Cell phone as hot spot
- Thread starter BillTex
- Start date
cnynrat
Expedition Leader
My Droid Razr with Verizon service supports this capability. With Verizon's 4G LTE service it can be handy from time to time if you need to connect a laptop (for instance) to the Internet. Mostly though I find that it's easier to just use the phone itself to connect to the Internet.
It would be of fairly limited usefulness on backcountry trips because most places I go there isn't a decent cell signal for even a voice call, let alone a 4G data connection.
It would be of fairly limited usefulness on backcountry trips because most places I go there isn't a decent cell signal for even a voice call, let alone a 4G data connection.
Yes...understood.
But my Wife could be surfing her laptop en-route to backcountry?
Maybe stream a movie?
B
gary in ohio
Explorer
I have a droid 2 and you can hot spot with it, but verizon wants $$$$ for that right.. There are some hacks to get around it if you look.
You can also look at pdanet, its a teathered app that allows you use the phone as a hot spot. app for phone is a couple of dollars and clients are freee.
You can use either a cable or a bluetooth connection.
3G is ok for mail and limited surfing but has its limits.
You can also look at pdanet, its a teathered app that allows you use the phone as a hot spot. app for phone is a couple of dollars and clients are freee.
You can use either a cable or a bluetooth connection.
3G is ok for mail and limited surfing but has its limits.
HillbillyfromAL
Explorer
Yes that would work but at 3G speeds you'd be better off downloading over wifi before the trip. 4G won't get you far out of town if at all, then you'll be back to 3G. It's fine for surfing the web but mobile sites use a lot less data. Get her an iPhone and I doubt she'll turn on the computer. My wife used to use her iPad all the time on drives but once she hit her iPhone she hasn't used it since. Netflix and Hulu aren't too bad over a good 3G connection but you'd better pony up for a good data plan an episode that's a hour can be 3/4 to 1 1/2 gigs on your data plan unless they've changed it recently. Good Luck
Gooseberry
Explorer
I use my iPhone as a hotspot for our iPads and it works pretty good. I have AT&T though and have a repeater when out in the back country
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
crazyeyez
Crazy EyeZ
i have Sprints HTC Evo Shift and it has their moble hotspot. (actually using it right now, out in the field while playing Army) sprint doesnt have the best service around here, and it tends to be on the slow side, since there is no 4G anywhere near here. but Sprint has the true unlimited data, and been months where i've used over 5Gigs of data. we just moved to Georgia and i'm waiting till i pay my truck off in a few months to get cable hooked up in the apartment. i use the hotspot for the laptop and the playstation3, tho on the PS3 i only DL updates and sign into PSN to get the bonuses while playing GT5. big updates take forever..... 
DreamingOfExpeditions
Adventurer
I'm a business user and have an iPhone with unlimited data. To be honest, outside of HD movies (BIG to watch, mind you) you can pretty much accomplish all these tasks on the iPhone alone. There are jailbreak options for the iPhone that can turn it into a hotspot for verizon. When I started looking at it, it just wasnt worth it. Everything I want to do on my laptop I can do from my phone. My iPhone has single-handedly put corporate travel out of business.
I say get an iPhone, tell her you can hook it up to your lap top and say but try this first. Hand it to her and see if she needs her laptop after that.
It can be done, but you may find for the occasional car trip its just not worth it.
I say get an iPhone, tell her you can hook it up to your lap top and say but try this first. Hand it to her and see if she needs her laptop after that.
It can be done, but you may find for the occasional car trip its just not worth it.
You will have to excuse my ignorance of all things smart phone as I am still on (office issued) BB.
The good news is we will soon be switching providers and will have a choice between Androids or iPhone.
Can't I do all these fantastic Iphone (3g) things on Android (4g) but much faster?
It seems to me the difference between ~300k apps (Android) and ~450k apps (iOs) is silly...
Can't you watch a show, navigate, surf etc on Android just as easily as Iphone?
It seems to me iPhone is down/out right now untill they catch up to 4g later this year?
Tx, B
backinthelab
New member
Yes, "technically", an Android would be faster if 4G. The variable in this is how long it can hold onto that 4G signal. Most rural areas will not have a strong 4G signal and you'll be stepped-down to 3G automatically.
In terms of tethering, however, the Android is the way to go. There are multiple methods of hacking the Android OS to allow it to be tethered. The iPhone is a different story. Unless you want to jailbreak your iPhone, you will have to donate $20/month to Verizon to allow data tethering. Jailbreaking, in my opinion, is a PITA. Apple has constant updates to their OS and even behind the scenes within the apps. They literally force you to update if you ever want to add apps/music/etc to your phone. On the flip-side, Google does major OS updates that are much less frequent...and usually optional as far as I can recall.
In terms of tethering, however, the Android is the way to go. There are multiple methods of hacking the Android OS to allow it to be tethered. The iPhone is a different story. Unless you want to jailbreak your iPhone, you will have to donate $20/month to Verizon to allow data tethering. Jailbreaking, in my opinion, is a PITA. Apple has constant updates to their OS and even behind the scenes within the apps. They literally force you to update if you ever want to add apps/music/etc to your phone. On the flip-side, Google does major OS updates that are much less frequent...and usually optional as far as I can recall.
Android would still do all the fun entertainment things an iPhone can do (movies, etc)?
Can you download a movie to android (as opposed to stream)?
B
I must be the last person in the US that does not own an i anything….and I want an iPhone…I really do. But after looking at the specs it looks like Android offers just as many apps and has the 4g.
Am I over simplifying?
Or are there just as many Andrioid users as there are iPhone users out there?
Everywhere you look its I this…I that…is it the ikoolaid?
Couldn't you for instance download a movie from iTunes on to an Android and watch it on a plane?
Or would you have to have iphone to do this?
Seems to me having 4g potential (understanding it is not available everywhere…particularly as you get in to the boonies) is a significant advantage. (4g is something like 4x the speed of 3g?) As this is an office issued phone (I am free to use it for personal use also) I do travel domestically for business and that travel would be around major metropolii with 4g service…
Am I over simplifying?
Or are there just as many Andrioid users as there are iPhone users out there?
Everywhere you look its I this…I that…is it the ikoolaid?
Couldn't you for instance download a movie from iTunes on to an Android and watch it on a plane?
Or would you have to have iphone to do this?
Seems to me having 4g potential (understanding it is not available everywhere…particularly as you get in to the boonies) is a significant advantage. (4g is something like 4x the speed of 3g?) As this is an office issued phone (I am free to use it for personal use also) I do travel domestically for business and that travel would be around major metropolii with 4g service…
I have a T-Mobile My Touch 4G. The good? The mobile hot-spot option is only 10.00 per month. The bad? T-Mobile has limited coverage and they just throttled down their data roaming to 10 MB per month. (Which we hit REAL FAST driving the new RAM 2500 we just bought in Idaho back to Denver.)
Steve
Steve