Can I put my SIM card in other devices?

The SIM card in your Hotspot
Might be locked to the HOTSPOT, if so you can call att and get the PUC, aka the unlock code for the SIM card
Either way you can take the SIM and Put it in the connect anywhere and try it

I have an att hotspot account, and I can move the SIM at will as long as it is another att compatible hotspot

If the SIM will fit the connect anywhere, and you unlock the SIM, change the lock code, so AT&T can not remotely lock it once you move it back to the HOTSPOT

Post edited to correct mistake

Have you tested your phone as the hot spot in and outside ur 5thW? Maybe it's strong enough, making the swap not needed. Unless you've got a 300ft 5thW with really thick walls :B
Or maybe there's a plug and play booster you could just plug into the phone. That would be easy too.

folivier wrote:
Does your router allow a usb connection from your phone?

Doesn't look like it and even if it did, it's in a control panel closet in the hallway and wouldn't be easily tethered. We stream everything, I work remote etc and our phones are not set up with hot spots.

Does your router allow a usb connection from your phone?

Today's technology is a lot more advanced and complicated than it was 10 - 15 years ago.

In my own experience, before smart phones, I used to do the SIM swap thing a lot with phones. My phone would die, I would get a used one off Craigslist, swap the SIM, done.

But I found with the tech advances that they now use the ESN for all devices. (Electronic Serial Number) In order to register the phone or similar on another system, such as what you describe here, they have to transfer the ESN along with the SIM.

Be it a phone or other internet capable device, the principle is all the same. Routers and other devices all have their own ESN and specific MAC address.

I quit doing it when it got to the point that I needed to call my carrier every time. It used to be a simple thing but now it isn't.

I am by no means an expert in this stuff, but can relate my own personal experience with the topic.

I think a lot of the refinements and restrictions now in place have to do with criminal activity, theft of smart phones, abuse of services and such things. The carriers all have clamped down on this, and want to keep you married to them and have total control over it all.

It goes a lot deeper than what I describe here.