Carrier AT&T Unlimited Data Plan for iPad

[MJedi]

Seeing the picture above of the Unite Explore, I'm wondering if there is a way to lock the screen of the Unite Pro behind a password. Right now, anyone can just turn on the screen of the Unite Pro to access the device. I can't find any setting in the device's admin page. That seems a big oversight, unless I'm not looking at the right place. Thanks.

 

[HPLouis]

I have 2 unlimited iPad plans and these new unlimited mobile share plans really have me thinking of selling my plans, or at least one of them. Also, seeing them got for $1200 on eBay really has me thinking.

Here's my question. If I add the iPad to my unlimited mobile share plan for $20, will I still have the ability to swap the Sim card into my Unite Pro or Explorer (I have both) and use the hotspot, like I do now with my iPad unlimited plan?

 

[BarryL]

So I said not to get the Unite Explore in favor of the Netgear M1, but I found the Explore brand new for $35 on Craigslist. The Explore had plastic in the front of it still and the battery was shrink-wrapped as well as the back cover. And it fits on my DC112a smart cradle just fine. The difference between the Unite Pro and the Unite Explore is that it has a IP Pass Through feature that gives the smart cradle router AT&T's IP instead of doing double NAT like the Pro.

I didn't know the DCA112a would work with US carriers. I thought it the DCA113 was for US.

I see a Unite Explore attached. I heard speeds are excellent with these boosters.

Does the IP Passthrough give better speeds or just less complex setup? I'm not an IT expert on routers.

 

[BarryL]

Seeing the picture above of the Unite Explore, I'm wondering if there is a way to lock the screen of the Unite Pro behind a password. Right now, anyone can just turn on the screen of the Unite Pro to access the device. I can't find any setting in the device's admin page. That seems a big oversight, unless I'm not looking at the right place. Thanks.

I just scanned every option for the Explore. I don't see anywhere to remove that screen. It's not an issue for me as it sits still in the window.

 

[DanielNTX]

Seeing the picture above of the Unite Explore, I'm wondering if there is a way to lock the screen of the Unite Pro behind a password. Right now, anyone can just turn on the screen of the Unite Pro to access the device. I can't find any setting in the device's admin page. That seems a big oversight, unless I'm not looking at the right place. Thanks.

Yes you can set a 4 digit pin to lock the screen so not just anyone can access the screen.

I didn't know the DCA112a would work with US carriers. I thought it the DCA113 was for US.

I see a Unite Explore attached. I heard speeds are excellent with these boosters.

Does the IP Passthrough give better speeds or just less complex setup? I'm not an IT expert on routers.

It's not really a booster, rather a router. They are listed on eBay all the time around $100 and come from Kuwait or Australia. The first one I ordered, never shipped even though the seller said they did, but Paypal covered me. The router bypasses the 15 device limit and provides better wireless AC coverage for the home without double NATing and also because the router is presented with a real external IP you could run like a web server from it. Also you can flash the U.S. firmware that has broadband fail-over capability that the Zain version doesn't. It involves re-writing part of the non-volatile ram that you don't have access through the GUI, but rather telnet.

 

[DanielNTX]

Netgear Nighthawk M1 Info:
Datasheet: https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/mobile/MR1100.pdf
Quick Start Guide: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/MR1100/MR1100_QSG_EN.pdf
Manual: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/MR1100/MR1100_UM_EN.pdf

 

[Truefan31]

Netgear Nighthawk M1 Info:
Datasheet: https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/mobile/MR1100.pdf
Quick Start Guide: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/MR1100/MR1100_QSG_EN.pdf
Manual: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/MR1100/MR1100_UM_EN.pdf

It looks nice. I'd just wanna know before spending 360 usd that it'd work on att. I think because it supports 700/2100 it should work but idk.

 

[DanielNTX]

Here are the LTE bands for AT&T:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T_Mobility#Radio_frequency_summary

700 MHz Lower B/C/D/E 12/17/29 LTE 4G Bands 12 and 17 are the main LTE bands for coverage. Band 29 is only for supplemental downlink.
850 MHz CLR 5 Active & Being deployed as needed Additional LTE bands for capacity
1700/2100 MHz AWS 4
1900 MHz PCS 2
2300 MHz WCS 30

Also the device has to be unlocked, but these are the bands the M1 supports:
• Max 1 Gbps download speeds, and 150 Mbps upload speeds
• LTE CAT 16, 4-band CA and 4x4 MIMO
• Up to 4X Carrier Aggregation
• LTE/4GX 700/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz
• 3G 850/900/1900/2100 MHz

Here's what the Unite Explore supports:
LTE Bands: 2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 29, 30
4G/3G: HSPA+ 850/1900/2100MHz - Global roaming supported.

So pretty similar to each other but the explore doesn't have the 4x aggregation.

 

[Truefan31]

Yes you can set a 4 digit pin to lock the screen so not just anyone can access the screen.

It's not really a booster, rather a router. They are listed on eBay all the time around $100 and come from Kuwait or Australia. The first one I ordered, never shipped even though the seller said they did, but Paypal covered me. The router bypasses the 15 device limit and provides better wireless AC coverage for the home without double NATing and also because the router is presented with a real external IP you could run like a web server from it. Also you can flash the U.S. firmware that has broadband fail-over capability that the Zain version doesn't. It involves re-writing part of the non-volatile ram that you don't have access through the GUI, but rather telnet.

Do you find the solution works as a home internet replacement? Does the cradle improve signal?

Maybe the cradle hooked to a ac router through the Ethernet port?

 

[DanielNTX]

Do you find the solution works as a home internet replacement? Does the cradle improve signal?

Maybe the cradle hooked to a ac router through the Ethernet port?

The DC112A is a full router not just a cradle. I have it in failover mode so if my broadband goes out it switches to the hotspot. It works fine as a home internet solution but through cable I get 300 down and 20 up vs. the 30 down and 12 up I get from the hotspot.

 

[MJedi]

Yes you can set a 4 digit pin to lock the screen so not just anyone can access the screen.

The Unite Pro web admin page is different from yours. It doesn't have a section for Security.

Thanks anyway.

 

[BarryL]

Do you find the solution works as a home internet replacement? Does the cradle improve signal?
Maybe the cradle hooked to a ac router through the Ethernet port?

That was my question too. I would think with exterior antennas this would provide a better signal. Potentially better speeds as well.

The DC112A is a full router not just a cradle. I have it in failover mode so if my broadband goes out it switches to the hotspot. It works fine as a home internet solution but through cable I get 300 down and 20 up vs. the 30 down and 12 up I get from the hotspot.

Interesting idea with failover. I've personally ditched Comcast in favor of hotspot devices, and my unlimited iPad plan.

You might consider a load balancing router, TP-LINK makes these. Essentially fuses your two broadband connections into one.

One thought I had was two DCA113's (or 112a) and load balancing router for my two iPad unlimited plans.

Oh the lengths I go to to avoid Commie-cast.

 

[DanielNTX]

The Unite Pro web admin page is different from yours. It doesn't have a section for Security.

Thanks anyway.

This is the Unite Explore that I just got for $35. My old Unite Pro does not have this option either.

 

[Truefan31]

Here are the LTE bands for AT&T:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T_Mobility#Radio_frequency_summary

700 MHz Lower B/C/D/E 12/17/29 LTE 4G Bands 12 and 17 are the main LTE bands for coverage. Band 29 is only for supplemental downlink.
850 MHz CLR 5 Active & Being deployed as needed Additional LTE bands for capacity
1700/2100 MHz AWS 4
1900 MHz PCS 2
2300 MHz WCS 30

Also the device has to be unlocked, but these are the bands the M1 supports:
• Max 1 Gbps download speeds, and 150 Mbps upload speeds
• LTE CAT 16, 4-band CA and 4x4 MIMO
• Up to 4X Carrier Aggregation
• LTE/4GX 700/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz
• 3G 850/900/1900/2100 MHz

Here's what the Unite Explore supports:
LTE Bands: 2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 29, 30
4G/3G: HSPA+ 850/1900/2100MHz - Global roaming supported.

So pretty similar to each other but the explore doesn't have the 4x aggregation.

hmm looks like it'd might work then on ATT. obv the 700/2100 seems like the most compatible. so it does support 850/1900, but it's hspa? not 4g lte?
[doublepost=1488692416][/doublepost]

The DC112A is a full router not just a cradle. I have it in failover mode so if my broadband goes out it switches to the hotspot. It works fine as a home internet solution but through cable I get 300 down and 20 up vs. the 30 down and 12 up I get from the hotspot.

yeah i'm wondering if maybe using the cradle as a modem, then going ethernet to wan to a router. Maybe have the router do the heavy lifting per say. Then getting some external antennas to hook to the cradle to improve signal as much as possible.
[doublepost=1488694598][/doublepost]found this too:

https://www.netgear.com/home/produc...te-modems/LB2120.aspx?cid=wmt_netgear_organic

this looks good too, need to see frequency support though. has external antenna ports/2 ethernet ports. Maybe bridge this to a nice asus ac wifi router?

 

[kevink2]

I'm surprised that the unlimited plan hasn't dropped in price. I saw that one sold this week for $1600 on eBay.

With the other option, such as the unlimited $20 car plan that works with the Mobley (and with adapter can be used out of the car), it looks like prices could go down.

And though ATT hasn't cracked down on this plan through the years, there is no guarantee that they won't at some point. So paying a lot for it is taking a risk.

And selling it to me seems to be a risk. What if the person who buys it doesn't pay.

 

[HPLouis]

I'm surprised that the unlimited plan hasn't dropped in price. I saw that one sold this week for $1600 on eBay.

With the other option, such as the unlimited $20 car plan that works with the Mobley (and with adapter can be used out of the car), it looks like prices could go down.

And though ATT hasn't cracked down on this plan through the years, there is no guarantee that they won't at some point. So paying a lot for it is taking a risk.

And selling it to me seems to be a risk. What if the person who buys it doesn't pay.

I just sold both of mine for $1600 each. I was fearing the same things you mentioned, especially with the Mobley and the new data plans. At this point, I don't need the data like I used to back in the day (I was living in a basement apartment and my wife was working the night shift with no wifi). Now, we're able to add our iPads to our multi line unlimited plan and save $20 ($10 each plan). It's a win-win for us.
[doublepost=1488733869][/doublepost]About the person not paying, I told the guy that if he sends me the money as a gift through PayPal, and he's verified, I'd knock $300 off the selling price for both plans since eBay and Paypal's fees are around 10%. I'd rather him save some money versus giving it to PayPal or eBay. He saves and I'm guaranteed my money. We both win.

 

[Truefan31]

I'm surprised that the unlimited plan hasn't dropped in price. I saw that one sold this week for $1600 on eBay.

With the other option, such as the unlimited $20 car plan that works with the Mobley (and with adapter can be used out of the car), it looks like prices could go down.

And though ATT hasn't cracked down on this plan through the years, there is no guarantee that they won't at some point. So paying a lot for it is taking a risk.

And selling it to me seems to be a risk. What if the person who buys it doesn't pay.

These plans are unthrottled though. No deprioritization, no limits. The mobley still relies on the smartphone plan which can be deprioritized after 22 gb. But their good options for people who don't use a lot of data.

And the new att unlimited plans by att are throttled after 10gb hotspot data. These aren't. But I hope they do fall in price. I'm lookin to get a couple more.

 

[dfkinca]

It's not really a booster, rather a router. They are listed on eBay all the time around $100 and come from Kuwait or Australia. The first one I ordered, never shipped even though the seller said they did, but Paypal covered me. The router bypasses the 15 device limit and provides better wireless AC coverage for the home without double NATing and also because the router is presented with a real external IP you could run like a web server from it. Also you can flash the U.S. firmware that has broadband fail-over capability that the Zain version doesn't. It involves re-writing part of the non-volatile ram that you don't have access through the GUI, but rather telnet.

Do you have any information (and links) for (i) the U.S. firmware for this unit, and (ii) instructions on how to flash the device via telnet? I am familiar with telnet (having flashed many a T-Mobile Cellspot to convert to Asus AC68U), but a quick search did not provide me with the info I need to convert these DC112A units to U.S. firmware.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

[DanielNTX]

Do you have any information (and links) for (i) the U.S. firmware for this unit, and (ii) instructions on how to flash the device via telnet? I am familiar with telnet (having flashed many a T-Mobile Cellspot to convert to Asus AC68U), but a quick search did not provide me with the info I need to convert these DC112A units to U.S. firmware.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

1) Telnet-enable: https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/telnet.console
2) Here are the codes I used (DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK):
To change the ID:

nvram get board_id
burnboardid U12H314T01_NETGEAR

After you make this change you can flash the U.S./North American firmware using the GUI.

To change the default password and username:

nvram show | grep username
routerinfo
showconfig
nvram set super_username=newusername
nvram set super_passwd=newpasswd
nvram commit
reboot

To change the default Wi-Fi names:

nvram set wla_preset_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle_02
nvram set wla_temp_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle
nvram set wlg_preset_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle_02-5GHz
nvram set wlg_temp_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle-5GHz
nvram commit
burnssid NETGEAR_Cradle_02
burn5gssid NETGEAR_Cradle_02-5GHz
reboot

3) Default US/Intl firmaware: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/DC112A/DC112A-V1.0.0.30_1.0.60.zip

Tips:
You can dump out all NVRAM settings with:

nvram show

There's also some region strings, I believe 0 is unlocked for everywhere and 1 is for North America. It's been a while since I've done this.

 

[Truefan31]

1) Telnet-enable: https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/telnet.console
2) Here are the codes I used (DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK):
To change the ID:

nvram get board_id
burnboardid U12H314T01_NETGEAR

After you make this change you can flash the U.S./North American firmware using the GUI.

To change the default password and username:

nvram show | grep username
routerinfo
showconfig
nvram set super_username=newusername
nvram set super_passwd=newpasswd
nvram commit
reboot

To change the default Wi-Fi names:

nvram set wla_preset_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle_02
nvram set wla_temp_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle
nvram set wlg_preset_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle_02-5GHz
nvram set wlg_temp_ssid=NETGEAR_Cradle-5GHz
nvram commit
burnssid NETGEAR_Cradle_02
burn5gssid NETGEAR_Cradle_02-5GHz
reboot

3) Default US/Intl firmaware: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/DC112A/DC112A-V1.0.0.30_1.0.60.zip

Tips:
You can dump out all NVRAM settings with:

nvram show

There's also some region strings, I believe 0 is unlocked for everywhere and 1 is for North America. It's been a while since I've done this.

whoa, so this makes the intl dc112a be able to use the US ATT frequencies? Does it suppport all bands?

 

[DanielNTX]

DC112A is just a router, it allows US frequencies for Wi-fi... ATT frequencies has nothing to do with it, that's the job of the Unite Pro or Explore.

 

[Truefan31]

DC112A is just a router, it allows US frequencies for Wi-fi... ATT frequencies has nothing to do with it, that's the job of the Unite Pro or Explore.

Oh. So why do the telnet then? I have a unite pro. I could just use the dc112 and get native att ability?

So the unite explore works with the dc112 cradle?

 

[007shinobi]

Just curious: have people had luck with using att smartphones with the unlimited ipad plan and do you need root to tether? I think pbbjr had issues with it on his att galaxy note 4 and it didn't seem he resolved it. I just know my iPhone 7 plus from a different carrier works but tethering does not (unless I jailbreak I think).

 

[DanielNTX]

Oh. So why do the telnet then? I have a unite pro. I could just use the dc112 and get native att ability?

So the unite explore works with the dc112 cradle?

The telnet is to convert it over to the North American model and restore the Fail-over capability left out by the other firmware. The DC112A works with the Unite Pro or the Unite Explore to provide internet.

 

[Truefan31]

The telnet is to convert it over to the North American model and restore the Fail-over capability left out by the other firmware. The DC112A works with the Unite Pro or the Unite Explore to provide internet.

Oh so I could just use my unite pro to the cradle and it'll work on us att? Wonder if the explore be worth it then since it provides more band coverage. Do u find the cradle boosting signal at all?

Is the us firmware necessary to do things like change ssid/pw? Network settings?