Replacing home internet with 4g hotspot?

[DroidHam]

Has anyone considered this?

I have AT&T and was wondering if it would be better to get a 2 year 4g hotspot from like Sprint (is it unlimited) and I could use it at home and take it with me to use on my xoom etc?

 

[Kcarpenter]

It's unlimited, but 4G on sprint doesn't do so hot indoors. Walls block 2.5ghz spectrum.

Also, it looks pretty likely that sprint will start to tier data levels soon.

 

[DroidHam]

I keep seeing the Mifi 4g hotspots available for like $300 with no contract. How does service work? Do you still need to activate it and pay the $50 a month with Verizon?

 

[DroidHam]

I guess it may be cheaper to pay the $$ and get a thunderbolt out of contract and use the 4G on that instead rather than the $300 for the mifi wifi hotspot huh

 

[rjoudrey]

Why not wait till the Xoom has 4G and use it as a hotspot, unless you got the WIFI because you thought 4G would be useless!

 

[DroidHam]

Why not wait till the Xoom has 4G and use it as a hotspot, unless you got the WIFI because you thought 4G would be useless!

I got the Wifi because it was $200 cheaper and didnt want to pay for another data plan

 

[Kcarpenter]

I got the Wifi because it was $200 cheaper and didnt want to pay for another data plan

QFT
10 char.

 

[rjoudrey]

I got the Wifi because it was $200 cheaper and didnt want to pay for another data plan

I bought the 4g version and saved $200 by getting a $20 a month data plan (which I use about 750MB of). I will not have to upgrade my phone to 4g for tethering and spend another $200. I can also talk and surf the web/navigate at the same time, that statement sounds familiar!

It's about a wash depending on your needs.

 

[DroidHam]

I bought the 4g version and saved $200 by getting a $20 a month data plan (which I use about 750MB of). I will not have to upgrade my phone to 4g for tethering and spend another $200. I can also talk and surf the web/navigate at the same time, that statement sounds familiar!

It's about a wash depending on your needs.

Whats the point of 4g if your using 750mb?

Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App

 

[rjoudrey]

Whats the point of 4g if your using 750mb?

Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App

It's all about speed not volume for me. I would not necessarily use more data because it's faster I would just get those tasks done quicker.

Now if I used as a hotspot I would needs a bigger plan.

 

[martonikaj]

As others have said, the Sprint 4G MiFi doesn't do well inside. The high mhz spectrum doesn't do well to penetrate walls. You very rarely get full bars inside in my experience.

It sounds good to try and use a 4G hotspot for your home internet, but once you start spreading out a single WiMax signal (less than 10mbps down, capped 1mbps up) to several people and/or devices, you're not going to be as comfortable as you would be with home cable internet.

Now, LTE might be another situation because the speeds are much higher than WiMax and it penetrates buildings better, but still you're relying on a wireless signal to come down and then be spread back out to the devices.

For people like me who play games, I don't see myself cutting the cable internet any time soon. Not to mention that I regularly use 75gb+ of internet every month. Don't think theres a single carrier (even Sprint) that would be okay with this.

 

[Xevilious]

Verizon is a big bag of irony when it comes to LTE and pricing.

They're promising fast speeds, which for most people means streaming video and audio, but their pricing is too expensive to do much media streaming.

If I had deep pockets, Verizon LTE as a mobile hotspot would be great. Sadly, I don't have deep pockets. I think Clear/Sprint are currently the best options at the moment.

I'm not sure if I'm even going to upgrade to LTE. 3G seems to do alright, and I'm worried that LTE will be a battery suck. Battery is more important to me than speed.

 

[martonikaj]

I'm not sure if I'm even going to upgrade to LTE. 3G seems to do alright, and I'm worried that LTE will be a battery suck. Battery is more important to me than speed.

LTE (and other 4G tech) is very much so a battery hog. There's no way that you can have that big jump in bandwidth and connection without affecting battery life until they expand the technology more (remember, the move from 2G to 3G was met with the same concerns).

I think anyone using an Evo 4G or Thunderbolt will quickly tell you how much WiMax or LTE is killing their battery.

 

[marctronixx]

ive got the mifi 3g/4g gadget and 4G and 3G work wonderfully inside the house in my experience. also ive tried it inside the company building and 4G works well.. it does help im in a major 4G city.. but the 4G works quite well indoors. it has about a 28-32 foot range so you could sit it near an external wall facing 4g coverage and be set.

i have used the novatel with a laptop, xoom, first gen ipod touch. definitely a good option. there is also the overdrive pro which has 4G verizon and att have the same mifi box also..

the key here is to make sure your primary location has ample supply of 4G and your set for unlimited. again the spees ive seen are quite nice.

 

[pyrator]

and this is why people are introducing caps....

However, if you can stay under the cap....

FLAME ON!

 

[Kcarpenter]

ive got the mifi 3g/4g gadget and 4G and 3G work wonderfully inside the house in my experience. also ive tried it inside the company building and 4G works well.. it does help im in a major 4G city.. but the 4G works quite well indoors. it has about a 28-32 foot range so you could sit it near an external wall facing 4g coverage and be set.

i have used the novatel with a laptop, xoom, first gen ipod touch. definitely a good option. there is also the overdrive pro which has 4G verizon and att have the same mifi box also..

the key here is to make sure your primary location has ample supply of 4G and your set for unlimited. again the spees ive seen are quite nice.

Specifically Sprints 4G WiMax doesn't do well indoors, because of the specific spectrum it uses. Verizon, ATT, and Tmo use different tech and spectrum that has better building penetration...haha...i said penetration. But if you got it to work, cool.

 

[marctronixx]

yes mr. carpenter i understand your post and i do understand the cons of wimax inside buildings, hence why i said it works for me as im in a dense 4G area, so the two main places i frequent has 4G abundantly. it surely does fall off rather quickly inside structures however the results ive had are just superb, especially when its unlimited. sprints coming out with a 10gb plan this sunday and releasing new bundled plans so i should be able to get 10gb of 3G for 70 bux.

 

[brijahn]

I've been using the Sprint Overdrive since last summer. Although I wouldn't recommend this particular device the 4G service itself is excellent. The Overdrive is plagued with well documented problems. When it actually connects and stays connected the service is fast and solid, as with the 4G service on my Epic. As for using WiMax 4G inside, I've found it needs to be positioned for optimal signal, I set mine on top of the refrigerator. I may eventually switch to the new MiFi unit, but I'm waiting to see how the reviewers feel about it first.

 

[Kippui]

Better off rooting verizon's thunderbolt...

 

[cwizardtx]

and this is why people are introducing caps....

However, if you can stay under the cap....

FLAME ON!

QFT...

Consumer: "but my unlimited plan gives me the RIGHT to download 300GB/s of data each month!"

Cellular Industry: "yeah right"

Data Caps.

I would personally thank iPhone users for abusing the snot out of AT&T's unlimited data plans for all of this.