Best deal on pay per use SIM card for data?

[pete_c]

Curious who has the best deal on the pay per use SIM cards for data?
 
I see something on T-Mobile's site but not really finding the prices.
 
Can you purchase an unlimited time data SIM card and just replenish it?
 
I recently purchased a couple of these "Nexus Hawk" 2000WG modems.  Old legacy style very impressive boxes; built like the old ma bell telephones.
 
http://www.nexusisr.com/pdf/Product_Sheet_-_Nexus_Hawk.pdf
 
I tested failover to two internet SIM cards (using my AT&T accounts) and it works well.  I don't really see any AT&T deals out there. 
 
It also has a built in access point and GPS.  It appears to be constucted for automobile use.  It is a "do what" very similiar to the combo 3G/4G AP's that I have been playing with.  Prices on these though were some less than $50 each and I have tested these to work just about anywhere.  The Nexus Hawk uses two PCMCIA slots and will also work with a PCMCIA/USB combo thing. 
 
Currently I tether the phone in the car to the carpc.  That said the car has its own GSM phone built into the telco module (I have used it before) and I can see the chatter on the bus for it.  (such that two work fine in a car) Wondering if three GSM phones would work in a car with close proximity to each other.

 

[intermediatic]

Check out P-Tel. You can buy a SIM on eBay for 99 cents and then replenish on the Web. We did this so that my daughter could use an old iPhone (they have micro and nano SIM cards available too) but pay for it out of her allowance. The voice rate is pretty cheap too. Someone who didn't use their cell a lot would probably find this the cheapest way to go.

The down side is that it is a T-Mobile reseller and their reception isn't ideal. Also one gigabyte will cost you $100, so it adds up fast.

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the forum intermediatic,
 
Still playing right now with the sim cards from the existing AT&T account(s).  While I still sometimes talk directly to the Home automation stuff I tend to just upload status page updates and prefer to download those for just status. 
 
I never really looked at the speeds when tethering to the AT&T 3G stuff.  I noticed two weird things.  One shows my speed tests source IP is either New York or Kansas and I am near Chicago.  Second downloads are up to some 2.5 Mbps and uploads are never really above 1 Mbps.  I do have modded with different firmware for the radio pieces of my PDA phones and I have read that this too may affect what I see. 

 

[intermediatic]

How would you implement failover?
 
I have to say that I just investigated P-Tel for cell/data service so I don't know if it would work for a dedicated data modem. But I do have an old iPhone. If failover was easy enough to get going it'd be possible to rig it up as tethered to give emergency access for my Twine (which monitors water level in my sump pump) and text/e-mail me a mesasge that Internet has gone down and for my Synology box to tell me if the UPS it is attached to says we have lost power. Together, all that could give me more piece of mind about whether something bad has happened when I'm away.

 

[pete_c]

Still playing.  I have now built a new firewall using PFSense with multiple wan interfaces.  Guessing here that I could do load balancing and failover with the WAN interfaces; learning still though. 
 
The new (old) Nexus Hawk has an OS with redundancy and failover for multiple means of internet accesss.  Its an old design.
 
Just purchasing another 3G/4G modem; tiny thing to play with (now have 4 of these types - but they are large).
 
Thinking the new one is so small that I could fit it inside of the firewall mITX case. 
 
My test of testing 3G/4G stuff too has gone to my vehicle carpc as current means of carpc internet access is my tethered phone to the carpc.  I would like to miniaturize the whole setup including a wireless ap (just for the vehicle network).
 
This tethered phone internet connection is autonomous from what is built into the car (3G voice and data telco module) and bluetooth integration.
 
The carpc would have an on demand 3G/4G when needed connection (internet connection #3).  The carpc mini-itx case does have provision with a cover that fits nicely over a USB dongle (3G/4G).  Already have other stuff connected to the USB ports which works well with it.