[SOLVED] Benefit-cost ratio of Mobile Hotspots ?

[Windows22]

A lot of my friends and family are using mobile hotspots nowadays, but I was wondering the ups and downs of using them. Getting internet almost everywhere would seem too good to be true so I would like your insight and experience if any on using these devices. How is it different from other forms of connecting to the Internet? Is it worth the cost?

 

[bill001g]

Not sure what you mean about internet anywhere. You can't really compare a mobile broadband internet with some form of fiber or cable internet.

There are 2 very large downsides to mobile internet. They most times are much slower than most forms of wired internet and much more important to most people is they are extremely costly in most cases to use in hotspot mode.
Most mobile plans when you use them in tethered/hotspot mode have very low data caps or they have very large charges for the bandwidth.

Also in many cases the performance for mobile hotspots is very inconsistent. Mobile data is designed more for people that are say moving in a car. These systems will many time prioritize the data for people switch between towers over someone who is static to prevent dropping the person who is moving.
This can cause strange slowness and packet drops for someone using it in a more stationary mode. It can even force you to a cell tower that has less signal to try to compensate for over used towers say near a busy highway.

When mobility is your primary need they are great but you can't really compare them to pretty much any form of fixed internet. I mean they would be better than low end DSL connections many times but even though they are slower dsl have a much more consistent rate even if it is slower.

 

[kanewolf]

A lot of my friends and family are using mobile hotspots nowadays, but I was wondering the ups and downs of using them. Getting internet almost everywhere would seem too good to be true so I would like your insight and experience if any on using these devices. How is it different from other forms of connecting to the Internet? Is it worth the cost?

General access is fine (e-mail, web browsing, etc). Gaming, can be poor because of changing latency. But it depends on the provider and your location. Mobile hotspots may have data caps which can prevent HD streaming.

 

[Windows22]

Not sure what you mean about internet anywhere. You can't really compare a mobile broadband internet with some form of fiber or cable internet.

There are 2 very large downsides to mobile internet. They most times are much slower than most forms of wired internet and much more important to most people is they are extremely costly in most cases to use in hotspot mode.
Most mobile plans when you use them in tethered/hotspot mode have very low data caps or they have very large charges for the bandwidth.

Also in many cases the performance for mobile hotspots is very inconsistent. Mobile data is designed more for people that are say moving in a car. These systems will many time prioritize the data for people switch between towers over someone who is static to prevent dropping the person who is moving.
This can cause strange slowness and packet drops for someone using it in a more stationary mode. It can even force you to a cell tower that has less signal to try to compensate for over used towers say near a busy highway.

When mobility is your primary need they are great but you can't really compare them to pretty much any form of fixed internet. I mean they would be better than low end DSL connections many times but even though they are slower dsl have a much more consistent rate even if it is slower.

Thank you very much for this.

 

[gggplaya]

My father uses T-Mobile home internet, it's not bad. Fairly quick at about 60mbps most of the time. No data cap and he can theoretically take it with him to a vacation home or RV.

The downsides are the speeds aren't consistent, he can see drops and dips in speed. The latency is 50-100ms and not consistent at all.

 

[Windows22]

My father uses T-Mobile home internet, it's not bad. Fairly quick at about 60mbps most of the time. No data cap and he can theoretically take it with him to a vacation home or RV.

The downsides are the speeds aren't consistent, he can see drops and dips in speed. The latency is 50-100ms and not consistent at all.

Thank you for that insight.