I ordered one of the above hotspots from eBay for $9.99 (plus $6.99 shipping).
When it showed up I removed the GoPhone SIM and installed the FreedomPop LTE SIM (it takes the mini, not the micro or nano). I then changed the APN to fp.com.attz and that's all it took.
I'm surfing the internet and am posting this, via the 770S, right now.
It's an LTE hotspot and it says I've got an LTE connection (on Band 17). I went to fast.com and it says I'm getting 2Mbps. I don't know if that will be typical or not, but it's more than sufficient for my needs-- especially from a 1 cent SIM. (I'm in a rural area.)
I just ordered a second MiFi for my other 1 cent SIM. I'm sure they'll come in handy.
A word of warning: I've read that there was a firmware update to these units that lowered the maximum permissible battery temperature to a level that's easy to hit, during normal use. This was done for liability reasons in an age where batteries sometimes explode. Needless to say, it has caused a lot of consternation from users of these hotspots because it presents as a bad battery problem and replacing the battery does not resolve it.
Ideally, you'll get a hotspot that doesn't have the offending firmware and, since it'll be on a FreedomPop SIM, it shouldn't auto-update.
If you purchase one of these and see a battery error you should either return it or check out some of the workarounds.
In any case, $16 is a small risk to take for free data, every month.
Hi, I just bought a Unite 770s on ebay, but when I stick the freedompop sim in, and click "connect", it just shows the connect button again. I did change the APN already. I also tried a factory reset.
Any ideas? Thanks!
I've purchased 2, so far, and only had to change the APN.
Are you sure you have AT&T service where you're at? Is the SIM activated? (They're supposed to come activated but sometimes don't.) Try the SIM in another device and make sure it's not a SIM problem.
I'll look through the settings in mine and see if there's anything that might make a difference.
Oh wait-- I just remembered something. After I added the Freedompop APN I had to select it or it would default to the original APN. Make sure that the correct one is selected.
Oh, when I did the reset, I should have updated the APN again. Stupid. Anyway, it worked after that. Thanks!!!
Great/cheap solution to the issue with Mifi not able to do LTE very easily.
FYI: for some reason one of my 770S devices works fine without a battery and the other one likes to reboot a lot. Not sure why. Hopefully yours will run well without a battery so that you can leave it out.
Data seems to be running great so far. I should run a speedtest though just to see.
As far as the battery, I haven't seen any errors on that yet. I did see quite a few discussions on it when I was doing a google search earlier.
But, I noticed the battery does drain REALLY fast. I do need it with the battery because the hotspot is usually in my pocket. Opened it up and it's a Sierra Wireless W-5. Going to test it out a bit more, and if it doesn't get much better, I'll try to purchase a replacement on ebay.
Thanks again!
How is this setup doing? Kind of annoying with FP SIMs now that we are capped at 700mb per SIM... on the plus side, no more having to log in daily to donate data.
BTW, looks like FP has LTE Data SIMs now, so perfect match for hotspots!
I have an AT&T Unite 770S with the data-only LTE SIM. It's works great. The Global SIM frequently takes a while to 'find' tower and connect to data for me, even when it was both T-Mo/AT&T. The Unite connects as fast as it boots, and I've had no issues with it.
If you happen to have the Global MiFi, and the loss of AT&T coverage is problematic, you can put the LTE SIM in the Global MiFi, and use it at 3G. You'll likely have to go the admin page for the Global MiFi and change the setting to 3G/HSPA only. That unit is theoetically LTE capable, but reports usually include frequent dropped sessions and inability to reconnect over LTE.
