Prime Membership | Jimbo's Journeys

I must apologize for being so long between posts. After 10 hours on the job at Amazon I don’t really feel much like doing anything except relax. As I mentioned I walk between 8-10 miles per day and the body has lots of aches, pains and bruises. However I will try to post more often.

I mentioned that I was in the process of purchasing a nice Geo Tracker. The seller called me and mentioned that his wife had changed her mind and wanted to keep it instead. This was after he had told me that they never use it. I think what happened is that he found a buyer that would offer him more. Anyway I think I will wait until after the first of the year when I am in Quartzsite. Then I will have all my friends there who know all about tow bars and can help me install one if it is needed.

Work has been going well and I have completed four weeks with only six to go. We are still only working 40 hours per week (four days at 10 hours per day). However I got my overtime schedule and my overtime day is Tuesday. We probably won’t have overtime until black Friday. Then it might even go up to five 11 hour days.

I have rekindled many friendships with people who worked here last year. It is nice talking with them about what they did and where they went and what they have planned next year. I have also met many people for the first time this year. My friend Les from Quartzsite is working this year for the first time.

My neighbor Steve and I went up to the local casino for a couple beers and play the slot machines. So far I am $2.96 ahead in winnings. HAH, big deal. I am not much of a gambler especially when I think what I have to do to earn that money.

I am getting all my medical needs looked after. I have gone to the same Dr the last two years and he fills my prescriptions for a year at a time. I am very happy with the care they are giving me. I had to go to a specialist in Reno for followup. It is about a 30 mile drive and very pleasant.

Did I tell you that the weather has turned on us here in Fernley? Two weeks ago it was a pleasant 74 and we were sitting outside on our days off. Not anymore. The weather in the mornings is about 19-22 and it only gets up to the mid 50’s. We even had a bit of snow one day although it didn’t stay on the ground very long.

I have been looking for a new TV since I wore out the HDMI cable connection in the back from hooking and unhooking it to watch movies. I started checking out the different TVs and found what they call a Smart TV made by Samsung. With it I can hook up directly to my Amazon Prime account so I can watch their free movies. I can buy movies too, but since there are so many good ones that are free I don’t need to spend the money. It is also much bigger then my older TV and the football games look great.

Enough said for now as today is my laundry day and I need to check the availability of the washers/dryers.

Verizon Air Card UMW190

Many people utilize the Verizon Air Card UMW190 to connect to the Internet while traveling. It is a great tool and with some exceptions you can usually get online anywhere. I have used it for 2 years and was happy with its ability to wander the Internet. I read email, pay bills, purchase stuff online, read blogs and watch movies on occassion. However there is only one drawback to the air card that really irks me. It only allows you 5 GB per month.

you will NEVER use 5GB!!

When I purchased it and signed up for the 2 year contract, the sales person at Best Buy told me that I would NEVER approach 5GB. I guess he didn’t know me very well. I not only use all of the 5GB allotted per month, but there have even been times when I go over that amount. Then you are paying big bucks.

You ask how I am using so much bandwidth. Well I like to watch movies and I am also one of those people that click on the little arrow within blogs that take you to a 5 minute short video. What is so wrong with that? Nothing except it uses up all your allotted bandwidth. A movie can use between 1.5-2GB. I was limited to one movie per month and if I was real careful in my Internet reading I could squeeze a second movie out of it without having to pay out the nose.

To make a long story short (HA!), my 2 year contract on the air card expired in Nov and I was hoping I could come up with a better solution for my Internet viewing. In the meantime, I had also signed up for Amazon’s Prime Membership. They have over 11,000 movies you can stream to your computer or tablet and many of them are FREE. What a deal!

I contacted my friend Ed of “The travels of Ed, Carol & Gopher the dog ” fame. He suggested I might check out the Escapees Forum for more information. He also threw out the name Millenicom, which I had heard before. The escapees forum has loads of information but I wasn’t sure what to buy. But based on many of their readers I started to investigate the Millenicom 3G/4G Hotspot that so many people had mentioned. The more I read about it the more I liked what I saw.

Features

It is a 3G/4G Hotspot Samsung modem that will go out and try to obtain a 4G signal if it is available, otherwise it will get you a 3G signal.
There is no contract to sign and you can stop service anytime you like.
You are entitled to 10GB of 3G and an additional 10GB of 4G. Or you can get 20GB of and combination of 3G or 4G.
You can hook up to 5 wireless devises to it.
Only $69.99 per month. The price on their site states $80 per month but if you sign up now they will grandfather in the lower price.
Did I mention NO CONTRACT!

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger. It costs me a total of $221.82 which includes the hotspot modem, a one-time set-up fee, shipping and the first month’s usage. When it came it I followed their instructions and was on the Internet in no time at all. I was staying in Fernley, NV working at Amazon at the time and I was getting a 4G signal from Reno, NV. It was really fast. I still had my Verizon Air Card which I disconnected and stopped using in December as soon as I got the Millenicom hotspot. I didn’t want to cancel that service in case there were any problems using the Hotspot. I wanted to wait until I was traveling to see if it worked as well as the Verizon. I took it with me to SO CA and was using it there without any trouble. I used it at the airports both in Phoenix and Las Vegas and then used it on the road all the way to Quartzsite where I am able to get a good 3G signal.

I am hooked. They bill my credit card automatically. The only problem I see thus far is “How much bandwidth do I really use?” I wrote there support and asked them how I know the amount of bandwidth used in a month. They do not have that information available online, but told me they would be happy to send me the amount if I submitted a ticket. So when my first month was up I submitted a ticket thru their support system and they sent me a reply.

WHAT! I used 11GB!!!

I USED 11GB FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER!!! I couldn’t believe it. With my Amazon Prime Membership I was able to watch 8 full-length movies, plus all my other Internet activities and still have 9GB left over. If I had still been hooked to my Verizon Air Card my bill would probably have wiped out all my income for many months.

I still haven’t used my Verizon Air Card and had suspended service so I wouldn’t get billed. I am calling them and tell them to cancel all air card service from now on. The Millenicom 3G/4G Hotspot is the only way to go. Now I can watch a movie or surf the Internet anytime I want for as long as I want without the constant worry about going over the limit. I used to have an Excel spreadsheet that showed me how much I used daily and how much I have left. I won’t need that anymore!

I have included a pic of it. It is very small and can even fit into your pocket. It does have a power cord but also contains a lithium battery which lasts a very long time. It’s range is about 350 feet so you can have it in your rig and be outside enjoying the great outdoors while surfing the net.