Questions about Jetpack capabilities

[infinitebreadsticks]

     I am involved in a program with a large group of people that has us meet weekly. About 20 to 22 people who cannot be physically present connect by a conference app called Zoom. Essentially Skype with a ton of people. The internet we have at our meeting locations is shoddy at best and we frequently lose connection to everyone on Zoom. This is frustrating for everyone, and very counterproductive.

     Someone recommended a Verizon Jetpack to me, since we could use it at both our meeting venues. My only concern is that we may use too much data, or the internet speeds the Jetpack can provide wont fast enough for our purpose.

     I would just like to know a little more, and I'm having trouble finding/understanding the info on the webpage.

Thank you in advance!

[John_Getzke]

I support Jetpacks for my business and should be able to assist you on this one.

A Jetpack works great as a personal temporary and mobile hotspot.  Once you start to connect multiple people to them the performance will drop.  Performance will be further impacted if you happen to be VPN connected for any of your work.  What you do with the connection will give you the final impression of a successful experience or not.

Jetpacks can take advantage of Verizons 4G LTE and newer XLTE networks in supported areas.  LTE boasts speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps but can often be better.  XLTE will top that when the infrastructure supports it in that area, usually around or higher than 20 Mbps.  This competes with most low end Cable service providers and should be noticeably better than DSL or satellite connections.  Mid to high end Cable or Fiber connections will usually perform better due to their cabled nature even if the advertised speeds are similar.

To know if the Jetpack will be an improvement or not I would first take a snapshot of the performance from the internet connection you currently have.  Navigate to a speed test website such as www.speedtest.net and take a few tests.  Based on these results we can help you evaluate the theoretical performance increase over your current providers network.

Something to keep in mind is that a Jetpack is a wireless device.  It will use WiFi over 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz to communicate with your personal devices.  If your performance problems are WiFi based then a Jetpack is not going to make a noticeable difference.  You can work around WiFi problems by enabling USB tethering on certain devices or exploring other devices such as a 4G LTE Router or a USB Modem and CradlePoint router combo.

As far as data goes, teleconferencing is about as data intense as you can get.  Metered internet connections are not ideal when video and voice are the main applications.  The question is can you still get value out of your conferencing program for the premium you would pay to conduct that work over a Wireless ISP or not.  To some people they can justify it and the costs are acceptable.  To others, such as most home users, the cost is not acceptable.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

[CustomerOfVerizen]

This is a horrible reply and John didn't understand the application. They DO NOT need multiple users at one site. They only need ONE, the Zoom host. They also do not need VPN for this application. The largest need for a ZOOM host is Download Speed with multiple attendees but Zoom will manage that. It's not like having 20 meetings even if 20 are connected by zoom. The biggest limitation is upload speeds with Verizon. At some locations I will get a solid 12 Mbps down (which is plenty for Zoom or even streaming movies). But the upload speeds are dismal like 0.5 Mbps which is not good enough for Zoom. You want at least around 2 Mbps up. One bit of good advice was test with www.speedtest.com Also keep in mind the better Jetpacks have jacks for external antennas so you can get way better signal than your phone. Adding a Jetpack to an existing Verizon plan can be very cheap (depends on your wireless plan).  As cheap as $15/mo for 30 Gigabyte. 30 Gigabyte is a ton of data. Figure Zoom will use about 1 Gigabyte per hour. I image you don't do more than several hours a month. Standalone (Jetpack) plans are pricey (a minimal plan might be sufficient) like $80/mo for 10 Gigabyte.

[KH-Ornah]

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