Disqus - Latest Comments for arpboy

Re: Keep on Sharing

arpboy — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 18:23:50 -0000

They only cover the US; if you had anything work outside, it would be a bonus.

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Re: Our biggest shipping day

arpboy — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 23:16:00 -0000

I just did some research and couldn't find anything automatic for limiting the data usage, although I found apps for MONITORING it. If possible, probably the most feasible (well, really least UNfeasible) way is to do the free upgrade to Win10. Note that this could open a whole bunch of other issues, such as compatibility with your present apps. Nonetheless, most of my upgrades have been fine, with the exception of losing access to my tv tuner on an older laptop. I think there's an inexpensive app for that, though.

Just food for thought.

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Re: Our biggest shipping day

arpboy — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 19:31:04 -0000

No matter what hotspot you may use, it's in your interest to limit how much data you use when you're on it, so you don't hit overages or (in my case) consume the data you've bought unnecessarily. So how do I minimize it?

After some research, I've found answers for most of the major platforms.

Windows (8 and 10 [tested]) - Get on the hotspot with your computer. Go to your network settings. Scroll down and hit "Advanced Options." A new window with the title "WiFi" opens. At the bottom, you'll see a switch that says "Metered Connection." Turn that on. (Make sure you're on the hotspot when you do this).

Mac OSX: The best way is to get the application "TripMode." When you're on the hotspot, turn this application on. You can define what applications can get to the internet. Everything else is blocked. TripMode will auto-activate after that whenever you're on that network.

Android (4 and 5): Go to settings, then Data Usage. Touch the 3 dashes in the upper right corner. Touch "Mobile Hotspots" and choose your hotspot network(s).

IOS: No solution that I can find. The best I found was to turn off the Apple Store and background updates. That seems to cover most of it.

These solutions will work on any hotspot, including tethering to your phone. Obviously, I'm a big fan of the Karma Go, so if you want to pick one up, please use this code to get $10 off: https://yourkarma.com/invit...

Re: Our biggest shipping day

arpboy — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:47:35 -0000

I continue to use KG and get EXCELLENT results; between the kind people using my referral code (below), the sales on data, and the sharing bonuses, the price really drops into a nice affordable range, AND speed is excellent. And I know this doesn't agree with others, but my customer support (post shipping) has been excellent (my issues tend to be account-related, rather than technical). I continue to happily recommend them. Simple, elegant design; blazing speed; reasonable cost. I'm a happy camper.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:38:50 -0000

Thank you, Debbie, for using my referral code!

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:03:08 -0000

So it sounds like they're through June and almost done with July. Much better!

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 21:26:23 -0000

It really is!! (or is it the drugs?) ;-)

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 12:40:08 -0000

Sounds like they've finally wrapped up May. Curious how long June takes.

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Re: Almost there | Karma

arpboy — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:58:47 -0000

Thanks, John, Emil, Karen, and Dusty for using my referral code! It's been helpful!

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 18:09:26 -0000

OK, it's been a day - any shipping notifications at all?

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 17:27:08 -0000

No, no confusion, but thanks for making sure. I was hoping that there might be some utility available for iOS; however, I've found no metering functionality for the platform. My question was that iOS has historically not been a multitasking OS. OS X, which is based on BSD Linux, Android (also Linux) actually do have multitasking. I don't use iOS so it's not from personal experience. Parenthetically, I did look to see if there was some such utility for Redhat or Ubuntu,, but didn't see anything.

Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 21:59:49 -0000

It should have been the top article on the page; I just put it there a few hours ago, and I've posted nothing new since. Thanks for "liking" the page!

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:28:27 -0000

If it helps, I put all the major platforms up on my professional Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Ri...

Feel free to link.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:26:02 -0000

Good for monitoring!

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 16:39:51 -0000

Also, as long as we're at it, I didn't see any automatic answer for IOS, other than turning off background updates. Is this because IOS largely doesn't multitask? I'm don't know if that's true now (it was a few years ago), just trying to reason it through.....

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 16:22:34 -0000

Lisa, I did a little research. I can't test it, but I've found an app that seems to be perfect for what you want: TripMode. You turn it on when you're on a metered connection, and you can define which applications can get to the internet. The rest are blocked. Sounds like the right solution to me. The web address is https://www.tripmode.ch/
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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 16:16:51 -0000

Yeah, I just looked for the settings on Android - you're absolutely right. This works on Android 5.0 as well -- I just checked.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 00:38:06 -0000

I don't know Mac's well enough, but my cousin is thinking of getting one. If he does, we'll play with it together and figure out what can be done.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:44:03 -0000

True - I haven't written a (very nice) article. Still, it works both ways, so who's to complain? *shrug*

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:42:38 -0000

Folks, a couple of weeks ago, I posted a method to save data when using a Windows 10-based machine. I'm seeing people I didn't see a few weeks ago, so I'll paste it again here in hopes it helps folks.

I know this applies to Windows 10; I would suspect Window 8.x has it, and possibly Windows 7.

While you're on the hotspot, pull up your network settings. I do it from the task bar, the network icon. I just click on that, then click on network settings. The next window that comes up is labelled, "Network and Internet."

Now, you have to be on the hotspot for this to work (there's probably a work-around, but I didn't take the time to find it). Scroll down and find "Advanced Options" and click on it.

This window is labelled "WI-FI." Look for the "Metered Connection" section. Simply move the slide switch to "on." This should minimize data usage.

I haven't done any empirical testing, but I have enough results to say that it works. The other day I was working for about 45 minutes using my Karma Go in an empty home (I'm a realtor). At the end of the session, I had used about 200MB for all my work. Afterwards, I found the metered setting and turned it on. [Edit: I've used it several times now; when I first used the hotspot, 45 minutes cost me over 200MB; now it generally costs me under 30MB - This is consistent: my usage is MUCH lower with the metering set to on. I know Outlook automatically goes into off-line mode unless you override; even then you can hit Send/Receive to get the mail moving]

Last night, I was sitting in a restaurant and needed my Karma Go again to work for about 15-20 minutes. My work wasn't as extensive as the other night, but it was long enough and involved enough for me to get a sense of whether the metered connection helped. It did. After 20 minutes, I had only used 8 MB. Now I did turn off Outlook to minimize background email checking, but I believe that all my other apps (Facebook, CNN, etc) did not refresh due to the setting.

Again, this is not an empirical, measured test. It's just some informal testing as far as it's compatible with my work. I'm convinced that the setting will help me stretch my data as far as possible.

Hope this helps everyone.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:37:31 -0000

Awesome! Well done.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:37:08 -0000

You say that, but I've had three very kind people use my code so far from this blog. So maybe not such a bad idea after all.... (here it comes):

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:36:02 -0000

Contact their customer service. I had the same problem on an earlier sale, and they took care of me with no problem at all.

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Re: Tomorrow is the day

arpboy — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 17:03:41 -0000

Steven, how about another one of those usage graphs you shared a couple of weeks ago? It would be cool to see how adoption is going forward!

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Re: Almost there | Karma

arpboy — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:16:23 -0000

Guys, I would encourage you to keep coming back so you can give feedback. I've had my hotspot for a couple of weeks now, and am coming back to encourage others.

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