Question Hotspot question

[Dsm1319]

Since wife and I are threatened with cancel on our straight talk wireless because of hotspot use. Anyone know whether most hotspot devices out there would allow us to continue casting to our TV using our phones? Thanks

 

[bill001g]

The ISP like to tell marketing lies. All kinds of them like the word "unlimited" when there are actually massive limitations. The ISP know very well you can not use a huge amount of data on a cell phone so they can pretend to give you unlimited because they know you can not actually use it. As cell phone cpu power has increased you see more and more unlimited plans put restrictions on streaming video being watched on the phone itself.

The ISP only have limited tower bandwidth so they can not actually let everyone have all they want. They will let those who pay for more bandwidth get it and let those who want cheap be happy "thinking" they have unlimited.

Not sure what to suggest since I suspect you do not want to actually pay for your usage. As soon as you do hotspot function so another more powerful device and use the connection you are considered "tethered". ISP charge much more for this type of data usage. The ISP that are very inexpensive like straightalk tend to police this usage more. The phone basically informs them you are running tethered. There are hacks to try to hide this but the data still must pass through their network and you have to go to large extremes to hide it. China has been doing this for years to restrict content and many of their methods have been well documented....by the people trying to get past them. The ISP have access to all these methods also so it depends on how much effort they want to go to. The small providers are actually buying the bandwidth from the larger carrier so they have much more incentive to restrict it.

 

[Dsm1319]

Thanks for your well- informed response! Wouldn't our phones simply be active only in the sense that they would cast the signal received from the hotspot device and therefore whatever we would pay for data to the company that provides the SIM card would be the extent of the trouble to straight talk wireless which therefore would not involve them at all?

 

[bill001g]

I am unclear what you are doing I guess. Pretty much if you can turn off the data plan on your phone and still do the function you want it will not count against your plan. If by hotspot you mean some router in your house and you somehow take data from that router and then give it to the tv all via wifi. That should not be a issue. Most times when people use the term hotspot and are discussing phones they are using the phone as the hotspot not connecting to something else.

If you turn off the mobile data I can't see why staight talk would care.

 

[jsmithepa]

Bottom line, cellular data is the most expensive way to broadband, u may get away with it for a little bit but they will find out eventually.

 

[Dsm1319]

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?

Bottom line, cellular data is the most expensive way to broadband, u may get away with it for a little bit but they will find out eventually.

 

[Dsm1319]

Just to be clear. It has never been our intention to be less than honest in our non- contract contract with straight talk. In our read of the agreement we were consistently within the amount of data they said we were allowed to use each month. So just because we used the hotspot feature on their phone somewhat frequently they want to cancel us? We are simply going to pay someone else for data/ hotspot and still use their phone.

 

[bill001g]

That is no different than using the wifi on any internet connection in your house. I can't see they would care about that since that is what most people do. I would still test with the mobile broadband disabled to be sure stupid apps are not using the mobile data. I actually have a old cellphone with no data or voice plan that works fine on wifi. I also have a new prepaid att phone I never activated that I got for $30 that works fine on wifi. Maybe if straight talk continues to be jerks pick up some other phone.

 

[Math Geek]

you have to read the fine print and then do some research on any plan you are looking at. look for reviews from other users who have been cut off and see what type of usage they got before getting banned.

a hotspot device that you pay for a separate data plan than the phone would have different rules than the phone data plan. but more than likely they are still going to limit video streaming as it is the most data hungry use of the network.

what i would suggest is to look at other companies that might offer streaming from a specific service with no hit to data cap. at&t owns directv now and offers streaming from that service that does not count against the cap. many other companies have partnerships like that as well. look at the service you stream all the time and see if switching would save you a lot of issues. i know straight talk is cheap but an extra $10 or so a month would still be cheaper than a totally separate hot spot plan and likely get you what you want.

i use boost mobile and get unlimited streaming of a bunch of music services and unlimited video from all services but it is at lower resolution. this is fine by me so i'm ok with it. none of that counts against my data for the month, so i can watch all i want. you just have to identify exactly what you use and how and then look for the best company/plan for that usage.

 

[Dsm1319]

Yes. Well it's seeming more and more like technology- way more complex than it could or should be! Based on the input from your reply I would need to know the amount of resolution my digital TV would need and scan the finest of the fine print more than an attorney in a vain attempt to determine whether that carrier would have what I need!? To have what I was using I simply pressed a few buttons on both my wife's and my phones- so I will happen upon something half decent

 

[digitalgriffin]

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)

 

[Math Geek]

Yes. Well it's seeming more and more like technology- way more complex than it could or should be! Based on the input from your reply I would need to know the amount of resolution my digital TV would need and scan the finest of the fine print more than an attorney in a vain attempt to determine whether that carrier would have what I need!? To have what I was using I simply pressed a few buttons on both my wife's and my phones- so I will happen upon something half decent

it's not quite that complicated. for instance, in my plan, i see that i get unlimited video but it streams at 480p. your tv will display that fine. won't look as good as 1080p but if you want to cheap out, then you're gonna have to make some sacrifices. other companies may only lower the resolution once you hit a certain data limit. you just have to be informed so you get what you need and only pay for what you need.

20 minutes on the various websites and you should easily be able to get all the facts for various companies and make a decision.

or pay for a separate hotspot if you wish and go that route. will cost more and you'll still have to know what the fine print says but at least it should be easier to accomplish.