Does anyone know how much internet bandwidth SmartThings consumes on average. What are your thoughts on something like this as an internet backup?
I would pair it with:
Basically for $35 I could have a internet backup.
It really depends on amount of devices,but low-mid range is about 1MB a day. If you have any LAN devices like Hue, WeMo, or, Sonos then it could easily double or triple. Higher end with more devices and LAN being maybe around 5MB a day.
That backup USB thing looks awesome if it actually is free. I’ve never heard of it, I may get one.
I tried this service before and it is not really free. They require you to use it hoping you get over and get charged for it. They charge you for every month you own the stick and do not use it, and coverage area is very bad too. I had to close my credit card to stop my endless disputes with these people.
Thanks Boris for the update.
Just to give you another option:
I believe T-Mobile offers a pay-per-use plan, where they charge you a flat fee for every day that you use the serivce ($2-$3). That would be very expensive, if you were to use it every day. If you’re just looking for backup service, which you might only be using once in a great while, that seems like a good deal. Only thing to watch out for is that your account will expire after some months of inactivity. So you’d HAVE to use the service every now and then.
Freedompop no longer charges a fee if you don’t consume any bandwidth- I think it was causing them too may bad reviews. But if you want to go with Freedompop, much better to go with one of the Overdrive Pro hotspots:
http://www.freedompop.com/OverdrivePro
They can pick up 3G as well as 4G (the freedomstick is 4G only). For $4 a month you can get 500MB/month, and if you don’t mind making some internet friends, you can add 10 friends and get an additional 50MB/Friend (500MB max from Friends). And no, I don’t work for Freedompop- I’m just a happy Overdrive Pro owner. My kids LOVE having internet in the car, because so many of the android games these days require internet connectivity to play.
Latency is more important than bandwidth for smartthings. The commands are tiny, but you wan them there quickly. I also have that AC68 router, and I don’t recommend it for a failover WAN configuration. I can hardly ever get my USB stick to connect to it, and when it does the performance is very sketchy. It also doesn’t switch back over to your primary connection when it comes back online.