Using smart phone for laptop internet service
Never had a smart phone but think I'll get one this summer. I travel between Mexico and the US and in the past I bought a Telcel USB WIFI drive for access to the internet when in Mexico. It costs $400...
Forum Discussion
bob_nestor wrote:kerrlakeroo wrote:
I've not used it in Mexico but I have a Motorola G4 that I use as a hotspot. If you order one from Motorola or from Amazon and specifically look for an "unlocked" phone it can work on any system CDMA, GSM doesnt matter, if you buy the phone from a carrier, (verizon, ATT etc) they usually will have turned off the hotspot feature and will have locked it to their service. Price last I saw for a G4 was about $150.
Just because a phone is unlocked doesn't mean it can work on either CDMA or GSM. Those are different technologies and almost no phone contains all the HW to do both on all bands. The higher priced phones come pretty close but they still aren't universal.
Things do seem to be coming together slowly though. 4G LTE seems to be somewhat universal across all providers, but that's not true for 2G and 3G and 4G isn't as widely available as the older technologies. But you still have the problem of the bands in the various frequency ranges not being used the same way by all providers.
Bottom line is determine which phone service provider has the best coverage for where you'll be spending most of your time, then find phones that match that service provider.
If you check, you will find that the Moto series are about as close to "universal" as you can get. Before I bought mine I read the reviews on Amazon also and since the OP was asking about Mexico and central america use, I mentioned them because they do work on both CDMA and GSM with the same handset, and I remembered the comments from Central American users about them working there well. go to www.motorola.com and verify if you wish.
