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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?
Use groupies to download stuff using their own cell connections.
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.
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.
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.
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....
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?
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.