Mobile Hotspot

[Oldmoparguy1]

We hope to be doing some traveling in a year or so when my wife retires. I've been looking at these devices. Apparently, they are cell phone type linked. Given that I'm a total noob, please show/tell me your experiences and any advice.

TIA

Wayne

 

[beanoil]

I've got mobile hotspot on my Sprint BlackBerry at work. Works fine, even runs fast enough that SlingBox from home works well on the laptop.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I have a Verizon JetPack that has been around the world and works really well in nearly every instance and is about $50 per month for 5GB of data. At the same time, I just re-negotiated a 1.1MM contract with AT&T for the US division of our company and forced them to include tethering (mobile hotspot) with every smartphone so we will reduce our use of JetPacks. Currently, AT&T charges extra for tethering (I think Verizon does too, but T-Mobile and Sprint do not), but within the next 2 years look for tethering to be included on all carriers at no extra cost.

My point in saying this is it may be cheaper for you to add tethering to your smartphone (if you have one) than buying a separate hotspot.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

What's tethering?? Real noob........

No smart phone. Just a dumb LG UH150.

Wayne

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
What's tethering?? Real noob........

No smart phone. Just a dumb LG UH150.

Wayne

It is a mobile hotspot built into the phone that you activate. It requires a smartphone though...

 

[javacontour]

I have a Sprint MiFi card from work. It's great when I have 4G. Dog slow when only 3G.

YMMV depending on where you are planning to use such a service.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
What's tethering?? Real noob........

No smart phone. Just a dumb LG UH150.

Wayne

It is a mobile hotspot built into the phone that you activate. It requires a smartphone though...



Good way to kill the battery. I don't recommend it for anything other than short usage.

 

[Roadkingnc]

I have att with tethering for no extra charge

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
We hope to be doing some traveling in a year or so when my wife retires. I've been looking at these devices. Apparently, they are cell phone type linked. Given that I'm a total noob, please show/tell me your experiences and any advice.

TIA

Wayne


I just bought a Straight Talk UMX that is being heavily promoted at Wal Mart so we would have internet at our second home on the weekends.

I haven't had it long enough to have an opinion yet.

My office is completely wireless - I've used a Cricket Crosswave there for three years or so without any issues.

The hotspots are fine if you don't push a lot of data. If you want to do kid stuff like youtube, look for a different solution.

 

[bsmithwins]

My Verizon contract includes tethering with no extra charge. ATT wanted extra for that.

It's probably easier to set up tethering when you have a smartphone but I've done it since I was traveling for work in 2001. Just my cellphone, laptop, and a USB cable.

If you're worried about phone life while tethering just use a USB cable for the connection. Your phone will charge at the same time you're using data.

BSW

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
What's tethering?? Real noob........

No smart phone. Just a dumb LG UH150.

Wayne

It is a mobile hotspot built into the phone that you activate. It requires a smartphone though...

Good way to kill the battery. I don't recommend it for anything other than short usage.

It depends on the phone...

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: Oldmoparguy1
What's tethering?? Real noob........

No smart phone. Just a dumb LG UH150.

Wayne

It is a mobile hotspot built into the phone that you activate. It requires a smartphone though...



Good way to kill the battery. I don't recommend it for anything other than short usage.

If its to a laptop, you can tether through USB and not burn power on WiFi.
I tether with my HTC One. I usually use it even if a open access point is available as I feel my data is more secure than getting thrown into the air unencrypted.

 

[kschachn]

We have Sprint and two of the phones on our account have the wi-fi hotspotting enabled. Like others mentioned, on 4G we get around 10mbs which is pretty close to what we get on our home network.

However, although we have unlimited data on our Sprint plan this does not apply when we are tethering. That has a fixed amount per month (with overage charges). Also, if you forget to turn off tethering after you are done, all the data the phone uses is counted against the tethering limit. You have to remember to turn it off.

 

[spackard]

Don't use it for Windows updates. Waste of MB.
Most of the time it (T-Mobile) beats local Starbucks DSL speeds.
Maybe in a year T-Mobile's 700MHz freqs will be live, and in-building penetration will be better, but currently penetration is not so good with them, so I get slow speeds at work.

I use it every weekday with an iPad. I use the smartphone Samsung Galaxy II; no dedicated hotspot device. It has an app called T-Mobile Hotspot - you just turn it on or off. It uses the phone's built-in wireless radio as a hotspot.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Wow! Lots of info. I've been living with a laptop for several years, currently on my 3rd. one. Maybe I should consider some type of tablet for traveling. I'm glad I started researching this well ahead of time.
Thanks everyone.

Wayne