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Ask Slashdot: Best Option For a Touring Band With Mobile Data?
New submitter SEMLogistics writes: I'm working with a well-known rock band, that is not based in the U.S., and has an upcoming U.S. tour this fall. The issue they always run into, however, is when renting a tour bus and traveling with 12 to 14 people, they consistently blow through data allowances set by the bus company. This leads to tremendously expensive overages, and greatly throttled data. "When chartering a Nightliner tour bus, travel companies only typically allow for 10GB data a month. With 12 people, downloading music and streaming movies, we can easily exceed 12GB a day! This leads to thousands of dollars every month in overages!"
Slashdot, help! Are there any good mobile hotspot options with unlimited data, and monthly contracts (I haven't found any), or other alternatives than to simply be held a data-hostage?
Slashdot, help! Are there any good mobile hotspot options with unlimited data, and monthly contracts (I haven't found any), or other alternatives than to simply be held a data-hostage?
Ok?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
t-mobile will not charge you for using a ton of bandwidth hogging services such as youtube. They also will not charge you for going over your limit but they will throttle you once you hit the cap. There are no contracts. That being said there coverage may not be the best.
Take a look at Karma Wifi. It doesn't have a router in the mix which may be a deal breaker. I have no affiliation with karma or their products. But their pricing is straight forward.
Pick two.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
Get a Peplink mobile router and data service with AT&T and T-Mobile. That should give you coverage almost anywhere in the US.
Use groupies to download stuff using their own cell connections.
FWIW: You can download a lot of the Netflix movies when connected to wifi. Just tell them to pick movies ahead of schedule.
And what band?
If that bus company doesn't offer it,
Since when is a bus company in the business of providing mobile data? They aren't. Why are they capping it? Why are you buying it from them in the first place?
For those thousands of dollars, you can get a lot of basic unlimited cellphone lines. Who cares if each member has his own account and his own "unlimited"?
I see T-Mobile has 4 lines for $40 each, and the only "cap" they show is if you go above 32Gb when they de-prioritize. Verizon has "unlimited" for a phone and two devices for $80/mo, with the "cap" that anything above 22Gb is at a lower priority.
I'm wondering, why isn't this person just doing the same thing I am doing: google for cellular services and see what is available? It's a question of how much you want to pay, so we can't tell you what will work because we don't know how skinflint you are.
Google's service has a very straightforward and reasonably priced approach.
When did Donalt Trump start posting as AC?
https://unlimitedville.com/
Fun fact: Finding things rich people don't want to waste their time figuring out and letting them just throw money at it instead is a great way to get paid way more than you're worth.
How about buying 3 mobile phones with great data plans and running them as mobile hotspots. Just plug them into the power outlet, then allocate 4 people to each phone.
Then they can afford buying a mobile hotspot with 60gb of data on it. If they are well known then $1KUS per month is chump change to them.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Right, fuck trying to engage with your fans and post pictures and videos from the road. No, the drummer needs to practice! Never mind that all of the equipment is stored in the trailer, if they've made it to international tour status they need to practice, practice, practice.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Another fun fact. Having rich people to pay you to post their question to Slashdot, Stack Overflow etc instead of figuring out the answer yourself like the expert they are paying you to be, is an even easier way to get paid way more than you're worth.
Order multiple 4G access points with the largest data plans available, bond them all together using an aggregation platform, then pump thru a good wifi router/access point. This gives you: 1) more speed, 2) combining the data plans to give you an overall lower cost per gigabyte transferred. I'm doing this today and reselling to my customers. I own a stretched limo, my friends and guests enjoy the wifi - never any overage fees, lot's of bandwidth and about 300 gigabytes worth of data for a max of $450/month. Easy to do, cheap to maintain. I own an airplane too, but haven't found a good/inexpensive/reliable way of getting bandwidth on board yet sadly.
Assuming ping isn't an issue (do you really try to play a multiplayer game on a bus in the middle of nowhere? If so, you need a swift kick in the balls and a quick whack upside the head with the cluestick), um, what was I saying.
Satellite. Viasat. Ping sucks ass, but the bandwidth per buck is pretty good, and from what I hear coverage is good.
Disclaimer. I don't work for Viasat. I don't know much about their coverage maps. But it's free to spout my opinion, so there it is.
Streaming/Downloading movies?
If you can afford several thousand a month in overages, you can afford a dozen $50 Blu-ray players and enough to buy every single movie that comes out each month.
That should reduce your bandwidth consumption to something manageable.
Also as mentioned, find a new band, because you're doing it wrong.
I'm in an Indy band from AU that is touring the US again this year (toured last 4 years), and we're definitely not famous/well known and we don't get a bus, we get a u-haul :-) We have to keep it cheap because airfare is $$.
We go to walmart, we all buy SIM and cheap phone packages, generally AT&T cos they have better coverage where we tour.
There's unlimited data on a few plans, but they can't be tethered (bummer) but 1 month unlimited phone calls and data was like $70 last year. Not bad. Speed was good and alternatively, WIFI is ubiquitous. We spent the first tour in carpark at McDonalds comping their wifi to contact home, so you have options.
Considering that a bus costs a crap load per day (yes I know the figures) and you've got 12 people on the move, it's hard for me to imagine that your Data costs are a Tour Killer, but yeah you don't have to get ripped off and the Yanks are deffo a Caveat Emptor bunch, if you don't know better, you'll pay more.
If you're blowing through that much data, may we also suggest looking out the window for a bit instead of downloading Fap Content :-) Turns out the US is quite pretty in places, especially if you like Corn.
'Fun fact' - What you call rich and entitled people whining describes the 1% of the music biz. I'm working with this band and am taking no fees whatsoever (and have no affiliation with any business associated with them). What you don't realize is that a large majority of the bands that you know from your streaming service of choice (iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, etc) is that you'd consider them working class if they were in a white colllar profession. Most of your favorite artists don't make 'billions' and are very far away from 'Kardashian money'. Managing expenses on a yearly tour, while paying venue fees, accompanying act fees and miscellaneaous cost of living fees eats well into a major source of income for the people who you listen to, disposably, in your white and red high-def earbuds. The music industry isn't what it used to be, when bands like Led Zeppelin could request rooms on the water and have 'red snappers' delivered to their rooms. The music industry today, is comprised mainly of hard working individuals who make fractions of a cent on the dollar for thousands of streaming plays, and depend on regular touring to support the tour, their families and pay for production of more of the music that you love and expect. Hate on bands all you want for their ideaology, but I challenge you to form a valid argument against a hardworking touring band wanting to save on expenses....
Please see my comments below; that pertain HIGHLY to your opinion...
I have been touring the U.S. and worldwide for 23 years. I have never had a problem with data caps on a tour bus from the major providers (Senators, Roberts Brothers, Hemphill, etc...) Additionally, most tours get a high bandwidth connection in each venue, and use a touring wifi system from road-wifi.com (I think they also do North American licensed walkie talkies so you can kill 2 birds with one stone.) Finally, most hotels have free/included wifi, so you only actually use the bus wifi on submarine rides.
Why in gods name do you need continual, high-speed internet? Can you not pull yourself away from the computer? That's a problem all by itself.
Fun Fact: People who know how to research get paid more than people who complain on Slashdot that people are using the avenues at their disposal to do thorough research.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Buy Straight Talk from Walmart. $55, 12 GB of LTE data. When you use it up in one day, buy another (you can still text and call with the card, it just gets 2G data after the 12 GB are used). Rinse and repeat. If $55/day sinks your budget, rent a smaller bus next time.
If you want a local SIM in the US, this is it. Not cheap, but it does cover the entire country. Anyone got any recommendations for something similar in central Europe? Probably going to go with Google Fi just because roaming rates are reasonable, but have a two-week vacation coming up from Germany to Hungary and back...
Why do you think they need to keep their data costs down; their only other choice is to put a cap on their coke use, and that ain't happrning! :^)
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Do that from the stage.
These data caps aren't getting blown by posting pictures from the road or Tweeting the set list. They're being blown by the rhythm guitarist watching Season 5 of Hawaii 5-0 and the bass player watching Netflix for 8 hours a day.
And what's up with touring musicians who are all of a sudden too good to do drugs and bang groupies? They gotta be on the Internet all day? Man, millennials have ruined everything.
You are welcome on my lawn.
So Iâ(TM)ve been a touring tech in the U.S. for the last 10 years. The company to go with is Verizon if your not hitting any major cities. Iâ(TM)ve been to every state with lots of people, with other providers and they almost always have some issues in alot of rural areas. The best luck Iâ(TM)ve had was capping it per day (for crew) and a second one for the artist (capped as well but a little higher). It honestly sucks touring in the states for internet cause itâ(TM)s always spotty and they always try to rob you (fucking venues charging an arm and a leg for borderline 56k doesnâ(TM)t help either). Best to control it in your end, if you give them a call about that sort of thing they can set it up.
Fun Fact: People who know how to research get paid more than people who complain on Slashdot that people are using the avenues at their disposal to do thorough research.
Two more fun facts: this guy is getting paid nothing to be this band's consultant, and he's trying to get a lot of people on /. to be HIS consultants for free. And he has the nerve to whine about how bad the music business is financially for him, instead of getting a real job that would pay money.
"What should I do instead of buy my internet service from a bus company?" is a question that he ought to be able to figure out for himself -- if he is anywhere near able to understand the answers to begin with. The band clearly is getting every penny's worth of his salary.
Back in the day, I remember that punchline being, "the bass player". As in...
Did you hear about the drummer who locked his keys in his car?
It took him four hours to get the bass player out.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Right, fuck trying to engage with your fans and post pictures and videos from the road.
You missed the reason why they need 12Gb per day: to stream videos and download music. They're not engaging the fans, they're consuming other people's content.
Please see my comments below; that pertain HIGHLY to your opinion...
Not only are you too lazy to do your own research into mobile broadband solutions, you are too lazy to make any attempt at a clear reference to some "comments" that might "pertain highly", other than the "see below". Sorry, there is nothing from you below this. The comments above this are all a whine about how poor the band is and how awful those people who listen to the music by using a streaming service are. Ignore the fact that those people are likely the ones who come to see your band perform and pay the probably excessive ticket prices for a cut-rate band, you should insult them for listening. (Cut rate band hires a zero salary consultant for it's networking.)
Then don't click on the story and reply. I guess that thought never occurred to you.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
So... don't download music and don't stream movies while you're on tour? Ever heard of local storage? That's still a thing you know.
#DeleteFacebook
Books are not meant to be read.
#DeleteFacebook
They should try Pepsi, I've heard it's cheaper.
#DeleteFacebook
You shouldn't shoot it, can't smoke it, and snorting it is a bitch, so you heard wrong.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Mushroom Networks. If it was good enough for Willie Nelson in 2009, It is good enough for your no-name band (let's hope you become a household name in the future).
More info here:
https://www.wired.com/2009/10/...
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
Why in gods name do you need continual, high-speed internet? Can you not pull yourself away from the computer? That's a problem all by itself.
Have you tried touring for extended periods? In a bus? It isn't like these bands just go out for a day then go home at night, or even every week or two. Many spend months at a time on the road, with lots of long drives (hence the bus) and a sizable crew (the 12-14 mentioned). In 2017 it is not realistic for a group like this to NOT use 10GB+ per day. It isn't like they are just sitting around watching Netflix all day, and you obviously have no clue how this works. Few people on Slashdot would go days or weeks by choice without streaming anything.
Mobile data consumption is not the problem, the problem I see is people like you trying to tell the OP what his problem is rather than bothering to offer a solution. Folks on the road don't have their home internet connection to fall back on, or even slow hotel wifi, much of the time. Believe it or not, many bands also do a lot of work while travelling too, which requires internet use.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Top class bands use airplanes, and they don't worry about data use on a fucking tour bus.
Real top class bands are too busy shooting heroin and getting blowjobs to whine about data caps. WTF kind of pansy rock band is this about?
It's $20/month, truly unlimited, and is available in any vehicle with an OBDII port.
Others have been using it for household connections for a few months now, with tremendous results.
Either they provide unlimited data on the tour or your big band will go with another bus provider, period.
It's like you have no balls for negotiation. You'd make a shitty Ferengi.
How'd someone with no balls for negotiation like you even get the job you have?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
it's not whining..
it's just that in finland they could get an entire month of nonstop 3g/4g streaming for 10 bucks.
anyways, I suggest just keep buying prepaid sims, even in usa. one per day or whatever.
another option: tailgate a greyhound bus. maybe the wifi works in that particular bus.
and for americans I suggest you write your congress representatives or whatever and tell them to do something about the data cartel your operators have going on. yes, there is no excuse for your data limits except operator profits. you cannot excuse it with either higher or lower population densities, since elsewhere both of those work out just fine.
the whole thing is legacy for you getting screwed over with subsidizied phones.
and on top of that your monthly plans are STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE.. with those rates you should be all having unlimited 5mbit/s stations.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Your number one option here is going to be self control.
Explain the budget issue to the band members.
Institute a reimbursement plan where each member pays a percentage of the overage bill based on how much data they used.
If the leader singer wants to spend $3000 streaming cat videos then let him its his money, but his actions should not negatively impact the rest of the bands bottom line.
advertising. use your alleged well-known-band hype. negotiate. the band can afford it.
"Please don't apostrophe your quotation marks"
The verb is "apostrophize".
No matter how pedantic you are, there's
always someone pedanticker.
With 12 people, downloading music and streaming movies, we can easily exceed 12GB a day!
plus
you'd consider them working class if they were in a white colllar profession.
equals:
Hey dummy, don't do that.
Continually streaming music and movies while on a big road trip is expensive. The 'working class' solution to the problem is simple: don't.
Have them download movies movies and music to local storage for the bus; or dump what you need on a NAS and run a bus-wifi network or stick it on a USB drive. Throw 100GB of music on it and stream from that.
Pop into used dvd shop and pick up a couple dozen movies, and bring a portable dvd player or a laptop with a dvd player or ensure the bus media center can play DVDs.
Netflix also lets you do download stuff for offline movies. etc.
Hit up GoG.com and buy some games -- no drm, no online requirements, massive time sinks. Buy a Nintendo handheld. Buy some books, or an e-reader.
Get your fix of 'breaking news' streams while on wifi at the hotels.
Frankly, this should be fairly obvious, my children figured all this out pretty quick, because I won't let them stream netflix and youtube on my cellular plan on a road trip for the same reason.
Fun Fact: This is the time when Costello would yell, "I know, THIRD BASE!"
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Introduce them to the wonderful world of book reading
Which is why there were no big tours prior to the dawn of the internet
You're from Boston aren't you...
Either you missed the bit about this being a band on tour, or you have an over inflated view of Hotel WiFi. The big problem here is that if you're bored out of your mind in transit a few GB doesn't go far for entertainment. I have enough problem with downloading offline movies for a 1 week intercontinental trip, let alone going to tour, and the WiFi in the hotel typically barely allows me to get an additional movie in for the day after, let alone cover 14 people in a bus all day.
There is a LOT of data that needs to be planned ahead if you're trying to do this trip without relying on mobile data.
He's on third, and I Don't Give a Darn.
Well, if they all had to watch the same movie somebody would get murdered.
Or, they'd all be doing heroin in the bathroom. I think that is the old way bands passed the time on the road.
But they could at least rip the music to a personal collection instead of constant streaming if they're that into music.
I saw a fun one on a sign today, it said
And I just can't stop wondering if the assistant manager is passive-aggressive, or the owner and sign company are both just idiots.
Do they not buy albums and then listen to them? They have to stream it?
Nah, kids don't bother with that these days. They just pay a bunch of subscriptions and assume they'll always have unlimited high speed data everywhere they ever go ever and then get all panicky when they realise how hooked they are on it and it's not there. There's probably a whole sub set who have never seen a DVD let alone a CD.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
your write about some pacific points their but i really could care less.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?
You only have to punch information into a drum machine once.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Marty DiBergi ist that you?
We told you to get a better band.
http://bgr.com/2017/06/14/veri... Become a member of FMCA for $50 then sign up using their deal.
Last time I did it, I don't think we even had a cell phone. Having the internet would have been a godsend, because most of it is incredibly boring. Riding around on a bus all day isn't exactly entertaining.
What would you be doing if you were stuck on a bus all day?
Talk to each other.
Look out the window and see the world around you.
Read a book.
Ever heard of the iPod?
Seriously, get a life.
Do they not buy albums and then listen to them? They have to stream it?
What's that funny shinny metallic disc ?
And how am I supposed to put it inside my Apple iGadget 8 ? I keep tapping it against the phone, but the bluetooth doesn't seem to react.
Now my screen is scratched, and I'll need to complain about it on instagram (once I figure how to take a picture of the phone itself. I'll have to borrow a friend's phone)
Those discs remind me the thingy that my old uncle puts in he Microsoft Xbox 1080....
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Just unplug the goddamned thing and dole out small portions out as a reward.
Which seems to be the general policy of *any* service providers in the US, from what we hear over on this side of the atlantic pond...
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
My company has me on a corporate plan with unlimited and I throttled data. My coworkers and I have burned through it on extensive travel (100s of gigs) and it just keeps chugging along. There are such things out there.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
Until recently, I used to travel frequently, spending up to 15 hours a day in a moving vehicle with NO internet access. What's wrong with reading? You can download dozens of books at a time and share the devices. If you want to watch movies, many tour buses have screens, let the people on the bus take turns picking movies. There's also games, people can get competitive when they're in groups, use that.
As others have pointed out, you can buy several tablets and get pretty robust data plans that people can take turns using to check their mail, Facebook and other things that don't involve streaming gobs of data. If they ALL MUST have unlimited data streaming then do some research on mobile hotspots and tell them if they can't curb their data usage then stop bitching about it and pay the overage costs.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
Get T-Mobile Unlimited data plan, 4 for $160. Then on one of the lines, pay $25 to add the unlimited tethering option so you can use your laptops and streaming devices.
Then add a cell booster antenna onto your vehicle.
https://www.amazon.com/Travel-...
I am too fuckin lazy to shop for myself, you are working with a "well-known rock band" and yet trying to crowd source a phone plan
JFC
Some bands actually work on recording while on the road and need data upstream to upload sketches or even completed recordings to their producers and agents day to day. Some of them even pass songs back and forth with their producers to flesh out ideas. The really serious bands NEED to do this to even think about continuing to support themselves through music because the road doesn't pay like it used to. It's not like every band with a bus full of twelve people is going to come home millionaires. Most of them will have enough to go to the studio to record the new album, maybe, if not need to take six months to a year off to work a real job before doing so, and then get their asses back on the road.
The idea that all that data usage is strictly streaming Netflix all day long is ridiculous.
"We need more bandwidth."
"Guys, guys, no, you're doing it wrong. You should be reading books, instead!"
"You're fired. New guy, we need more bandwidth."
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
I ask because they are very kind to people with busses and truckers. They actually welcome them to sleep in their lot overnight and provide free coffee in the morning from what I understand.
Why do they do this? Because these people then go get their short term needs at Wal-Mart. Need milk, bread, a small grill, etc, it's right there.
See if Wal-Mart allows use of their Wi-Fi.
Either you missed the bit about this being a band on tour,
No. I saw that.
The big problem here is that if you're bored out of your mind in transit a few GB doesn't go far for entertainment.
Which is why i suggested loading up on offline entertainment.
I have enough problem with downloading offline movies for a 1 week intercontinental trip, let alone going to tour,
Hence the other suggestions: like walk into a used DVD shop, and buy a couple dozen movies.
and the WiFi in the hotel typically barely allows me to get an additional movie in for the day after, let alone cover 14 people in a bus all day.
Agreed. I said use wifi at the hotel to get your fix of youtube or grab that one movie you want but forgot. Get most of the offline content in advance, or in bulk.
Music for example, once you've got a 100GB offline you're set, sure you'll want to add new albums or tracks; but it can go on the next trip, and the one after that, etc.
There is a LOT of data that needs to be planned ahead if you're trying to do this trip without relying on mobile data.
Yep. Do it. Its how bands on a budget toured for the last 70+ years.
Customer: I'd like a burger, fries and cola please.
More like "Customer: I'd like Kobe steak every day month, and Kristal to drink, but I'm just working class and we can't afford it."
You have two options:
1) make more money.
2) eat something else.
I'm too old, now. I used to perform, but it wasn't that fancy. Either way, the answer is, "Groupies and blow."
One of the great things about playing in bars is that even the drummer can get laid.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
"We need more bandwidth."
"Guys, guys, no, you're doing it wrong. You should be reading books, instead!"
"You're fired. New guy, we need more bandwidth."
If the band demands expensive caviar at every meal, and then complains it's breaking their budget -- the solution is either to make a lot more money or to stop eating expensive caviar at every meal.
Getting fired sounds like a far better option than working for entitled toddlers who don't understand that.
Physics. Things get cheaper, and .. I can't bring myself to give help. Of course unlimited hotspots exist.
This is as close to hidden sponsored-content as I can image.
They're not engaging the fans, they're consuming other people's content.
It's only one or the other, huh? The tour buses that I've been on over the past year have included plenty of people who are actively working while on the road. The tour manager, for instance, he's lining up the details on the next few shows while they're going down the road, he's checking in with his other clients, etc. After the show the people in the band typically just want to relax and hang out, but once they get on the road they're either sleeping, posting whatever they want to post, or entertaining themselves. It's not like everyone does one thing and one thing only.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
It's only one or the other, huh?
I didn't tell everyone the reason or make it up, I'm just telling you what you missed in the summary.
You don't need 12Gb per day to "engage the fans". You don't distribute videos of your performances from a tour bus, you upload them once to a server somewhere. If you are tweeting 12Gb of stuff per day, you are seriously misusing Twitter.
Sure, being on the road is boring... but why stream?
Between everyone on the bus you can't come up with a collection of Videos/Music, put them on a laptop with a wifi hotspot and serve up the entire bus?
This just sounds like a nonsensical problem with an obvious solution.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
No, if a band demands expensive caviar at every meal, and asks the catering guy to look into less expensive means of getting cavier; for example, switching suppliers, ordering in bulk, etc etc, simply coming back and saying 'you shouldn't be eating caviar in the first place' is categorically the wrong answer.
Coming back and saying 'having looked at several options, there's really no way to eat this much caviar without spending this much money' may well be appropriate. That's not what most of the suggestions in this thread are saying.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
No, if a band demands expensive caviar at every meal, and asks the catering guy to look into less expensive means of getting cavier; for example, switching suppliers, ordering in bulk, etc etc, simply coming back and saying 'you shouldn't be eating caviar in the first place' is categorically the wrong answer.
Why is someone asking slashdot for solutions to a problem that could be answered with "have you considered switching suppliers?"
What's else? Should I ask to make sure they aren't on prepaid no included data and roaming from Canada?
Coming back and saying 'having looked at several options, there's really no way to eat this much caviar without spending this much money' may well be appropriate.
That's the reality. You aren't going to get a TB of 4G mobile data cheap. You might be able cut a few corners, but I don't think a 10 or 15% or even 20% reduction is going to cut it here.
That's not what most of the suggestions in this thread are saying.
I skimmed the suggestions before I posted. I didn't see anything practical. "write your congress critter"? follow a greyhound and try to leech from them? ...? What suggestion are you thinking of that you think really nails it?
The only approach I saw that might help a little is to get n separate LTE plans, and then rotate through them. That will work, by avoiding the exorbitant overage rate and just using each plan up to the caps... but really what does that accomplish. Verizon's 'unlimited' mobile plan throttles you to 3G speeds after 10GB, which is pretty shit for streaming and its $80/mo... $80/mo for 10 GB... is $8/GB that's in the 5-10$/GB overage rate they are likely paying now. Another carrier might have some better plan and some better way to rig it, so there might be a bit of savings there... maybe they can get it down to 3-4$ per GB. But it's ugly as hell, and its still going to be pretty expensive if they need 500-1000GB/mo.
Well, as Subby says, they're from 'not in the US,' and they're going to be 'In the US.' He was looking for real-world suggestions on good national carriers with decent coverage and prices. How else would you suggest he go about getting that sort of info?
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Well, as Subby says, they're from 'not in the US,' and they're going to be 'In the US.' He was looking for real-world suggestions on good national carriers with decent coverage and prices
There are 4 national carriers, it wouldn't take long to look at each one.
ATT, Verizon, TMobile, Sprint
Next largest is US Cellular about which is about 1/10th the size of sprint, and is regional only.
The subby also said they've been here before. And they already know the lay of the land so-to-speak -- given they're aware of the billing situation that they are trying to cut down; so they likely already know who the 4 are, and they've likely already determined that they're all about the same price. But if not, I think they can figure that out.
How else would you suggest he go about getting that sort of info?
Same way I just did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I'm not an american, and I'm not in the USA. I certainly didn't have to ask slashdot to get a list of the major national carriers in the United States, or to look up their rate plans.
Is your next question how you can save money on coke and not be held hostage by your dealer?
What about the increasing cost of hookers willing to do the whole band?
I think you're confusing need and want.
The idea that all that data usage is strictly streaming Netflix all day long is ridiculous.
You obviously didn't read the summary. And no, bands aren't recording on the bus (just think about that for a second), and even if they were definitely not at the rate that they just have to upload their super hi def recordings right there and then.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
If you do blow all day, you'll be a mess when you finally hit the stage. It works best just before or just after. Groupies are great, but when you uhm, "finish", maybe you just want to catch up on Thrones.
But if I'm going to be honest, we didn't have either.
But again, he's not just asking for a list of carriers, or their posted rate plans. He's asking for personal experience. Wikipedia isn't going to tell you 'Carrier A has great coverage in cities, but carrier B has better coverage along interstates' or 'Carrier C has way better technical support' or 'I've worked with carrier D before to come up with special price plans' or 'Carriers A and C have a nice roaming agreement between the two of them' or 'If you're along the border with Canada, make sure you have roaming turned off, especially if you're on ATT.'
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
He's asking for personal experience.
Right. And personal experience is what I gave him. From personal experience mobile data in all of North America is expensive. If you don't want to pay through the nose for mobile data, your best bet is to avoid using it as much as possible.
There is no: "one weird trick they don't want you to know" to get around it.
You don't distribute videos of your performances from a tour bus
You don't? If you want to upload some stuff to YouTube, are you supposed to tell the driver to pull over so you can get out? What if some of the videos are from the actual bus?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
The fact that it's all expensive doesn't mean there still isn't one that's better than the others for his particular needs.
Besides, what you actually gave him was 'treat your employers like children, and tell them they can't have what they want.'
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
"The fact that it's all expensive doesn't mean there still isn't one that's better than the others for his particular needs."
Like what? Which suggestion in this ask-slashdot did you think was the best? Seriously, which one met his needs?
"Besides, what you actually gave him was 'treat your employers like children, and tell them they can't have what they want.'
I didn't say treat the employer like children. I said my children figured out how to supply themselves entertainment when mobile data was too expensive for them, without asking slashdot for help. At worst was suggesting the submitter was using ask slashdot for solutions children could figure out.
I did LATER suggest that if the band fired him for reporting reality doesn't meet their wishes that such an act would make them entitled toddlers... IF they fired him for it.
I used to tour a lot back in '90s. We didn't stream squat because there was nothing to stream. Most of us didn't even have cellphones.
But we did have VHS players in both the front and back lounges. We had walkmen and whatever tapes/CDs we brought. Sometimes I'd bring my SuperNES and hook it up for some rousing drunken games of Mario Kart. If we were lucky, we'd wind up in one of the nicer buses that could get satellite TV if it wasn't too cloudy.
We had books and magazines. The kind made from trees.
If I wanted to check email, I'd just find a phone jack at the venue or hotel room and plug the ol' dial-up modem in. Assuming I brought a computer in the first place, which I often didn't even bother with.
We went out there, played music, had a blast, and survived just fine without a data plan.
So can you.
Which is why there were no big tours prior to the dawn of the internet
That's an idiotic comment. There was a time before buses when people traveled for extended periods too, so do you think band should stop whining about the cost of buses and just walk, like Jesus did? There are solutions to a need for mobile data other than just paying Verizon's scammy overages or not using the internet.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
There is no: "one weird trick they don't want you to know" to get around it.
There are a few weird tricks. There is a company called unlimitedville that resells unlimited data hotspots. Mine costs $50/month for unlimited sprint. ATT also has an unlisted plan of $100/month for 500G with $1/gig overage which is considerably cheaper than their normal plan. Personally though, as most people probably have their own cell phone and most major providers offer unlimited plans and/or free tethering, it would probably be cheaper and easier to just have each member handle their own internet.
Hi SEMLogistics,
I realize the mobile data costs is the main issue here. This is just a FWIW post for all small bands, creating original content and ways to increase their revenue thru music sales. Face it, it's no real news that the streaming model is breaking down as evidenced by the recent exiting of Pandora execs, SoundCloud layoff and Spotify being heavily leveraged with VC $$ despite millions of paid subscribers. The $$ is not going to the content creators. See the recent music
docu: lastsongwriter.com On a recent trip to Nashville to do a session, I got turned onto a startup called crowdmusic.com\281 They are attempting to change the model and out of every $1 they are allocating 0.40 to the artist. It's taking the Kickstarter model of vetting talent, combining it with social media. Right now it's a chicken and an egg but if talent at the very top has the wherewithal to pull off the other streaming platforms and release exclusively on CrowdMusic, the tide can turn. Also follow musicbusinessworldwide.com as they are posting a lot of news stories like Spotify creating fake artists in an effort to NOT pay artists, and Sony Music hiring an AI specialist to "create" hit music. messed up....