Question Good 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot Device?

[TDUBS]

Hello,

I am in search of a good 4G LTE mobile hotspot device. Right now in my location, I don't have good internet access so I am wanting to use my unlimited hotspot feature I still have with T-Mobile. With that being said, can someone recommend me a good 4G LTE mobile hotspot device? I don't want to spend $200 like the Nighthawk M1 costs. I have a desktop PC I mainly watch Twitch sreams on, a PS4, 4 cellphones, and 1 TV that would like to have Netflix on.

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[bill001g]

You need to read the fine print carefully. Last time I looked the unlimited hotspot stuff on tmobile meant you could use THEIR hotspots at places like starbucks etc. They still consider hotspot tethered usage and depending on what plan you buy they let you have a certain amount of high speed bandwidth and then a so called "unlimited" amount at a lower speed.

Why can you not just use your phone as a hotspot. There are ways to tether a phone to some routers but you would have to look into which router support which phones.

Other than this the best option is to buy a small modem type USB device. Many routers support using this as the wan connection. These device require a different plan to activate on tmobiles network.

If your goal is to pretend all your traffic is coming from the phone so you do not get speed limited tmobile tries to make that impossible. You could use a phone that has a HDMI output and connect it to a tv or monitor. You can watch netflix and twitch on the phone and just display it on big screen. That is allowed within their unlimited plans, last time I looked it they even had plans that included a netflix subscription.

 

[Dt38k]

Don’t you think he would have at least said thanks for the reply?
I myself, have been pushed down this road, so I’ll say thanks for your reply
Something has happened in my area and I was also searching for another avenue to get service without spending 250 a month for basic cable
Our cell signal has diminished and data internet speed tests are showing high ping rates and serious low uploads and downloads
We have U.S. Cellular and my son has Verizon and just drove in from Ohio yesterday
When he ran a test on his phone, he flipped out
Dad, something is screwed up he said, this just isn’t right
Our assumption lies, that living between two of the same companies towers less than 10 miles apart, is a big part of the problem
The cable company satellite dishes are within a 5 mile radius also
I’m starting to think I need a personal power source of my own that will break outside of this congestion
To hear this, one would think we live in the woods and are miles from civilization, but it’s not the case

 

[britechguy]

I have no idea what your actual smartphone is, but have you considered using your smartphone as your hotspot?

That's what my partner and I do (and I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro and he a Redmi 5 Plus) and it works beautifully.

The bit about reading the fine print is important, too. Our plans have unlimited data, but only on the phones themselves. We added mobile hotspot data to our plans, each of us 20 GB per month, which is more than enough, but when we were testing out that plan on their 10 GB per month trial plan we were running over, and since we live in an area where you either have 4G LTE or 2G (there's not a 3G network anywhere near here) using the internet became utterly impractical at 2G speeds.

 

[Dt38k]

All 3 of us switched from android to apple, I was actually the last one to do this when it became a necessity due to my eBay business
I had tried voice recognition in the early days on the pc and it just didn’t work for me
We built a new 40x60 pole building a few years later and instantly lost reception, then on Verizon
A friend had of mine dropped by one day and his phone rang inside the building, so we switched to his carrier and have been with U.S. Cellular since
On your question regarding hot spot, I just got the drift of this last week after dumping Mediacom cable, a division of Comcast
We signed a 3 year contract last week for high speed internet with U.S. Cellular and I spent the whole night and into the morning hours until around 5:30 am I gave up
The next day after talking with their techs, was the suggestion of the 500.00 booster
I returned the equipment and began searching for another avenue and found you folks talking about hot spot and tethering
I agree, the fine print says it all, but even then you almost need a law degree
This is another no go, due to having such slow speeds which has developed recently that I described in the reply post yesterday
I have bumped up the gigs to cover our tails for the moment
Now here is one that you might all enjoy
I get a call from the disconnect division of Comcast yesterday, the first call of such from the company that has bleed me dry for almost 20 years through their local provider
100 meg, 1,000 gigs, just the basic cable channels, and a TiVo box
90.00 a month for the first and jumps to 110.00 the second
Before the first year ends, contact my direct line representative and jump on the current special, killing the second year hike
I compared this pricing to the website and it was like 100.00 less per month
Of course what I’m seeing is like buying a house in this area
60-80,000 average run of the mill, get by in an old neighborhood
120,000 gives good choices on one acre plus with sizable square footage and less than 20 years old
So where we stand, not sure about a different cell phone carrier, now the two phones and two tablets would be a wash
Will talk with and discuss a few more plans that might be a better deal than the Hulu and Netflix roadway

 

[Dt38k]

We went back to the cable company after receiving a call from the disconnect line
We got the works for under 100 a month, less than half what it advertises on the net
Don’t like what you are paying?
Tell them to stuff it and wait for a call
If you have Mediacom, I can get you a personal contact number, she is a great negotiator