Yes. To be specific I have been referring to the purchase of a portable hotspot device and that was what my original question was addressing: Did anyone know whether only certain portable hotspot de9 will work with these straight talk phones?
Hotspots like pico-cells and micro-cells require you have broadband in your house. They convert your cell signal to a LAN signal. So you'll need Cable, Fiber, or DSL running out of your house.
Then there are things like Verizon Jetpacks. They are the most expensive way to get broadband (as stated)
When you use your phone as a hotspot via cellular network, AND if you go over a certain amount (2 or 3 GB is common) they will throttle you. Carriers that don't will drop you like a hot potato for your bandwidth usage.
Sorry to say you'll just have to pony up to one of the local monopolies, or get Satellite which is marginally cheaper than cellular hotspotting, but painfully slow. Satellite is useful when you are in the boondox (literally, like a cabin in the woods that has just a POTS line to it)