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Thread: Need wifi hotspot device/plan recommendations

  1. #21
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    Originally posted by macman64
    Wind Mobile has a $15 add on that provides up to 1GB of US data and then throttles after that. May not work great for Canada but should do the trick for US. The Europe rates are also better than you will find with most of the other carriers.
    I have the $39 plan with unlim US roaming now. I've been reading on HoFo though that if your phone doesn't connect to the Canadian network once per month, they cut you off. It's spotty in Calgary but it's all T-Mobile in the US (well, areas where I went anyways).

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    Great info guys! I will do my homework here. I'm going to see what the deal is with Rogers today, but since I already have a t Mobile account, maybe that is the way to go. Most of my data is US and I spent way too much time managing it, packages, phone calls, billing issues, etc
    "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
    -Thomas Jefferson 1802

  3. #23
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    Originally posted by Mckenzie
    Great info guys! I will do my homework here. I'm going to see what the deal is with Rogers today, but since I already have a t Mobile account, maybe that is the way to go. Most of my data is US and I spent way too much time managing it, packages, phone calls, billing issues, etc
    that's why i like the rogers one, for $5/24hr period (not per day, per 24 hours, it's nice when i go to montana for 48 hrs, i dont turn on roaming until we get where we're going and then turn it off when we hit the highway on the way back, so i only get billed 2 days.) And you get to use exactly your local plan, only in the USA.
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    I'm not sure what's wrong with your T-Mobile experience, but when I was in the US earlier this year, I just bought a T-Mobile starter kit from Best Buy or Walgreens for $10-15 and used one of their pay as you go plans. At the time it was just $2/day for unlimited calls, text, and 2G data or $3/day with 100MB 3G data which was more than enough for emails, web, and GPS/Google maps. You are only charged the day(s) the SIM is active. Those two plans have since been retired but it's still grandfathered in my account so I don't want to change it now hahaha! I've even lent out my SIM so people can help me keep the account active and they get cheap cellular data while in the US

    I think if you travel enough and don't mind carrying the extra devices, benyl and rage's route is the way to go and I considered it too. I didn't want to carry two phones so I just got an unlocked dual sim phone that I now use for traveling. One SIM (Fido) for incoming calls/texts from home, the other SIM (T-Mobile) for incoming data and outgoing US calls/texts. Works well for me.

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    It's just that the hotspot is not reliable at times and in places where there is poor cell reception, the iPhone 6 (main Telus phone) and 5S just cannot connect...like they keep searching for each other and can see one another, but just don't connect. For whatever reason with the iPhone 5S (my US t Mobile phone), it just disconnects frequently (i think it's a feature of the iOs 8 as I've read other people with similar complaints, likely a battery/data saving move). Like if I actually happen to get them paired, and use the iphone 6 for a navigation quickly, and lock the phone, the thing will time out if I have to update it like 10 mins later. I have to go back into the menu and select my 5S as a hot spot.

    I'm open to using a T Mobile device/network if it is more reliable. The other thing too is that a lot of my travel is to LA SFO etc. and they do apply network management to pay as you go accounts http://www.tmonews.com/2013/02/t-mob...mobile-launch/
    "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
    -Thomas Jefferson 1802

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    Get a wifi hotspot. My phone is always connected. If it does disconnect to power save, it reconnects as soon as I unlock my phone.

    The iPhone hotspot is cumbersome even when you make it an instant hotspot. You still have to go into settings and connect it.

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    Originally posted by benyl
    Get a wifi hotspot. My phone is always connected. If it does disconnect to power save, it reconnects as soon as I unlock my phone.

    The iPhone hotspot is cumbersome even when you make it an instant hotspot. You still have to go into settings and connect it.
    Latest iOS has instant hotspot but only works with iDevices. Regardless, the wifi hotspot works way better and lasts much longer. We use it for all of our show coverage. Before that I was using an iPhone 4 for hotspot and it would destroy the battery in a few hours.

    Never had a problem with LA or SFO network management. Always full speed. My brother was able to drain 1GB off my hotspot during a 15 minute drive because he was an idiot lol.
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  8. #28
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    I just got off the phone with Rogers and I think that is the way to go. Here are details:

    -6GB sharing plan with a) phone b) tablet c) hotspot (for laptop, etc)
    -Unlimited voice, text, calling within Canada
    -Unlimited calling to USA and international Text ($22.99 extra)

    All this for $137 / month ($127 without hotspot add on). Then, the roam like home feature is really where the savings start:
    -$5/ day for data AND voice in America to maximum of $50
    -$10/ day for data AND voice in rest of world to maximum of $100 (you can call Europe to Canada, etc. no charge)

    They have now begun to offer the extended network coverage, which apparently will switch to the Telus/Bell network in the event their network cannot work/poor signal.

    So basically for $187 a month I can have a fully functioning unlimited voice 6GB phone for US and Canada that doesn't really require any tethering.

    Currently I'm paying $130 for my Telus plan + $80 data pass for only 1 GB of data + T Mobile phone of $80 USD. I have spent 54 days in the US this year and have gone over on data each month, so my cell phone bills are like $300+ in total.

    I remember once in 2012 I turned on google maps for 5 mins of GPS to make sure we made a flights. Total charge was $107. Now, for $100, it works everywhere, every time. I can't say enough about how much of a pain it is to continually find wifi that inevitably sucks for daily things.
    "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
    -Thomas Jefferson 1802

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    Originally posted by rage2

    Latest iOS has instant hotspot but only works with iDevices. Regardless, the wifi hotspot works way better and lasts much longer. We use it for all of our show coverage. Before that I was using an iPhone 4 for hotspot and it would destroy the battery in a few hours.

    Never had a problem with LA or SFO network management. Always full speed. My brother was able to drain 1GB off my hotspot during a 15 minute drive because he was an idiot lol.
    Interesting. I have such a huge problem trying to tether a brand new Samsung Series 9 to my iPhone 6. It can recognize it, may connect for a few minutes, then just drops it. No amount of restarting and network resets of either device addresses this to make it a permanent connection.
    "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
    -Thomas Jefferson 1802

  10. #30
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    Originally posted by Mckenzie
    I just got off the phone with Rogers and I think that is the way to go. Here are details:

    -6GB sharing plan with a) phone b) tablet c) hotspot (for laptop, etc)
    -Unlimited voice, text, calling within Canada
    -Unlimited calling to USA and international Text ($22.99 extra)

    All this for $137 / month ($127 without hotspot add on). Then, the roam like home feature is really where the savings start:
    -$5/ day for data AND voice in America to maximum of $50
    -$10/ day for data AND voice in rest of world to maximum of $100 (you can call Europe to Canada, etc. no charge)

    They have now begun to offer the extended network coverage, which apparently will switch to the Telus/Bell network in the event their network cannot work/poor signal.

    So basically for $187 a month I can have a fully functioning unlimited voice 6GB phone for US and Canada that doesn't really require any tethering.

    Currently I'm paying $130 for my Telus plan + $80 data pass for only 1 GB of data + T Mobile phone of $80 USD. I have spent 54 days in the US this year and have gone over on data each month, so my cell phone bills are like $300+ in total.

    I remember once in 2012 I turned on google maps for 5 mins of GPS to make sure we made a flights. Total charge was $107. Now, for $100, it works everywhere, every time. I can't say enough about how much of a pain it is to continually find wifi that inevitably sucks for daily things.
    yep, and no fucking around with multiple accounts, devices, sim cards, making sure you're using the right account for the right purpose, it just all works, all the time..

    the one thing to note is that the rome like home price is PER DEVICE, so if you can get away with just turning on the hotspot and tether your phone to it, then use a voip provider or something if you ened phone, you can save the $5/day, not sure if it's worth the hassle.
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  11. #31
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    The only problem I had with T-Mobile is coverage, especially west coast.

    Even if coverage is there, speed is slow. Especially if you are not on LTE.

  12. #32
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    Originally posted by rage2

    Latest iOS has instant hotspot but only works with iDevices.
    iDevices on the same iCloud account. You still have to go into settings -> Wifi and connect.

    It better than the old way where you had to go into the providing phone to the hotspot page and then to the tethering phone and connect.

    I don't know how much travelling you do OP, but $187 / month is a lot of coin for convenience.

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    I do a lot of traveling and a lot of document writing/internet use on the go, hotels, airport lounges, etc. WIFI is pretty much useless from all public sources such as hotels, starbucks, etc. I must waste at least an hour each day on connecting, logging in, being timed out, logging back in, slow speeds, etc. I traveled 113 days last year, and so far this year am at 55 days on the road and will hit 65 by the end of the month. The loss of productivity is truly insane. Connectivity is priority A1 for me for sure, and not thinking about it is priceless to me.

    Originally posted by benyl


    iDevices on the same iCloud account. You still have to go into settings -> Wifi and connect.

    It better than the old way where you had to go into the providing phone to the hotspot page and then to the tethering phone and connect.

    I don't know how much travelling you do OP, but $187 / month is a lot of coin for convenience.
    "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
    -Thomas Jefferson 1802

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    bump. is the tmobile hotspot still the way to go when travelling to the US with multiple devices?
    heloc that shit

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    yup. $10 / 1GB / 1 week and then 2G speeds until the time runs out.

    1 GB usually lasts 5-6 days for 3 people. That is with heavy Facebook updates.

  16. #36
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    bump. The Walmart exclusive T-Mobile sim starter pack I usually buy has been discontinued... what's the best option nowadays?
    Will be in California for roughly 2 weeks including Disneyland for a few days.

    Looks like this is the way to go right now
    https://www.amazon.ca/MOST-SIM-T-Mob...07GSDNTDK?th=1

    Any better options out there?
    Last edited by Strider; 05-02-2019 at 05:04 PM.
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