wifi outside home

[donnavasquez67]

Can i use my home WiFi connection on my cell phone and take it with me to the store or to run errands if i like? meaning does any home internet provider like cox cable, or verizon, or at&t internet, spectrum internet, ex......allow customers to add cell phone or lap tops to your monthly internet bill. lets say they allow the person who name is on the bill and 4 family members to use the internet through there service is that possible yet? please looking into to the future if its not, someone needs to start that.

 

[Ralston18]

No.

Once you are out of range of your home Wifi then connection will not be possible.

However, you may be able to and should be able to use public hotspots established via the hosting ISP.

For example, my neighborhood has Xfinity hotspots that any Xfinity customer is able (or should be able) to use. However, the homeowner may or may not be able to turn that function off.

You pay for internet service and within your home the number and type of connected devices does not matter per se. If there are too many devices using bandwidth then performance will likely be very slow for the end users.

 

[Math Geek]

the problem with what you are asking about is your home access is not wireless. it comes through the cable lines into the house and is then broadcast by your router for devices to connect to. it's basically a radio signal. for your phone/tablet/other device to stay connected to your home wifi, your router would have to be broadcasting at the strength of a local radio station and even then your still limited on how far it can reach.

now cell phone companies have built a ton of towers to do exactly what you are asking about. they provide a nationwide mesh network of "routers" that your phone or equipped tablet can access as you move about. so the answer to what you are asking is to get a cell data plan for your phone/tablet and you're good to go.

of course what you want is to only pay once and use multiple services which the companies are not going to let you do. they make too much money separating the services to allow you to only pay once. so i'd not hold my breath on that happening anytime soon. some companies will bundle home and cell access saving a few bucks but still not what you are asking for. again i don't see it happening with how much money they make keeping the services separate.

 

[jsmithepa]

Once you are beyond the range of your home router, you are basically disconnected.

Away from home then, you are relying on merchants providing you free (they are paid plans you can sign on) access.

Or away from home u can "hotpot" via your cellphone but not all cell carrier allow you to do this and of course it goes toward your monthly data cap allowance.

 

[failboat]

The first wimax ISP tried something like this and failed very hard. They made billions off the radio auctions they bought for it though.