EZ Internet Solutions is a rural internet service provider that can give you a solid cellular internet connection that’s truly unlimited — no data cap, no speed throttling. If you live in a spot without any internet infrastructure, but you do have a cell connection, it is a solid option you should consider.
EZ Internet Solutions offers cellular home internet in places AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile don’t. Contrast that with HughesNet, a popular satellite internet provider, which charges an arm and a leg only to give you a fraction of the speed.
I truly live in the middle of nowhere, and yet I’ve been using EZ Internet to live stream a video podcast every week for months without a hitch.
Hands-on review: home internet via cellular from EZ Internet Solutions
If there’s no fiber or cable internet infrastructure where you are, your options are limited.
Cellular home internet is a popular and fast-growing alternative. But as carriers are shifting their business towards their 5G home internet services, you may be left in the dark if you don’t live in a 5G zone. None of the carriers offered me 4G LTE service — even though I have a solid connection. You’re also bound to an “unlimited” data plan that significantly throttles speeds with even moderate usage.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you lack both cable infrastructure and cellular coverage, you can go with a satellite service like HughesNet. A dish is installed on your roof that gets service from a network of satellites in orbit. There are a lot of problems though. The connection is often slow with a lot of latency, there’s a strict limit on monthly data and the service can drop out entirely if it’s cloudy outside.
HughesNet was our ISP for the first two months after our move to back-of-nowhere-Ohio, and it was nothing but dismal. The monthly costs were ludicrous and the monthly cap was punishing. We had to withold our Wi-Fi password from our guests. FaceTime calls with family and friends were ditched for audio-only phone calls instead. I reduced all streaming to the lowest quality wherever possible. Still, I constantly bumped up against the 200 GB ceiling.
Unfortunately, my job simply requires more bandwidth — as most online jobs do.
An unlimited cellular home internet service that works
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
EZ Internet Solutions will sell you a combined modem and router for $459 that runs off a cellular service of your choice — AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. You purchase the router and it arrives in the mail with a preinstalled SIM card. You just plug it into an outlet to get online.
Whereas AT&T wouldn’t promise speeds above 15 Mbps, and would come with a data cap, EZ Internet Solutions runs off the same network but offers much faster speeds and truly unlimited data. With my Mac mini plugged in over Ethernet, I regularly pull 100 Mbps download speeds.
The FCC currently defines “broadband speed” as 50 Mbps download, but has considered modernizing the standard to 100. EZ Internet Solutions easily hit that.
Download speeds are great, uploads not so much
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
While my download speeds are adequate, upload speeds are sadly lagging. There is enough upload bandwidth for one person to communicate over video, but not much more.
After live-streaming The CultCast, for example, I typically export my audio and upload it for editing while we continue talking over Skype for a few minutes after the public stream ends. That alone is enough to interrupt my video call.
Most people only upload data for FaceTime calls, posting pictures and video to social media, or overnight when their various devices sync to iCloud and other such services. So you may not be affected by the paltry upload bandwidth as much.
Brighter internet pastures
EZ Internet Solutions’ setup cost is rather high, as you need to purchase the router in addition to your first month of service. That totals either $549 or $599 depending on which network you go for. The monthly cost afterwards is $129.
That may sound ludicrous — it’s more expensive than a direct fiber internet in many cities. But no one is cross-shopping cellular internet with fiber. You get a service like this because you have to, not because you want to.
And EZ Internet Solutions is, by far, the best second-tier ISP.
★★★★☆
EZ Integrated Solutions provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. All internet services were paid out of pocket. See our reviews policy, and check out more in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
