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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

#81

Post by Kerrick »

stephengillie wrote: post #74
eupharis wrote: post #44

YES! Bought. So disruptive. Goodbye dumbphone. Hellloooo karma. Skipped right over the buying smartphone "minutes" and "text" nonsense. Genius marketing model. If I get to customize the SSID it'll be something like: "yourkarma.com, use this wifi!". SSID can only be 32 characters. A shorter, recognizable domain like "kar.ma" would be awesome. More space for cleverness. Living in a busy apartment complex near the cente…

Please remember that this isn't a phone/text/data service. This is ONLY internet. If you have Skype/Google Voice/Lync/etc then you can place phone calls with an internet (IP) phone or computer or device . Likewise for text messages. You could keep this on your person, and just be a walking mobile hotspot.

I do this already: I use VoIP for talk and Google Voice for messaging on my Nexus 4. I don't have a minute plan, and only use data.

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

#82

Post by STRML »

stephengillie wrote: post #76
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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!

@parent comment: Virgin is an MNVO that buys airtime from Sprint and resells it. @GP comment: AND you can just buy a CLEAR hotspot for $50 and pay $50/mo for their unlimited service. edit: tried to make it more clear...

Right - but that's WiMAX only. TBH the extra $30/mo is great to connectivity almost everywhere, even if it is awful EVDO Rev A.

You can also do the same with a rooted android Sprint phone... and get phone service to boot. IMO a better deal.

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

#83

Post by Kerrick »

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.

Being a T-mobile customer for several years is your problem. It's only open to new customers, and only online. http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

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

#84

Post by trotsky »

stephengillie wrote: post #76
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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!

@parent comment: Virgin is an MNVO that buys airtime from Sprint and resells it. @GP comment: AND you can just buy a CLEAR hotspot for $50 and pay $50/mo for their unlimited service. edit: tried to make it more clear...

It's perhaps of questionable importance, but while virgin usa used to be a sprint partnership mvno, sprint bought them outright in 2009. Sprint also owns 54% of Clear.

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

#85

Post by fudged71 »

svachalek wrote: post #56

I had an image of what this was before I clicked the link but I was disappointed. Here's my idea: No hardware required. You share your existing connection (mobile or not). It's public except the user needs to give you some sort of token that you can't forge and shows how much time they used. In turn you can use those tokens to get time on other people's wifi. Basically "pay it forward" with a little bit of abuse prev…

1) Battery drain. 2) Your phone isn't a great router. Having dedicated hardware to do this would be far better.

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

#86

Post by fudged71 »

stephengillie wrote: post #74
eupharis wrote: post #44

YES! Bought. So disruptive. Goodbye dumbphone. Hellloooo karma. Skipped right over the buying smartphone "minutes" and "text" nonsense. Genius marketing model. If I get to customize the SSID it'll be something like: "yourkarma.com, use this wifi!". SSID can only be 32 characters. A shorter, recognizable domain like "kar.ma" would be awesome. More space for cleverness. Living in a busy apartment complex near the cente…

Please remember that this isn't a phone/text/data service. This is ONLY internet. If you have Skype/Google Voice/Lync/etc then you can place phone calls with an internet (IP) phone or computer or device . Likewise for text messages. You could keep this on your person, and just be a walking mobile hotspot.

Did somebody say hobo hotspot?

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

#87

Post by jrockway »

brebory wrote: post #73
eupharis wrote: post #44

YES! Bought. So disruptive. Goodbye dumbphone. Hellloooo karma. Skipped right over the buying smartphone "minutes" and "text" nonsense. Genius marketing model. If I get to customize the SSID it'll be something like: "yourkarma.com, use this wifi!". SSID can only be 32 characters. A shorter, recognizable domain like "kar.ma" would be awesome. More space for cleverness. Living in a busy apartment complex near the cente…

You actually can't name your hotspot currently. It automatically names itself [name]'s Karma, pulled from your facebook info. Their reasoning - https://yourkarma.com/help/5-why-can-t-i-change-the-name-of-...

This makes me want to create an network of access point named "x Karma" that installs viruses and malware. "Viral marketing," I'll call it.

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

#88

Post by digeridoo »

jerf wrote: post #64
driverdan wrote: post #46

A good idea but with far too little bandwidth. 1GB / 100MB is nothing. Between syncing git repos, remote backup, Dropbox, and heavy web browsing (not including Netflix) I go through at least 5GB a day. I'll stick with Clear's own access point at $50/m for unlimited access. It works pretty well in most cities but can be sensitive to positioning.

You are the 1%.

or the future of the remaining 99%...

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

#89

Post by Groxx »

brebory wrote: post #77
artursapek wrote: post #41

You need a Facebook profile to give them money? Why would they do that to themselves?

They sum up their reasoning pretty succinctly here: https://yourkarma.com/help/75-why-do-i-have-to-login-with-fa...

Because it's so hard to make a fake Facebook account. If someone actually wants to cause trouble, requiring Facebook won't do anything except slow them down for about 20 seconds. I see this "reason" everywhere, but it's total garbage.

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

#90

Post by digeridoo »

ybaumes wrote: post #65
6ren wrote: post #54

Maybe, Amway wifi? Pyramid sharing? One way to kick off ad hoc suburban networks ... > The average person uses only 500MB, per device, per month. I used 19GB last month, without even trying. To be fair, that's at home, not on a mobile "device".

They probably targeting non-geek users I guess. People only needing email access, news/internet browsing. As stated above geek users use their connection more actively.

That seems like it might be driven more by a lack of supply than a lack of demand. Why not have Spotify on all the time?
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