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TurnThePage's avatar
TurnThePage
Explorer
Nov 19, 2018

Educate me on hotspot data usage...

I've been on the same phone plan for about 20 years. It includes unlimited data, which I've never really used. Spurred by some reading around here, I looked up some of my account details. It looks like 50 Gigs/month of hotspot use is included in my plan. Generally speaking, what does that get me as far as watching TV/movies/video?
  • TurnThePage wrote:
    Yes, I confirmed that I get 50 Gigs of hotspot, and that's per line.


    When I stream television I use about 1.0G per hour. Of course this will depend on resolution. That said 50G would get you about 50 hours of television.
  • jcpainter wrote:
    TurnThePage wrote:
    I've been on the same phone plan for about 20 years. It includes unlimited data, which I've never really used. Spurred by some reading around here, I looked up some of my account details. It looks like 50 Gigs/month of hotspot use is included in my plan. Generally speaking, what does that get me as far as watching TV/movies/video?


    Who is your plan with? Did they even have hotspot usage 20 yrs ago?
    Unfortunately my plan is with Sprint. And I'm not sure how long ago hotspot usage was available, but I used to use PDANet to get around being charged for it. That doesn't work anymore.

    I wondered about it, logged into my sprint account and found a checkbox option for 50 Gig for $0. Even though I haven't used a lot of data, that was one of the main reasons I held onto this plan.

    Sprint coverage sucks in certain places, but it's generally pretty fast where ever there is good coverage in my experience. In the inland northwest, it's fast and solid.
  • Make sure you call your provider before going any further to get clarification.

    I have AT&T. It's an unlimited plan I've also had for years. My iPhone 7 has the ability to use it as a hotspot... but the feature is greyed out on my phone.

    So I called my provider. I was informed my unlimited plan doesn't "offer" that feature. In other words, if I changed my plan to one where I had a limited amount of data, they would enable that feature, hoping I go over my allotment. Unlimited data, yes, unlimited ability to use it, no.

    I really hate AT&T, but they have the best coverage in my area.
  • TurnThePage wrote:
    I've been on the same phone plan for about 20 years. It includes unlimited data, which I've never really used. Spurred by some reading around here, I looked up some of my account details. It looks like 50 Gigs/month of hotspot use is included in my plan. Generally speaking, what does that get me as far as watching TV/movies/video?


    Who is your plan with? Did they even have hotspot usage 20 yrs ago?
  • 50 gig is pretty darn good, provided you have the connection speed to make it useable. It's unusual to see that kind of allotment on a plan that's 20 years old. You sure it's not Meg instead of gig?

    You can google it, but I think a 2 hour movie consumes about 2-4 gig.

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