Visible Phone Hotspot

Thanks dieseltruckdriver. That looks perfect.

Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

Most phones sold by Visible only allow one device to connect to the phone's hotspot. Connecting the phone to a wireless router allows multiple devices to be connected.

austinjenna wrote:
Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

One advantage of a cell modem (travel router) is the ability to add an external antenna. In fact, most cell modems have two antenna connections, allowing dual external antennas in a MIMO configuration resulting in considerable data speed increases.

Reviewed the latest Visible TOS (08/2022) and there is no mention of hotspot or limits to one device. Their FAQs state "All Visible members have mobile hotspot included with their service with unlimited data at a speed that’s perfect for streaming, up to 5 Mbps." No mention of the one device limit anymore.

One advantage of a cell modem (travel router) is the ability to add an external antenna. In fact, most cell modems have two antenna connections, allowing dual external antennas in a MIMO configuration resulting in considerable data speed increases.

Thanks for the explanation. I dont have visible so can have multiple connections and also have the surecall booster so I can put an antenna up on a telescoping rod in those fringe areas.

I use the hotspot in my Win 10 desktop to share share my Visible phone in my motorhome.

austinjenna wrote:
Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

Some Visible phones will allow more than one connection, mine will only allow one connection. If we both want to surf the internet, then the repeater is necessary.

Also in our case, it depends on whether I am using the Visible phone or the ATT hotspot for internet service. With the repeater our devices only need to know one connection. The phones don't care, but some of the things like the Chromecast and the Kindles or wifi camera need setting up for each different connection and that gets to be a much bigger pain than just plugging in the repeater and having it set up for the different internet connections.

I have two phones which were purchased from Visible. One is a ZTE Blade 11 Prime and the other is a Motorola one 5G UW ace. I just checked and both allow more than one connection. I don't recall if I ever checked but am pleasantly surprised. I have a wireless router and have been using it for a while. Perhaps I no longer need it.