Mobile phone as wifi hotspot
- Thread starter thedoog1
- Start date
- Nov 16, 2015
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Hi Doog, I have set it up on a Samsung and also my latest Huawei, it is very easy to do, and as long as your in a good signal area its reliable, I have it only paired to my Samsung tablet. Go to whoever your phone network are and they will show you how, or any teenager.
It is dead easy.
Just ask at your dealers (3 are best for this, I think). It is done within seconds and it is as reliable as the mobile signal. Speed can vary, but ask.
We use it often when in the caravan - it's really the only practical way.
You could also look into buying a wi-fi dongle.
John.
Just ask at your dealers (3 are best for this, I think). It is done within seconds and it is as reliable as the mobile signal. Speed can vary, but ask.
We use it often when in the caravan - it's really the only practical way.
You could also look into buying a wi-fi dongle.
John.
thedoog1 said:
I use my phone as a WiFi hotspot 2-3 times a week, mostly for my small tablet to be used for YouTube or Netflix when out the house. The settings in Android are quite easy, just give the WiFi a name and set a password. You can turn it on and off in the Notification Panel. (Samsung Galaxy S8)
Be careful if you have a data allowance: I used my Laptop through the phone to submit an online Tesco shop whilst away in the caravan. For the 50-60 minutes I was using the laptop, it used nearly all my monthly data. The Laptop, unless there is a setting for a metered connection, will just use what it needs, so it pulled down updates and synchronised with Dropbox/Google Drive.
I do - Mrs Gozza runs her own business and needs to at least be able to check e-mails daily while we're away. I've got an app on my Samsung phone called "Portable wi-fi hotspot" from Core Technology. I found it dead easy to set up, the wi-fi is password protected and all our devices have been taught to recognise it as a home network, so they auto-log in as soon as the app is enabled.
As others have said, it mainly depends on how good your phone signal is - I've thought about putting a data-only sim into an old phone, and connecting it to an external aerial on the caravan for better signal (gadget freak over here!), but not done it yet, and never really been in a position where I wished I had.
Also as others have already said, watch your data limits - I've got 10GB / month included on my contract and some months I get pretty close but as I've said, that includes Mrs G running her business through it whenever we're away from the house (not just caravanning but long car journeys and at client locations too) so for normal family use you'd be alright.
As others have said, it mainly depends on how good your phone signal is - I've thought about putting a data-only sim into an old phone, and connecting it to an external aerial on the caravan for better signal (gadget freak over here!), but not done it yet, and never really been in a position where I wished I had.
Also as others have already said, watch your data limits - I've got 10GB / month included on my contract and some months I get pretty close but as I've said, that includes Mrs G running her business through it whenever we're away from the house (not just caravanning but long car journeys and at client locations too) so for normal family use you'd be alright.
I use wifi hotspot all the time. Got a 40gb data allowance on my phone. I connect my smart TV to it for Netflix etc and before this I had a fire stick in my telly. As long as there is a decent 4g signal the job's a good un. If you don't have much data on your phone its worth setting up a limit on it so you don't run up unexpected data bills.
Download an app called Ookla.
It's a speed test, and it helps.
Don't use any other unless you know it.
Last year I used another app which used nearly 5Gb in about a week for the same speed test.
Three recommended Ookla, and it's been fine, with negligible usage of my Gb's
John.
It's a speed test, and it helps.
Don't use any other unless you know it.
Last year I used another app which used nearly 5Gb in about a week for the same speed test.
Three recommended Ookla, and it's been fine, with negligible usage of my Gb's
John.
- Nov 11, 2009
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thedoog1 said:
Tesco mobile are doing good SIM only at present. My grandson has just switched to them and he’s pretty sharp on prices and contracts. Although he cannot match mine with EE at £12 per month for two SIMS, unlimited texts 500 minutes talk, and 25 gigabyte between us. Although most of our usage is via WiFi so we actually use little data allowance except when out with granddaughter who tethers her phone to ours.
I’ve been with EE since it was 121, T Mobile and Orange and use them for home phone and broadband too.
- Nov 11, 2009
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thedoog1 said:
EE have been good and I’ve been out of mobile contract now for three years and apart from inflation increases I still pay my old price per month. The data allowance has been increased progressively when I had a broadband down period, renew my home phone and broadband and then stayed with them on moving home recently. But the other aspect has been customer loyalty since the days of One2One back in the 90s.
- Oct 12, 2013
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I've been out with contract for nearly 4 year and I am on SIM only now and just changed last week for more data at a less price , have a look on the website uswitch https://www.google.com/search?q=uswitch&oq=usw&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0j5j0.2028j0j4&client=ms-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 ,
Deals to be bartered for .
Deals to be bartered for .
Kiveton said:
The app is actually Speedtest - also the web site name if you do it on a PC.
Take care when using your phone as a hotspot. If your PC/laptop/tablet finds and does any updates - notably Windoze twice yearly specials - you could run out of data PDQ without knowing about it until it stops working. Your best bet is an All-You-Can-Eat deal from 3. Having said that beware as 3 are very good at not covering places with 4G if they don't think it will make them money. 3G will work but you will only get about 10Mb against anything north of 30Mb on 4G.
Anyone used a ph two SIM slots, using one for telephone and txt stiuff sndf the other with a data only sim eg from 3mobile ?
How easy is it to change from one SIM to the other - i.e. using the phone contrals once the two cards have been installed ?
I've a Moto C Androd with Tesco PAYG for phobne text stuff but wonder if I could use a data only sim for internet when away and particularly in Europe. I have trouble seeing things these days so it needs to be a fairly easy change over.
How easy is it to change from one SIM to the other - i.e. using the phone contrals once the two cards have been installed ?
I've a Moto C Androd with Tesco PAYG for phobne text stuff but wonder if I could use a data only sim for internet when away and particularly in Europe. I have trouble seeing things these days so it needs to be a fairly easy change over.
I changed from Virgin to Vodafone sim only, as Vodafone have better coverage. Recently I some how managed to turn off wi-fi on my phone, and got a message from Vodafone saying I only had 500mb left of my 5 gb data, and was 21 days from month end! This was because all my data was coming over 4G. A few days later I had a phone call from Vodafone telling me they were upgrading my data from 5gb to 8gb and I could include Spotify premium all for £22. This was a pound cheaper than my previous Vodafone deal and separate Spotify contract. I know I could get a better deal elsewhere, but I appreciated the customer care.
You are lucky. My experience with Vodaphone hotspot for European use has been very poor and very expensive. Forum rules mean I cannot be more specific.
- Mar 14, 2005
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It obviously depends on the contract you have for roaming. You may remember that the EU has outlawed excessive roaming charges for EU residents within the member states, so there is no guarantee that when ( or if) we leave the EU that British nationals may see roaming charges in the EU may jump.
- Nov 11, 2009
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ProfJohnL said:
But that’s no different from going to a non EU part of the world. WiFi is so extensive these days that you can still access good communication although streaming isn’t that viable on cost grounds. We’ve FaceTime/Skyped from some really obscure places including a session with our UK vet when one of the dogs took ill with meningitis when we were away. The communications cost nothing. But the vets bill is another thing.
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