Do "hot spots" work well enough to rely on for an Ipad?

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JOhnH

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I currently have fiber optic internet to the house for $70/month. But they do not offer a mobile package.
So I have AT&T mobile service for two Iphones and two Ipads (($150/month). $220 total.

I'm thinking of switching to Spectrum where I can get Ineternet for $40/month for two years plus one free mobile line for 12 months. And I can add another line for $30. So $70/month vs $220 (for one year, then$110). Spectrum uses Verizon's network.

My question is will we be happy using our phones as hot spots for our Ipads? We almost always have our phones with us when away from home to serve the ipads, and we have wifi at home and many other places we go.

My wife has an older phone (Iphone 6s) and an Ipad mini.
I have an Iphone XS Max and an Ipad Pro.
 
When I visit Canada I use hot spot from friends phones while staying with them. Works fine.
 
Depends on cell service availability (signal strength), bandwidth, and data demands.

In the limited instances I’ve used my cell phone as a hot spot, the experience has been anywhere from transparent to painful.
 
I use my cell phone hotspot occasionally...mostly when traveling. Not for an iPad, but that doesn't, matter... I avoid using wifi at hotels and other places and use the hotspot instead. Months when we travel a fair bit, I'll sometimes start getting warnings that I'm getting close to my monthly limit.... have gone over it a few times. My T-mobile account has a cap on hotspot data and throttles it when I go over. Still, for my needs it has so far not been an issue.
 
I'm not actually sure what the implicit question is? What would your other option be, an ipad with a cell modem? It wouldn't get any signal that your phone wouldn't.

But if the question is "do wifi hotspots work" the answer is yes. I've had a wifi only ipad for over a decade and used my verizon iphone to provide data.
 
Brad W said:
I use my cell phone hotspot occasionally...mostly when traveling. Not for an iPad, but that doesn't, matter... I avoid using wifi at hotels and other places and use the hotspot instead. Months when we travel a fair bit, I'll sometimes start getting warnings that I'm getting close to my monthly limit.... have gone over it a few times. My T-mobile account has a cap on hotspot data and throttles it when I go over. Still, for my needs it has so far not been an issue.
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When I do a lot of traveling, I start getting those data messages too. But the plan I'm looking at give 30GB vs 14GB.
 
172andyou said:
I'm not actually sure what the implicit question is? What would your other option be, an ipad with a cell modem? It wouldn't get any signal that your phone wouldn't.

But if the question is "do wifi hotspots work" the answer is yes. I've had a wifi only ipad for over a decade and used my verizon iphone to provide data.
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Both of our Ipads have a cell modem and a cell plan. If hotspots work well enough for us, then we wouldn't really need the cell plan for the Ipads.
 
I'm not sure if I understand completely. I have fiber to the home and have a wifi router that distributes my wifi network throughout the home through multiple nodes. I would think you only need to add a wifi router and setup a home network. I can use my network signal throughout a 5000+sqft home and at least 100+ out in the yard.

Finally, a Whole Home WiFi System That Works-Best Coverage Mesh Wifi by eero

eero 7 Max
www.eero.com
 
robin ardoin said:
I'm not sure if I understand completely. I have fiber to the home and have a wifi router that distributes my wifi network throughout the home through multiple nodes. I would think you only need to add a wifi router and setup a home network. I can use my network signal throughout a 5000+sqft home and at least 100+ out in the yard.

Finally, a Whole Home WiFi System That Works-Best Coverage Mesh Wifi by eero

eero 7 Max
www.eero.com
Click to expand...
That works fine at home. Not around town or out of town.
 
JOhnH said:
Both of our Ipads have a cell modem and a cell plan. If hotspots work well enough for us, then we wouldn't really need the cell plan for the Ipads.
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hotspots work great. I haven't missed having a cell modem a single time.
 
JOhnH said:
That works fine at home. Not around town or out of town.
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Ahhh I thought I was missing something. I thought you were asking for a home solution. I do use my cellphone hotspot for my Ipads and, if I have 5G service, the data transfer is really fast...faster than my home fiber when the whole neighborhood is online :rolleyes: . With several bars and LTE it is still more than acceptable except for some streaming video.
 
JOhnH said:
Both of our Ipads have a cell modem and a cell plan. If hotspots work well enough for us, then we wouldn't really need the cell plan for the Ipads.
Click to expand...

When you speak of hotspot, re you referring to tethering your tablet to a phone for cellular data access or are you talking about dedicated device to provide a cellular/wifi access point?
 
TCABM said:
When you speak of hotspot, re you referring to tethering your tablet to a phone for cellular data access or are you talking about dedicated device to provide a cellular/wifi access point?
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Yes, tethering. As in:

JOhnH said:
My question is will we be happy using our phones as hot spots for our Ipads?
Click to expand...
 
I do this regularly every summer using AT&T. We use our cell phones as hot spots for streaming TV. We do not have internet service at our weekend summer place and this works very well. The only downside is our data "limit". It's unlimited data, but after a certain point it slows down dramatically. I've only had that happen once or twice over the last 3 years. That was after streaming a lot of HD shows or movies. The slower rate is not sufficient to stream video but works fine for standard internet browsing.
 
Use ATT for hotspot’s on my Apple SE with no problems. Unlimited data plan so if no WiFi, no problem. Anything from email to streaming works fine.
 
As mentioned be aware of your provider's fine print when it comes to doing it. Most carriers give you a limited amount of data on tethering/mobile hotspots and/or deprioritize the data/slow it down after X amount of data is used.
Unlimited is often not so unlimited when you read the fine print. And the carriers like to change the rules all the time.
 
Your iPhone personal hotspot should work fine for internet access to your iPad... I do this all the time.

We have unlimited talk text with Verizon and we have either the 5G or the 5G Ultra Wideband, whatever that is. It works pretty well, and can't say I have had any problems.
 
How often do you need to be connected where there is not another wifi solution available? Restaurant, Hotel etc. I have an Ipad with cell service, and I travel a lot. I use the cell maybe every 6 months. Only real use case I have for the Cell is when driving (or more specifically, while my wife is driving)
 
I connect my iPad and my laptop to my cellphone WiFi hotspot all the time. Works as well as anything else. Occasional AT&T network problems but nothing too bad.
 
I'm going to dissent on this one. You have $70 fiber optic internet, and you're considering switching to cellular internet? I wouldn't do that unless I didn't care at all about the speed. And, using a phone as a hot spot for Internet is cool when you're traveling or camping, but it's a PITA, in my experience, for regular daily use. Keep the fiber, don't worry about "bundles" and get the cheapest cell plan you can for the two phones. Use the tablets with the phone's hot spot when traveling, and wifi/fiber when home.
 
I was surprised that everyone has seen no difference in speed when using hot spots. My experience has been very different I have a personal cell phone which is Droid based and a work cell phone which is an iPhone. My home internet service which is Comcast is significantly faster than either hot spot. This has been the case when I have used it after hurricane Ian as well as the occasional time when xfivnity has been down. Just got back from a vacation and needed to use the Hotspot for some of my work related needs and it was significantly slower than even the crappy hotel access. Both my phones are 5G.
 
Albany Tom said:
I'm going to dissent on this one. You have $70 fiber optic internet, and you're considering switching to cellular internet? I wouldn't do that unless I didn't care at all about the speed. And, using a phone as a hot spot for Internet is cool when you're traveling or camping, but it's a PITA, in my experience, for regular daily use. Keep the fiber, don't worry about "bundles" and get the cheapest cell plan you can for the two phones. Use the tablets with the phone's hot spot when traveling, and wifi/fiber when home.
Click to expand...

No, I'm thinking of switching from separate packages that include $70 for fiber internet (but no cellular)AND a $150 cellular service (total $220/month)
to:
One service that provides both Broadband at home (not fiber, but fast) PLUS Cellular for a total of $70/month. I'll still have wired internet and wifi an home and then be able to use the phones as hotspots when not near wifi for $150 savings. Yes, it's a teaser rate but I'll probably be moving in less than a year and have to get new home internet service anyway.

I must not be very clear. I thought I explained this pretty well a couple of times.

However, after checking the fine print in the advertisement and calling them up, there are hitches. So I may not do anything since I may be moving soon anyway.
 
Nah, late in the day and I read it wrong, my fault. Fiber vs copper broadband can be a complete wash depending on provider details....in that context your plan makes sense depending on the details.
 
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