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AT&T Netgear AirCard 815S - Tethering to laptop

TenOC
Nomad
Nomad
I have an AT&T Netgear AirCard 815S. It is working well. But I have 2 questions

The battery is charged from a USB3 cable. Once the battery is fully charged it says “please disconnect from charger”. Since I do not use this as a mobile hotspot but as a permanent hotspot in my RV, will I damage the battery by leaving it plugged in continuously?

If I plug the USB3 cable into my laptop I believe this is “tethering” the air card to my laptop. Does this mean that my laptop is connected directly through the air card to the Internet without using the Wi-Fi feature? What is an advantage of this tethering versus using the Wi-Fi? Is one faster than the other?
Please give me enough troubles, uncertainty, problems, obstacles and STRESS so that I do not become arrogant, proud, and smug in my own abilities, and enough blessings and good times that I realize that someone else is in charge of my life.

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4 REPLIES 4

LouLawrence
Explorer
Explorer
The router should work just fine without a battery. I left it plugged in with the battery and the battery did swell and I had to order another. I then left the battery out and only but it back if I had to take it out of the RV. I would leave the battery out and the router plugged in and call it a day. You don't have to plug it into your computer, any charging cable will keep it alive.

Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Explorer II
I have my 815s power supply plugged into a simple timer that turns it on for an hour every three hours.
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate

jcpainter
Explorer
Explorer
SOME of the Nighthawks (815s) have been reported to continue working when they are plugged in and then the battery is removed. . . but not all of them will work this way.

What you can do to prolong battery life is to remove the rear cover while it's plugged in. That keeps the battery cooler and delay the battery from swelling.

magicbus
Explorer
Explorer
There have been reports of swelling batteries if the charger is left plugged in. Before my 815S died and I switched to an LB120 modem (so I could use a better router) I used to leave it plugged in all the time with the battery removed.

I think when you plug into the laptop USB you will be just charging. I suspect that the 815S could use this connection in place of wifi but I imagine you would have to configure that.

Dave
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