Mobile hotspot/wifi/bluetooth

[JBM3M]

Heck not even sure how to intelligently ask this question. When we have phone access, I would like to also be able to have computer access to internet via the phone for places without wifi.


What are my options. We have phone with Tmobile and they want us to rent a modem monthly, plus monthly data fee (not sure how much we need). That is contrary to some of my reading (or misunderstanding) stuff on the internet. I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet.


I surf the web watching Utube videos and play a couple games that require internet access to play even if one player.


So not tech savey about this stuff. Advise, suggest and don't bash, thanks.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by JBM3M

Heck not even sure how to intelligently ask this question. When we have phone access, I would like to also be able to have computer access to internet via the phone for places without wifi.


What are my options. We have phone with Tmobile and they want us to rent a modem monthly, plus monthly data fee (not sure how much we need). That is contrary to some of my reading (or misunderstanding) stuff on the internet. I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet. So not tech savey about this stuff. Advise, suggest and don't bash, thanks.

I surf the web watching Utube videos and play a couple games that require internet access to play even if one player.

Most "unlimited" plans are similar in nature to "half ton towable" RVs. They cap data after a certain amount and then the speed is limited, very limited. Suggest you switch phones to visible.com where you actually get unlimited hotspot data. Plug your phone in and turn on the hotspot. visible.com

Second suggestion is to get a cell phone booster. I use Hiboost 4G 2.0 RV cell phone booster. There are many others and I am using this one as I received it as a gift. I just got around to installing this weekend and it makes a big difference in the quality of the 4G LTE cell signal and hence better data rates. Do some research as there are others but don't go for the cheapest. I have mine on an extendable pole along with my new WiFi booster (King Swift) and it also works great.

We dumped Dish TV as they were dropping some of our favorite channels and the price got stupid high. We had a Dish TV set up previously but now stream TV with a Roku box. TONS of entertainment; movies and live TV for free. We have both used Consumer Cellular for quite awhile and we both have 30 Gigs of data so that is more than enough for streaming via hotspot for a long weekend. We generally will stream with the campground WiFi if available. Seriously considering Visible.com which has a better price and unlimited data. They are on the Verizon towers so an AT&T/CC phone won't work and the cell booster we have doesn't work on 5G as it is on different frequencies than 4G. Watch which equipment you buy for those reasons.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by JBM3M

Heck not even sure how to intelligently ask this question. When we have phone access, I would like to also be able to have computer access to internet via the phone for places without wifi.


What are my options. We have phone with Tmobile and they want us to rent a modem monthly, plus monthly data fee (not sure how much we need). That is contrary to some of my reading (or misunderstanding) stuff on the internet. I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet.


I surf the web watching Utube videos and play a couple games that require internet access to play even if one player.


So not tech savey about this stuff. Advise, suggest and don't bash, thanks.

First T-Mobile and AT&T use the same frequencies so phones can be used on either with the correct SIM card. We are on Consumer Cellular which is on AT&T towers.

Most "unlimited" plans are similar in nature to "half ton towable" RVs. They cap data after a certain amount and then the speed is limited, very limited. Suggest you switch phones to visible.com where you actually get unlimited hotspot data. Plug your phone in and turn on the hotspot. visible.com

Second suggestion is to get a cell phone booster. I use Hiboost 4G 2.0 RV cell phone booster. There are many others and I am using this one as I received it as a gift. I just got around to installing this weekend and it makes a big difference in the quality of the 4G LTE cell signal and hence better data rates. Do some research as there are others but don't go for the cheapest. I have mine on an extendable pole along with my new WiFi booster (King Swift) and it also works great.

We dumped Dish TV as they were dropping some of our favorite channels and the price got stupid high. We had a Dish TV set up previously but now stream TV with a Roku box. TONS of entertainment; movies and live TV for free. We have both used Consumer Cellular for quite awhile and we both have 30 Gigs of data so that is more than enough for streaming via hotspot for a long weekend. We generally will stream with the campground WiFi if available. Seriously considering Visible.com which has a better price and unlimited data. They are on the Verizon towers so an AT&T/CC phone won't work and the cell booster we have doesn't work on 5G as it is on different frequencies than 4G. Watch which equipment you buy for those reasons.

[NH_Bulldog]

We have 2 phones through AT&T with Unlimited Elite (true unlimited data with no cap and no throttling). Both phones also come with a personal hotspot data allowance of 40GB/month each. We get a plan discount through my business so it is pretty reasonable. My business also provides me with a MiFi hotspot that I can use within reason). I work from the road, our daughter streams on her iPad, and we use the Amazon FireStick. We have never exceeded 40-50GB of data in a given month, so even if the company MiFi goes away, we are not in any danger of running out of data. Coupled with our WeBoost, this solution let’s us be privately and securely connected nearly 100% of the time independent of public WiFi. In the rare instance that we do need public WiFi, our AT&T plan also includes automatic VPN switching if we connect to an unsecured WiFi.

After discussing this issue with my IT guy at work, it is my understanding that the “ideal” solution for wireless data streaming/usage is the MiFi (or hotspot, or jetpack, etc). These units are built for one purpose; data. Phones are multifunction devices and may do okay, but they cannot do any one thing better than a dedicated device. We use the MiFi as our primary and have the option of switching to our phones as needed.

I prefer the hotspot personally because I can leave it on in the camper all the time, which allows me to monitor our thermostat, as well as our webcam to spy on the dogs when we are away. Lastly and most importantly is security, since I control the connection, password, firewall, etc.

[wiredgeorge]

One thing I would like to point out.... there is a CURRENT article in the Do It Yourself RV digital magazine on streaming. It mentions Hulu as an option which we have in the house. Works great for live TV and lots of movies. Problem is, Hulu is installed on your home router you can't travel and pick up WiFi from ANY other source and connect. I think many of the streaming services with live TV are the same way.

https://www.doityourselfrv.com/strea...m_medium=email

[NH_Bulldog]

I am pretty sure nothing is stored on a router. A router is simply a gateway for a wired connection to be distributed to multiple devices either wired or wirelessly in your network.

If you have a “smart tv” at home, the Hulu app (and any others) are on that tv and that’s it, so unless you take your tv you are out of luck.

This is why we have a good ol’ fashioned dumb tv and use the FireStick at home and on the road (just unplug the stick from the home tv and plug it into the camper tv). On the FireStick, we have apps for Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix, Showtime, HBO Max, Tubi, Peacock, IMDB, ESPN+, Discovery+, and a bunch more that I forget at the moment.

[flybouy]

Not sure that it's the tv, I know it's not the router other than the app subscription is associated with the IP address but don’t quote me on that.


To the OPs question, to use your phone as a hot spot you must first go into the phone and enable, or turn on the hotspot feature. Then go to the device you want to connect such as your computer and go to the wifi setup and connect it to the phone's hotspot wifi and log in. Most cell plans limit hot spot data so to circumvent that connect the phone to the computer with a usb cable and instead of choosing hot spot in the phone's settings choose tethering. Of course check your phone and your carrier's policy first.

[Rick]

For video, I bought an Android to HDMI adapter and a long enough HDMI cable. Now I can stream/display everything on my phone to the TV. The adapter also has a connection on it so you can charge the phone while doing this. Works so much better than using the phone as a hotspot. Win-win for me.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Some phone data plans allow hotspot, others do not. Be sure your plan includes Hotspot if that is what you wish to use.

[Badbart56]

We have six phones with AT&T unlimited and bought a modem that we have used for several years for streaming tv, surfing the web, etc. Works great, even on the road in the semi.

That said, living in SW Georgia now, the signal isn't what we would like (still works but not very fast) so I ordered Starlink and just got a notice that it was shipping past week so looking forward to getting that. Heard nothing but good reviews on it!

[jxnbbl]

I have a winegard installed in our trailer. I use this when we are traveling....when it has access to the internet it is great. When the internet isn't available you can use cellular. For the most part we can get away with minimal cellular use and just use their dataplan which imo is expensive but I just turn it on when we leave and off when we come back.


Due to this forum, I learned of Visible (owned by verizon). So this week I took an old phone and activated it for $20/month (will be $25 in 3 months) to just 'try out'. There are two parts to this, if the service/reliability is as good as our verizon service, we will change all of our 5 lines to save money. Additionally I will be using the hotspot capability to just connect when I have to on this one trip. In the future I will be working to get a simcard/service to put into the winegard for the routing capabilities that I want.



I tried the other day, I can not connect the winegard to the hotspot phone, although my laptop is fine.



Jay

[flybouy]

"I tried the other day, I can not connect the winegard to the hotspot phone, although my laptop is fine."

Does your "old phone" have the option to connect via Wi-Fi? On our phones I go to the settings menu then connections and set up the Wi-Fi the same as connecting any other device.

[markcee]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

One thing I would like to point out.... there is a CURRENT article in the Do It Yourself RV digital magazine on streaming. It mentions Hulu as an option which we have in the house. Works great for live TV and lots of movies. Problem is, Hulu is installed on your home router you can't travel and pick up WiFi from ANY other source and connect. I think many of the streaming services with live TV are the same way.

https://www.doityourselfrv.com/strea...m_medium=email

I had Hulu for a year and it works fine with a Firestick connected to my Visible account via cell phone hotspot. For the last year I've used FuboTV in the same manner. The only restriction is that you will not receive your 'home' local channels. Everything else, including any programming set to cloud DVR is available.

[Javi]

Originally Posted by markcee

I had Hulu for a year and it works fine with a Firestick connected to my Visible account via cell phone hotspot. For the last year I've used FuboTV in the same manner. The only restriction is that you will not receive your 'home' local channels. Everything else, including any programming set to cloud DVR is available.

Since I have unlimited data from AT&T on my cell, I just cast HULU to my TV while in the trailer.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by markcee

I had Hulu for a year and it works fine with a Firestick connected to my Visible account via cell phone hotspot. For the last year I've used FuboTV in the same manner. The only restriction is that you will not receive your 'home' local channels. Everything else, including any programming set to cloud DVR is available.

We set up Hulu in our home and once Hulu see our home router, it looks for that when we try to open it NOT using our home router. If I had visible and used it for internet, that would be what Hulu saw during setup and everything would be golden. Hulu and most of the streaming services only allow on "move" per year; that is, changing the router it sets up on. I doubt I would use Visible in my home as we have very good fiber internet (100 mb/sec unlimited) via Bandera Electric Coop.

I have an email in to the support team for Hiboost as the gizmo I am using is supposed to be "5G ready" and compatible with "ANY" cell service... my Consumer Cellular is on AT&T and wonder how it would work on Verizon towers (Visible is on Verizon I think). Verizon and AT&T use different frequencies....

[markcee]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

We set up Hulu in our home and once Hulu see our home router, it looks for that when we try to open it NOT using our home router. If I had visible and used it for internet, that would be what Hulu saw during setup and everything would be golden. Hulu and most of the streaming services only allow on "move" per year; that is, changing the router it sets up on. I doubt I would use Visible in my home as we have very good fiber internet (100 mb/sec unlimited) via Bandera Electric Coop.

I have an email in to the support team for Hiboost as the gizmo I am using is supposed to be "5G ready" and compatible with "ANY" cell service... my Consumer Cellular is on AT&T and wonder how it would work on Verizon towers (Visible is on Verizon I think). Verizon and AT&T use different frequencies....

Perhaps something has changed in the last 8 months or so since I switched from Hulu to FuboTV. I did not/do not connect either service in my home with my cell hotspot. My setup to my home TVs is through my regular ISP connection. The only time I connect via the Visible hotspot is when on the road with the RV.

[dutchmensport]

Watch this video. It's probably one of the best on this subject I've seen.

We purchased a ZTE phone from Visible and picked up a portable router/wifi and have been using it for over a year now. We've run 3 different company computers (work from home) with Skype and Team's meetings, at the same time streaming television on our Roku television.

It's worked VERY, VERY well, truly unlimited, all over in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Yes, we traveled, worked from the camper all last year and Visible was our internet source. (As I am typing this, we are in a North Carolina campground, using Visible). I'm retired now, but my wife is sill working.

It's a one time purchase for the phone (we paid $75 for our from Visible) and a 1 time purchase for the Router ($12.00 off Amazon). Then our Visible (paid month to month, no contract) is $40 because we refuse to share ours with anyone else. If you share, the cost comes down significantly.

In addition, it run 2 different t Roku televisions, and 2 different I pads, and 2 different personal laptops (not the company's). It is truly unlimited, no throttling. It works very, very, very well for us.

Watch the video. He explains everything you need to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrigHuE6igw

[wiredgeorge]

OK, chat with Hulu:

I have Hulu via Roku in my home connected to my WiFi router. Can I use Hulu in my camper when traveling if not using this router but another?
3:03 PM

M
Got this. So with the Live TV, you cannot use hot spot or other mobile type connection. You can still login but only for video on demand and not the Live TV option since the Live TV is designed to be connected with a home internet connection. ��

-----------------
The reason we have Hulu in our home is for the live TV channels. I can look at all the movies for free via streaming channels like TUBI, etc.

[Scttw]

Originally Posted by JBM3M

Heck not even sure how to intelligently ask this question. When we have phone access, I would like to also be able to have computer access to internet via the phone for places without wifi.


What are my options. We have phone with Tmobile and they want us to rent a modem monthly, plus monthly data fee (not sure how much we need). That is contrary to some of my reading (or misunderstanding) stuff on the internet. I thought phone could be a hotspot and if you have password you could long on to the internet.


I surf the web watching Utube videos and play a couple games that require internet access to play even if one player.


So not tech savey about this stuff. Advise, suggest and don't bash, thanks.

Lots of Off-Kilter answers in here, so I'll answer just what you asked ....

I depends a bit on what type of computer you have. Laptops for example all have a wireless adapter built in, but not all CPU's do. Some require you to connect a data cable. Most do actually.

Okay, so if you are using a laptop, you can hotspot your phone (2 seconds to set this up), and then you provide the password to your laptop or any other devises, and they will automatically connect from now on. So basically you only ever have to do this 1 time.

The reason your cell company suggests you to buy a router, is because the Antenna inside it will reach to the closest cell tower better than your cell phone - it's simply bigger. So this is the unit that becomes a hot spot (Basically your wifi) instead of your cell phone. This of course will have a extra monthly fee as well as a data fee. It should bring in better signal than your cell phone. The firestick info above is correct and will tap into this. It's NOT IP based it's User Name / Password based. But you need wifi (which is hotspot).

If you do NOT have a laptop, than this router will have a DATA OUT slot, and now you can bring that into your CPU if it does not have a wireless adapter.

Another idea (And there are topics on here about this), is to get a cell phone booster instead of a router. Then use your cell phone plan, and your cell phone will pull in better strength than without it - similar to the router.

This is what I use - but I am FULL TIME PARKED. The booster takes me from 2 bars to 4 bars and sometimes 5.

Hope this helps.

[markcee]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

OK, chat with Hulu:

I have Hulu via Roku in my home connected to my WiFi router. Can I use Hulu in my camper when traveling if not using this router but another?
3:03 PM

M
Got this. So with the Live TV, you cannot use hot spot or other mobile type connection. You can still login but only for video on demand and not the Live TV option since the Live TV is designed to be connected with a home internet connection. ��

-----------------
The reason we have Hulu in our home is for the live TV channels. I can look at all the movies for free via streaming channels like TUBI, etc.

George...interesting...that also got me to rethink how I connected when I had Hulu. I did not actually use a Firestick-to-hotspot connection with Hulu. My method was a bit more crude as I was simply bringing up Hulu on my laptop, which I then connected to my cheapo Summit TV via HDMI cable. However, the laptop itself was still getting its connection from my iPhone hotspot, so not sure how it worked unless this was a fairly recent change.

FuboTV however does work (as of a few weeks ago, at least) with the Firestick/TV connected directly to my hotspot.