Mags,
I thought I answered this one, but I don't find it here.
Anyway, we have been doing this for years. You already have a Verizon (V) account, that will serve you well. Just get (buy) the app for your smartphone called Foxfi. That will let you use the phone to create an hotspot. You get to set the security. You buy the app just once and pay no monthly for the use, but it does burn your data bandwidth, so you have to be mindful of that. We have been doing this for years. I used to have an unlimited data plan, but V made that too expensive to keep. Now I just have to be a little careful and not let the per/month data get out of hand or buy extra when I need it.
Matt