where I purchased mine) a few minutes ago, and found one that has only 1 bid and is VERY CHEAP currently with no reserve. Those interested may want to check it out!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cradlepoint...251989?hash=item3abb95ae15:g:cnYAAOSwFqJWiHRd

 

[pbbjr]

I updated my firmware on my RT-AC66U to the latest AsusWRT-Merlin version available (380.57) and everything seems to be working with fine with Unite Pro tethered via USB. I unplugged my Comcast cable modem as a test, and so far, so good. Speedtest.net speeds on my I-7 desktop connected via ethernet to the RT-AC66U on AT&T are about 40 down 16 up with the Unite Pro perched on a shelf in a closet with no external antennas. Be sure to make sure your Unite Pro is set up to never hibernate, etc.

The real test will be to see if my wife starts complaining about the internet connection or speeds in our home. I'm not telling her that I disconnected the cable modem but will "fix it" by reconnecting the modem and go back to WAN as the Primary connection if the Unite Pro doesn't do the trick. I have 20 devices showing up on my network, so I have my doubts that the Unite Pro will be an acceptable substitute, but I hope it will.

My relevant settings after clicking on 3G/4G on the USB Applications page are:

Dual Wan Tab

Enable Dual Wan - On
Primary Wan - USB
Secondary Wan - Wan
Dual Wan Mode - Failover
leave remaining settings as they are except allow ping to internet and choose a webpage (i.e. www.google.com)

My relevant settings on the Internet Connection Tab for USB Modem/USB Tethering are:

Wan Type - USB
Enable USB Modem - On
Select USB Device - USB Modem
APN Configuration - Automatic
Telecommunications Standard - WCDMA (UMTS)
APN Service(optional) - broadband
Leave everything else EMPTY til you get to
Authentication - None
USB Adapter - Auto
USB MTU - 1500

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The connection basically died after about an hour or so. It also did that earlier, and I tweaked the settings, and thought the settings above "fixed" everything. I don't think the bare USB to Asus router connection is reliable. I'm thinking that the only way to use this with a home router setup reliably may be via an ethernet (WAN) connection rather than USB.

An option may be the Pepwave Surf-N-Go http://www.peplink.com/products/pepwave-surf-on-the-go/, which converts USB modem connections to an ethernet WAN connection. $99 at 3gstore.com. I'm thinking about giving that a try if I can't find a Cradlepoint or Netgear DC113a or DC112A for a decent price.

 

[caseyfriday]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The connection basically died after about an hour or so. It also did that earlier, and I tweaked the settings, and thought the settings above "fixed" everything. I don't think the bare USB to Asus router connection is reliable. I'm thinking that the only way to use this with a home router setup reliably may be via an ethernet (WAN) connection rather than USB.

An option may be the Pepwave Surf-N-Go http://www.peplink.com/products/pepwave-surf-on-the-go/, which converts USB modem connections to an ethernet WAN connection. $99 at 3gstore.com. I'm thinking about giving that a try if I can't find a Cradlepoint or Netgear DC113a or DC112A for a decent price.

That's interesting, because my 6620L connected to my Merlin running AC-68R never shuts down or needs rebooting. I've literally run it for 2 weeks straight, and no cut off issues, using between 300-500GB per month. I did have to check a couple articles to get the right settings for Verizon, but once I did, it's just perfectly stable. Even more so than Airport Extremes that I've used.

 

[east85]

[doublepost=1453318573][/doublepost]East85, how long have you been using your Unite Pro and running up that kind of high data usage? I'm contemplating switching off Comcast to use my Unite Pro connected to my Asus RT-AC66U, but my typical usage is 300gb or so per month. I don't want switch off Comcast if AT&T is going to pull the plan. I've had the $29.99 ULD AT&T plan since the last week it was offered, and I don't want to lose it.

I've been using it in my Unite Pro since early 2014, my data consumption is roughly 250GB per month on average, though I've seen some months as indicated earlier in this thread up to 400GB. Never heard of a case where this plan was pulled because of hotspot usage, I think you'll be absolutely fine.

 

[mjcxp]

I am having the same problem tethered to my computer too. I queued up all of my iTunes movies I have purchased (180 GB) to download to my iMac. About every hour the connection just dies or becomes throttled. I am tempted to pickup this Mofi router but the website looks extremely amateurish (http://mofinetwork.com/mofi4500_4GXeLTE_SIM3.php). It appears to have most of the features of the cradlepoint for about a third of the cost. It also has direct IP pass through so I think it would be possible to connect it to a different router that has AC support.

 

[pbbjr]

That's interesting, because my 6620L connected to my Merlin running AC-68R never shuts down or needs rebooting. I've literally run it for 2 weeks straight, and no cut off issues, using between 300-500GB per month. I did have to check a couple articles to get the right settings for Verizon, but once I did, it's just perfectly stable. Even more so than Airport Extremes that I've used.

I was disappointed. I gradually lost a video stream on an Android tablet, and couldn't even get a connection to run the testing at www.speedtest.net. This, after I had the results I posted earlier. I wonder if the number of active clients I have running on my network had an impact. The Asus reports 20 client devices, but I was probably only using a connection to 4 or 5 at the time I started having problems.

 

[caseyfriday]

I was disappointed. I gradually lost a video stream on an Android tablet, and couldn't even get a connection to run the testing at www.speedtest.net. This, after I had the results I posted earlier. I wonder if the number of active clients I have running on my network had an impact. The Asus reports 20 client devices, but I was probably only using a connection to 4 or 5 at the time I started having problems.

Hmm... I only have one Ethernet computer, one laptop WiFi, and two smartphone WiFi connections, and I can see all of them in the Merlin firmware. I wonder what makes mine so stable...

 

[mjcxp]

Hmm... I only have one Ethernet computer, one laptop WiFi, and two smartphone WiFi connections, and I can see all of them in the Merlin firmware. I wonder what makes mine so stable...

I think Verizon does not throttle the connection or they risk getting in trouble with the government due to the spectrum they hold. I do not think the same provisions apply to AT&T thus they are able to throttle without any repercussions.

 

[caseyfriday]

I think Verizon does not throttle the connection or they risk getting in trouble with the government due to the spectrum they hold. I do not think the same provisions apply to AT&T thus they are able to throttle without any repercussions.

Ahh, I wonder if running a VPN 24/7 would ameliorate those issues for you, so AT&T wouldn't know what you're doing.

 

[east85]

I've only had my data throttled on YouTube streaming in the past. Now with VPN they can not discriminate based on the type of data and everything runs at the same speeds as it all looks the same on their end, no throttling.

 

[pbbjr]

I've only had my data throttled on YouTube streaming in the past. Now with VPN they can not discriminate based on the type of data and everything runs at the same speeds as it all looks the same on their end, no throttling.

I don't think the problem was throttling. I used less than a gb of data while the AT&T Unite Pro was usb connected to the Asus RT-AC66U.

 

[pbbjr]

Ahh, I wonder if running a VPN 24/7 would ameliorate those issues for you, so AT&T wouldn't know what you're doing.

What VPN do you and east85 recommend? Can you look at your settings for USB Modem\USB Tethering on your Asus router as compared to mine below and let me know if yours are different? Thanks.

Wan Type - USB
Enable USB Modem - On
Select USB Device - USB Modem
APN Configuration - Automatic
Telecommunications Standard - WCDMA (UMTS)
APN Service(optional) - broadband
Leave everything else EMPTY til you get to
Authentication - None
USB Adapter - Auto
USB MTU - 1500

 

[caseyfriday]

I use Pritunl on a Linode server, but setting that up might be past most people's technical skills, so you could always just sign up for a subscription VPN service. I'll hold off sharing my Asus USB modem settings, since that would probably confuse things in this thread since I'm using Verizon.

 

[pbbjr]

I use Pritunl on a Linode server, but setting that up might be past most people's technical skills, so you could always just sign up for a subscription VPN service. I'll hold off sharing my Asus USB modem settings, since that would probably confuse things in this thread since I'm using Verizon.

Understood. I punted entirely on using the Unite Pro\781s with my Asus RT-AC66U. My wife started complaining about how terrible our internet connection had been for the last few days. I was even having problems when I was using it as the secondary connection in Dual WAN mode. I just removed it from the setup and disabled Dual Wan mode and everything is working swimmingly again with just my Comcast Blast connection. I'm still contemplating punting on Comcast and going with AT&T cellular only, but it will not be with the Unite Pro as the modem. It just isn't stable enough.

 

[1997AAPL]

I've been using it in my Unite Pro since early 2014, my data consumption is roughly 250GB per month on average, though I've seen some months as indicated earlier in this thread up to 400GB. Never heard of a case where this plan was pulled because of hotspot usage, I think you'll be absolutely fine.

East85... You appear to be quite knowledgable on this...I have had the unlimited plan since the original iPad. I finally decided to get a new iPad Air 2 because the old original iPad crashed all the time and I figured I could benefit from the speed of the LTE. I was surprised to, circuitously, find out, when I was tinkering with the iPad and then once I found this thread, that I could use the ATT unlimited plan and the ATT unite pro to generate wifi, as I have no wifi and have always relied on my iPad plan for not to heavy use on the Internet. I have a MacBook Pro used mostly at work with wifi there, and don't use it when at home because I have no wifi. I would like to use my Mac at home for minor use on the Internet. Anyway, when I bought the IPad air2 at Best Buy they transferred the plan from the original iPad to the new iPad Air2 IMEI and the Apple nano sim ICCID number. I now have the ATT unite Pro hotspot. As I have interpreted posts here, users on this thread have indicated that all one has to do is put the sim from the iPad into the hotspot. However, when I put the nano sim into the micro sim area of the hotspot, it gives an alert that I have to use the proper sim provided by the carrier. I do not think the problem is the micro vs. nano sim. Note, I am not using an adapter, as I have read on another macrumor's thread an adapter is not necessary; and the orientation of the chip is proper and the sim is touching the terminals properly. To investigate what, otherwise, might be the problem I put my original iPad micro sim into the ATT hotspot, and I do not get this alert, and it recognizes the phone number associated with the unlimited plan. Still, however, this will not work with ATT because, of course, Best Buy killed this sim to work on the network when they made the transfer to the Apple sim. So basically two questions. Will the Apple Sim that came with the iPad Air2 (never) work in the ATT unite pro, or is it just not working because I have not gone to the ATT landing page, where one can edit the plan, and put in the IMEI of the unite pro device to replace the iPad device? Second question: If that does not solve the problem, and I can't get the Apple sim to work, can I go back to my old micro Sim by entering it back on the ATT site and do I, again, have to put in the IMEI number of the Unite pro and expect to get LTE off that original iPad chip? Sorry for the length of this.. But I hope you can help me. Thanks much.

 

[mjcxp]

East85... You appear to be quite knowledgable on this...I have had the unlimited plan since the original iPad. I finally decided to get a new iPad Air 2 because the old original iPad crashed all the time and I figured I could benefit from the speed of the LTE. I was surprised to, circuitously, find out, when I was tinkering with the iPad and then once I found this thread, that I could use the ATT unlimited plan and the ATT unite pro to generate wifi, as I have no wifi and have always relied on my iPad plan for not to heavy use on the Internet. I have a MacBook Pro used mostly at work with wifi there, and don't use it when at home because I have no wifi. I would like to use my Mac at home for minor use on the Internet. Anyway, when I bought the IPad air2 at Best Buy they transferred the plan from the original iPad to the new iPad Air2 IMEI and the Apple nano sim ICCID number. I now have the ATT unite Pro hotspot. As I have interpreted posts here, users on this thread have indicated that all one has to do is put the sim from the iPad into the hotspot. However, when I put the nano sim into the micro sim area of the hotspot, it gives an alert that I have to use the proper sim provided by the carrier. I do not think the problem is the micro vs. nano sim. Note, I am not using an adapter, as I have read on another macrumor's thread an adapter is not necessary; and the orientation of the chip is proper and the sim is touching the terminals properly. To investigate what, otherwise, might be the problem I put my original iPad micro sim into the ATT hotspot, and I do not get this alert, and it recognizes the phone number associated with the unlimited plan. Still, however, this will not work with ATT because, of course, Best Buy killed this sim to work on the network when they made the transfer to the Apple sim. So basically two questions. Will the Apple Sim that came with the iPad Air2 (never) work in the ATT unite pro, or is it just not working because I have not gone to the ATT landing page, where one can edit the plan, and put in the IMEI of the unite pro device to replace the iPad device? Second question: If that does not solve the problem, and I can't get the Apple sim to work, can I go back to my old micro Sim by entering it back on the ATT site and do I, again, have to put in the IMEI number of the Unite pro and expect to get LTE off that original iPad chip? Sorry for the length of this.. But I hope you can help me. Thanks much.

I don't think an Apple Sim will ever work in any device that did not come with it. The AT&T store should give you a new SIM card without any hassles. Tell them you need a nano sim to switch a plan over. Tell them that you will do the activation yourself. Once you received the nano sim login into the iPad Landing portal and leave the IMEI as the new iPad but change the ICCID to the number of your new SIM card. Once this has been done you should be able to swap SIM cards anytime between any device without needing to change anything.

 

[1997AAPL]

I've only had my data throttled on YouTube streaming in the past. Now with VPN they can not discriminate based on the type of data and everything runs at the same speeds as it all looks the same on their end, no throttling.

I don't think an Apple Sim will ever work in any device that did not come with it. The AT&T store should give you a new SIM card without any hassles. Tell them you need a nano sim to switch a plan over. Tell them that you will do the activation yourself. Once you received the nano sim login into the iPad Landing portal and leave the IMEI as the new iPad but change the ICCID to the number of your new SIM card. Once this has been done you should be able to swap SIM cards anytime between any device without needing to change anything.

Hey mjcxp... I'll head out to an ATT store and follow your advice. I really think that the problem is with that Apple sim. I will let the forum know how it goes... Thanks

 

[Brandon86]

I can answer that, I also had an apple Sim card before, the white one that came with my iPad mini 2. It didn't work for me in the Unite Pro either. The fix was simple, went to ATT, said I needed a new Sim to work with my iPad and use my same unlimited data plan, they gave me a new Sim card, that had the ATT branding on it. Simply put it in, logged into the landing page, to switch the service over to that sim, and then put it back in the Unite pro. Worked flawlessly with no errors.

 

[1997AAPL]

I don't think an Apple Sim will ever work in any device that did not come with it. The AT&T store should give you a new SIM card without any hassles. Tell them you need a nano sim to switch a plan over. Tell them that you will do the activation yourself. Once you received the nano sim login into the iPad Landing portal and leave the IMEI as the new iPad but change the ICCID to the number of your new SIM card. Once this has been done you should be able to swap SIM cards anytime between any device without needing to change anything.

Hello Again mjcxp....The ATT store wouldn't give me a new ATT nano Sim unless they saw and activated the device with the IMEI. I brought in the iPadAir2 and told them I just didn't have the Apple Sim that came with the device, and that the ICCID of that SIM was still up on the iPad landing along with the IMEA. I gave them the pertinent credentials with the account and they put a new ATT branded SIM into the iPad and they entered the ICCID into my account. All set for that step of the process. I put the SIM in the hotspot....it worked this time. GREAT!!!! So, Apple sim was the problem. Thanks very much to you, Brandon86, East85 and the rest of this forum...
[doublepost=1453585659][/doublepost]

I can answer that, I also had an apple Sim card before, the white one that came with my iPad mini 2. It didn't work for me in the Unite Pro either. The fix was simple, went to ATT, said I needed a new Sim to work with my iPad and use my same unlimited data plan, they gave me a new Sim card, that had the ATT branding on it. Simply put it in, logged into the landing page, to switch the service over to that sim, and then put it back in the Unite pro. Worked flawlessly with no errors.

Please see my reply to mjcxp...thanks!!!!

 

[mjcxp]

Brandon, do you ever kicked off your Cradlepoint sporadically? Previously you mentioned that every couple days you have to reboot in order for the Cradlepoint to connect again. I purchased an Cradlepoint IBR650 to use as a cellular modem/router and connected my Time Capsule in bridge mode. So far it has been solid but I have experienced a couple disconnects when downloading large files. I did not know if you had experienced anything similar.

 

[Brandon86]

I actually do not need to reboot ever on my cradlepoint. I had an issue when I first purchased it that wouldn't let me connect. I gave up messing with settings for 24 hours, came back and it was fine. (Odd, but I believe ATT had to register the Sim on its network again?) Since then I have not had to reboot the router, in fact the last time I turned it off and back on, was when I moved to a new house I bought in August. Since then I have not reset it, or had any issues. I download large files in the 3-4GB range quite often as well. So I'm not sure what problem you may be having. Sorry, I don't have experience with that particular Cradlepoint model.

 

[BarryL]

OK guys, finally had a minute to sit down and write this results comparison.

Second Setup:
ATT Unite Pro (Netgear Signal Boosting Cradle)
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-AirCa...obile_desktop?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Ethernet port to computer: 52 down / 13 up
WiFi to computer <5ft. distance: 44 down / 12 up
WiFi to computer 15ft. distance: 44 down / 12 up
WiFi to computer >30ft. one floor down: 27 down / 7 up

WiFi to cellphone <5 ft. distance: 46 down / 13 up
WiFi to cellphone 15 ft. distance: 45 down / 9 up
WiFi to cellphone >30ft. one floor down: 22 down / 8 up

Third Setup:
CradlePoint MBR1400LPE-AT

Ethernet port to computer: 66 down / 26 up
WiFi to computer <5ft. distance: 61 down / 19 up
WiFi to computer 15ft. distance: 58 down / 19 up
WiFi to computer >30ft. one floor down: 45 down 11 up

WiFi to cellphone <5 ft. distance: 61 down / 22 up
WiFi to cellphone 15 ft. distance: 53 down / 21 up
WiFi to cellphone >30ft. one floor down: 38 down / 14 up

Brandon- Thanks for spending the time to post these results. It's got me thinking again how I can get better speeds.

I'm really annoyed I missed this Cradlepoint auction by a day.

I didn't know Netgear made a dock, from the Amazon reviews it retailer for $70.. Which is a bargain for the boosted signal and speed compared to a $800 Cradlepoint setup.

Where did you get your Netgear signal boosting dock from? Amazon is out of stock, this might be a good first step for me. Unless you want to sell yours?? LOL

 

[Channan]

I wonder if the prices for these will come down because of AT&T offering unlimited plans again. The monthly cost for the data is $60, plus $40 for each line. People are mostly talking about this for phones. Haven't seen anything about just getting one for an iPad without a phone.

Doesn't really seem to be affecting this plan. But, if you really think about it, why would it? The cheapest you can get unlimited data with AT&T's new plan is $100. It becomes a better deal the more lines you add, but it'll never be as low as $30 per line.

Then there's the DirecTV or U-Verse requirement. Add at least another $30/month on top of that.

Lastly, the fact that the $30 plan is never throttled, while the new plan can be after 22GB, means the old grandfathered plan still crushes the new unlimited plan in value.

 

[Brandon86]

Brandon- Thanks for spending the time to post these results. It's got me thinking again how I can get better speeds.

I'm really annoyed I missed this Cradlepoint auction by a day.

I didn't know Netgear made a dock, from the Amazon reviews it retailer for $70.. Which is a bargain for the boosted signal and speed compared to a $800 Cradlepoint setup.

Where did you get your Netgear signal boosting dock from? Amazon is out of stock, this might be a good first step for me. Unless you want to sell yours?? LOL

Glad the speed results helped, and the great thing about the boosting cradle is it has an ethernet port that can be put into a router that may have even better wifi range/speeds. I purchased mine from amazon. I actually sold it to a friend a few months ago, and had to borrow it to get the results I posted earlier. So, sorry it isn't for sale Scour the eBay auctions, I'm sure one will pop up!

 

[BarryL]

Glad the speed results helped, and the great thing about the boosting cradle is it has an ethernet port that can be put into a router that may have even better wifi range/speeds. I purchased mine from amazon. I actually sold it to amazing friend a few months ago, and had to borrow it to get the results I posted earlier. So, sorry it isn't for sale Scour the eBay auctions, I'm sure one will pop up!

One more question. I keep reading you need explicit approval from AT&T to use this Netgear signal enhancer.

Like I'm going to call AT&T and ask permission. This is probably a dumb question, but did you or your friend call them?