Verizon Smart Phone As A Wi-fi Hot Spot

I need information from anyone (with only a 4G Verizon) smart phone that has a Wi-Fi hot spot in the phone. This phone would be able to work 6 to 10 laptops at the same time on Wi-Fi. I need to know about battery life and drop off problems if phone is worked on 3G system and moves into a 4G system.

If you have one and they are (rare), please send me the type of phone you are using and tell me if you are happy with it or not.

Do (not) need information on other phone companies, phones that work with a cable from phone to laptop, MiFi, or non-smart phones.

 

If you use it as a hot spot, you will incur charges because of it. If you get an app to tether it and use you data plan, browser/Internet, you will not incur the wifi charge and run off your Internet/texting plan.

 

hoefler,

Yes, I know this will happen.

 

I have a Samsung Tablet that is Verizon that I use as a hot spot. I have found it to work well. We did go over our data limit the first time using it as my daughter was watching Youtube video with it. Since then it has worked fine. I have also connected it to the TV on Wifi and watched Neflix at a campground that had wifi. Make sure you set it up so you need a network code to log on otherwise you may have others near by using it.

 

John:

Since you want to support more than five laptops simultaneously, with Verizon you may be forced to use one of the free Wi-Fi hotspot apps. Verizon's $30/mo hotspot feature allows you to connect no more than five devices at a time.

I use FoxFi on my Droid Bionic. I rooted my Droid Eris so I could use the Wireless Tether for Root Users app. EasyTether is another free Wi-Fi hotspot app. All of these allow you to connect as many devices as you want, and you don't incur Verizon's "Mobile Hotspot for 4G LTE Smartphones" $30/mo fee. The $30/mo feature also has data limits IN ADDITION to the limits on the data plan required for your phone.

If you are using a smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, you will want to have it plugged in. A few hours of battery life is the most you can hope for when doing that.

You might want to post your query on the InternetBySmartphone forum on Yahoo: InternetBySmartphone. (I am the owner of that forum.)

 

Thank Denali. I will be in touch soon.

 

John Blue - I have a Motorola Razr Droid 4G. I tether it to my laptop so I do not have to pay the 30 per month fee. I also like the fact that when tethered the phone is charging.

I really like the Motorola Razr. I had the first generation Motorola Droid 3 G before this phone and tethered that to my laptop also.

I believe the other posters are correct in that if you use the Verizon hot spot ap you can only operate up to 5 devices.

 

Bob,

Thanks for the information. If you have a Verizon 4G MiFi you can run 10 Wi-Fi systems at the same time. Our problem is if we do tether then we can only run one laptop at the time. We use two Apples and would like to work two at the same time plus a Wi-Fi printer. It would cost less money to tether. We use a 3G MiFi now and it works great. I would like to have higher speed but poor reviews on 4G MiFi have put that on hold. We have looked at all Droid phones and see good and poor reports with Wi-Fi in use. In time Verizon may get the hardware or software problems fixed. We do not like to log off every 10 to 20 mins to reset system or problems if you are close to 3G/4G tower. System cannot lock on to one system or the other.

 

I just bought a Droid Spectrum 4 G and am grandfathered in on unlimited data. When I bought my photo, the salesman told me that I could not tether as I did with my old Droid. He said it was now blocked. I have Easy Tether and might try to put it on my new phone. I am able to use the phone for surfing and may not need to. It is amazing what these smart phones will do. I have no need to turn it into a mobile hot spot.