Cost for truly unlimited data - Wifi/hotspot

[way2roll]

I know variations of this have been asked before so apologies in advance. As our travel season ramps up I am looking for a hotspot. I work remote and so I will need to periodically work on some days and we also stream a lot of content. My company has a deal with ATT where our phones get truly unlimited data very cheap - like $17/month. But the hotspot feature is disabled. To activate the hot spot feature on the phone increases the price to $30, not bad but there would be a 5 MG cap - that won't work. I can add a stand alone hotpsot to my plan but the truly unlimited data for that is $80/month. I thought that was high. But in the grand scheme of things with my phone plans being so cheap, overall it's not bad. But I thought $80 for unlimited data for a hot spot was pretty expensive. I thought about going with another company just for the hotspot but none will do it without an accompanying phone plan. So do I bite the bullet and pay the $80 knowing that the rest of my plan is really cheap, or do I go elsewhere and where would that be?

To Summarize - 3 phones on my plan with unlimited data = $70/month ($17 each plus fees). To add an unlimited hotspot would be $80 bringing the total to $150 for all 4 devices. So the one device more than doubles my bill.

Is there a cheaper, stand-alone, hotpsot with unlimited data plan out there?

[way2roll]

Thanks again for all the replies. I decided to go with what my current plan offers via ATT for $80/mo. I also got the hotspot heavily discounted. The fact that I already get really cheap data on our phones means the overall bill won't be that much and the cost per month seems on par with the competition when factoring data usage. Also my plan is truly unlimited data because it's a commercial account. The coverage is great as well. I am happy to see there is a lot more options out there than there were just a few years ago.

[wa8yxm]

there is Unlimited and there is "unlimited" I have the 2nd" It is a T-Mobile 55+ plan and after taxes its 73month
Unlimited Talk
Unlimited Messaging
"unlimited internet"
Why the quotes and case change
There are two limits
Hotspot data .. once I cross that point the hotspot is "Throttled"

Over all... Once I hit that point the phone has its priority reduced. that is if the tower is busy. I slow down first.

Selected Video streams are NOT metered.

I usually hit hot spot throttling about 20 days into the month
Only went over the phone's "limit" on occasion.

Never really felt the slow down as I do not stream much video.

NOW.,, T-Mobile and AT&T both have one hot "upgrade to 5G" plan
Faster data.. I am not sure about the limits,,, T-Mobile is pusing a Samsung Galaxy A-32 5G at me (i get it next week) Current phone is the same prodct line but S-7... Sadly the hard case won't fit and the printer no longer has that pattern in stock.. Found one close to it.

Since moving into the apartment I got Cable Internet now I never hit the limit. I still use the phone's data for two of my Raspberry Pi-Zeros though (They stream audio.... both ways)

[joezippy]

curt12914 wrote:
I have never used a hotspot.

My wife retired last June and we are hoping to snowbird next winter for a month or slightly more. I would like to be able to use our Roku to get local channels and streaming while we are gone south, plus normal internet access.

How do I estimate how much data I will need?

One thing that I did (because I have a home wifi router now) is to look at the stats on my wifi router for the last 30 days, then sum only the devices you take on the road with you... Assuming all things equal, that's what you can expect to use. Hope this helps.

[joezippy]

BarneyS wrote:

joezippy wrote:
Snip... Plus, if I get 4 in my family to join me, Visible is only 25/mo... Snip...

There is no need to start your own party - just join an existing party. I joined a party with 51 members so don't have to worry about getting below 4 members. I have been paying $25/month with Visible for quite a long time with no throttling and no problems whatsoever.

You can easily find a party to join at ***Link Removed***. Just read the various posts and pick one to join. This is how I found my group to join.
Barney

Awesome... Thanks for that info, I appreciate it! Cheers.

[BarneyS]

joezippy wrote:
Snip... Plus, if I get 4 in my family to join me, Visible is only 25/mo... Snip...

There is no need to start your own party - just join an existing party. I joined a party with 51 members so don't have to worry about getting below 4 members. I have been paying $25/month with Visible for quite a long time with no throttling and no problems whatsoever.

You can easily find a party to join at this site.. Just read the various posts and pick one to join. This is how I found my group to join.
Barney

[valhalla360]

curt12914 wrote:
I have never used a hotspot.

My wife retired last June and we are hoping to snowbird next winter for a month or slightly more. I would like to be able to use our Roku to get local channels and streaming while we are gone south, plus normal internet access.

How do I estimate how much data I will need?

A lot.

What we've taken to doing is download when on a fast wifi to watch later. We only use the phones occasionally for streaming. If we stop at a restaurant with wifi, we will often download 5-6hr of videos in 10-15 min.

[pianotuna]

curt12914 wrote:
I have never used a hotspot.

How do I estimate how much data I will need?

About 1 gig per hour for streaming video.

One of my connections throttles to 0.52 meg/sec. I find that after an initial wait to connect, I can stream netflix with no buffering.

Facebook appears to use more data than netflix, but I have no measurements to support that.

[Second_Chance]

RickLight wrote:
Get the experts info at
www.rvmobileinternet.com

X2^^

Rob

[curt12914]

I have never used a hotspot.

My wife retired last June and we are hoping to snowbird next winter for a month or slightly more. I would like to be able to use our Roku to get local channels and streaming while we are gone south, plus normal internet access.

How do I estimate how much data I will need?

[pianotuna]

way2roll wrote:


Is there a cheaper, stand-alone, hotpsot with unlimited data plan out there?

Yes,

Google Fi unlimited plus (for 1, 2, 3 etc) Unlimited tethering. The for 1 price is $70 usd. No contracts or activation fees. Data only sims are available.

https://fi.google.com/about/plans/

[RickLight]

Get the experts info at
www.rvmobileinternet.com

[philh]

I have a nighthawk with OTR Mobile service. $90 a month. The detail legaleze suggests that after 22G, AT&T can slow the service. I've never noticed a slowing, and this month alone, I'm currently at 150G. A friend's account was cancelled after he went over 500G

[Dutch_12078]

way2roll wrote:

I don't think Visible will work for me. I need a dedicated hot spot and it seems like they only have phones that can be activated as a hotspot. I have 3 phones already with unlimited data dirt cheap. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I don't think you can get a stand alone hot spot from Visible.

Visible does not offer hotspot plans, but after you activate a plan with a phone, as some of us have done, you can move the SIM to a compatible hotspot. Verizon's 8800L or the 7730L that I use with my Visible SIM are good choices. The hotspot also bypasses the one device limit the phone hotspot feature has. Another option is to just use the phone hotspot, but make the one device connection a wireless router that will in turn support several device connections.

[way2roll]

joezippy wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Sounds like my $80 truly unlimited (no throttling or limits) on a dedicated hot spot with ATT coverage isn't such a bad plan after all. I do like some of the options you guys have thrown out there, but I'd rather not have another phone or use a phone as a hotspot.

The Calyx option has me thinking...that equates to about $40/month. Looks like it's a one time deal annually. No real contract per se. Pay the full year up front and don't re-up next year if you don't want it. But if you don't use it, that's money wasted. With my company plan via ATT I can cancel at any time with no fee and add it back - again with no fee. That's one of the nice perks.

Incidentally, when I researched this last year, my ATT hotspot would have been $50. I didn't really need it at the time, now I am kind of kicking myself.

One thing I had thought of, if the hotspot performs well enough, it's cheaper than what I am paying for my home internet. When we lived in rural MD we survived on a hot spot alone for years because we were too remote for cable. So I could end up cancelling the home internet and save a lot of money.

Quick question, as I'm leaning toward Visible:

1) If Visible is on Verizon and Calyx is on TMobile wouldn't you get better service from Visible? Plus, if I get 4 in my family to join me, Visible is only 25/mo...

Currently on Google Fi, https://fi.google.com/about/plans/

I too am thinking about dropping the home service.

I don't think Visible will work for me. I need a dedicated hot spot and it seems like they only have phones that can be activated as a hotspot. I have 3 phones already with unlimited data dirt cheap. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I don't think you can get a stand alone hot spot from Visible.