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Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

yourkarma.com

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Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#31

Post by jedbrown »

dangrossman wrote: post #25
muhfuhkuh wrote: post #17

Could it be? Does this mean my wife and I can use our unlocked iPhones with voice-only (t-mobile, maybe?) sim cards and use this Karma thing as our data plan? We're paying US$15/mo each for 200MB data. It's ridiculous. And, we're on HSPA+, not even LTE (AT&T, don't even ask; I can have full bars and it still takes forever to load up text-heavy pages).

Do you talk a lot? T-Mobile has an unlimited data, unlimited text, 100 minute no-contract plan for $30/month. I'm using it with my Nexus 4. Additional talk time is $0.10/minute.

How did you actually get that plan with your Nexus 4? I've been a T-mobile customer for several years, always owning my phone outright (now a Nexus 4), but they gave me a serious run-around, telling me that particular plan was a promotional thing that could only be used with a Walmart handset.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#32

Post by trotsky »

note that this is clearwire wimax only - a network that is actively shrinking as they transition to lte and their partner (sprint) decommissions iDen cells.

You can get a similar price item with better connectivity but without the gimmicks from sprint's budget brand: $79 for a wimax+3g hotspot, $35/mo for 2 gigs of 3g data on sprint (evdo rev a) and "unlimited" wimax. or $5/day for 200mb/"unlimited"(activated for just the days you use it)

sprint's evdo rev a network performs pretty poorly, but it is way better than not having a signal, something that will be true more often than not with wimax only service.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#33

Post by stephengillie »

jcurbo wrote: post #28
muhfuhkuh wrote: post #17

Could it be? Does this mean my wife and I can use our unlocked iPhones with voice-only (t-mobile, maybe?) sim cards and use this Karma thing as our data plan? We're paying US$15/mo each for 200MB data. It's ridiculous. And, we're on HSPA+, not even LTE (AT&T, don't even ask; I can have full bars and it still takes forever to load up text-heavy pages).

I don't know about T-Mobile, but I think AT&T and Verizon both require smartphones to have a data plan, and they can detect if you have a smartphone and force you to have a data plan because of that.

I don't know about AT&T and T-Mobile, but Verizon and Sprint (CDMA) phones have the IMEI/MEID tied to the phone since there's no SIM. It works a bit like a VIN on a car I think. This means they know what phone you're activating during activation.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#34

Post by 3825 »

jcurbo wrote: post #28
muhfuhkuh wrote: post #17

Could it be? Does this mean my wife and I can use our unlocked iPhones with voice-only (t-mobile, maybe?) sim cards and use this Karma thing as our data plan? We're paying US$15/mo each for 200MB data. It's ridiculous. And, we're on HSPA+, not even LTE (AT&T, don't even ask; I can have full bars and it still takes forever to load up text-heavy pages).

I don't know about T-Mobile, but I think AT&T and Verizon both require smartphones to have a data plan, and they can detect if you have a smartphone and force you to have a data plan because of that.

I have often wondered why...

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#35

Post by dangrossman »

jedbrown wrote: post #31
dangrossman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you talk a lot? T-Mobile has an unlimited data, unlimited text, 100 minute no-contract plan for $30/month. I'm using it with my Nexus 4. Additional talk time is $0.10/minute.

How did you actually get that plan with your Nexus 4? I've been a T-mobile customer for several years, always owning my phone outright (now a Nexus 4), but they gave me a serious run-around, telling me that particular plan was a promotional thing that could only be used with a Walmart handset.

Bought a micro-SIM card on the website (Wal-Mart sells them too), popped it in the phone, chose the plan from the list when activating the SIM card on the website. You got a run-around because you talked to a real person when that's a web-only (t-mobile.com or walmart.com) plan for new customers.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#36

Post by stephengillie »

SnowLprd wrote: post #20

I find it interesting that there is no coverage in Santa Monica, arguably the most tech-centric section of Los Angeles. Plus, requiring folks to use Facebook to get a Karma account is a very unfortunate decision.

As a reseller, their coverage is completely based on CLEAR's coverage, like how Virgin Mobile is entirely based on Sprint's coverage. It's as though Karma is a MIVO - Mobile Internet Virtual Operator.

Why CLEAR has no coverage in Santa Monica is a very good question.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#37

Post by morphyn »

xyzzy123 wrote: post #19
morphyn wrote: post #18

Fon ( http://corp.fon.com/en ) have been doing something similar for several years in Europe (without the karma concept).

Well, it's rather like karma: "As a member of the Fon community, you agree to share a little bit of your WiFi at home, and get free roaming at Fon Spots worldwide in return."

My bad, it's pretty much the same. I didn't know about their "money making WiFi" feature. Pretty sure they didn't have it when they launched.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#38

Post by Samuel_Michon »

trotsky wrote: post #32

note that this is clearwire wimax only - a network that is actively shrinking as they transition to lte and their partner (sprint) decommissions iDen cells. You can get a similar price item with better connectivity but without the gimmicks from sprint's budget brand: $79 for a wimax+3g hotspot, $35/mo for 2 gigs of 3g data on sprint (evdo rev a) and "unlimited" wimax. or $5/day for 200mb/"unlimited"(activated for jus…

"sprint's budget brand: $79 for a wimax+3g hotspot"

I had to look for it, but here it is, apparently Sprint uses the Virgin brand name in the US:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/mobile-broadband/broadba...

I'll be in the US for the rest of the year, so I'm buying one of these - way cheaper than international roaming. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#39

Post by otoburb »

icebraining wrote: post #23
otoburb wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Provided the random person in the coffeeshop has a Karma account, then they would be able to use the same hotspot. I believe the product information states that up to 8 devices can be connected to your hotspot.

I think the question is whether two devices connected to the same hotspot can send packets to each other. Ideally, you want to isolate them as much as possible, letting them connect only to the Internet.

Thanks for the clarification. I now understand the parent's point and it's a valid concern.

However, for a first launch, I'm wildly speculating that they didn't consider this. If you're going to share your bandwidth and are concerned about this, Karma will probably suggest that you disconnect from your own portal.

Karma's reasoning is probably as follows:

* Connecting via wifi usually implies a mobile device of some type (phone or laptop);

* When connecting to a public wifi hotspot, most mobile devices can see (and attack) each other on the same SSID;

* If you are normally willing to operate your mobile device in public wifi hotspots, you'd probably have no problem operating in similarly (and possibly hostile) conditions with your own access point;

* One hopes that you and (at least) Karma have the slight comfort of knowing exactly which Karma customer joined your hotspot and tried to attack you, versus an anonymous device in a public wifi hotspot.

Re: Karma - pay as you go data by sharing your hotspot

#40

Post by guiambros »

akeck wrote: post #11

Are users who share their hotspot indemnified if someone browses something illegal via their hotspot? In light of the recent prosecution of Tor exit-node operators, this service seems like it could create similar risk to the end users who share. (Edit: Ninja addition)

Excellent question. I'd love to see it officially answered as well.

I guess the hotspot owner is protected, given that users are identified by their own Facebook account and the credit card used to pay for the charges.

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