Verizon hotspot for home internet

[besserheimerphat]

Anybody do this, and if so how is it? We're thinking about buying a home out in the sticks where our only options for internet are satellite or hotspot. There is a cell tower with line-of-sight across the valley so 4G reception is great. My wife uses the internet to work from home, but only for downloading and uploading documents - no streaming. We will do some streaming from time to time, but we can get a dish/DVR to watch most shows.

 

[bstegs]

My parents do this in northeastern Iowa. Verizon is the only way for them to get decent internet. Last I checked they were getting speeds higher than 25 Mbps and maybe even upwards of 60.

The main problem with cellular internet is going to be the data cap. I am not sure what packages are available, but if it doesn't cost too much over you regular data plan to go big, then do it.

For myself, when I had psvue as my main source of cable, I was using up to 600 GB a month from streaming, web browsing, and remoting in for work.

Also, if you game online, I would expect cellular to have lower latency than satellite.

One more thing to keep an eye on in the next two years will be the rollout of 5g wireless, which promises to bring even better speeds.

 

[besserheimerphat]

We were in Seattle last week and I had some 5G. It. Was. Amazeballs.

 

[aeroclone]

We were in Seattle last week and I had some 5G. It. Was. Amazeballs.

How did you manage that? I didn't think anyone had commercially launched a 5G network, nor have any 5G capable phones come out quite yet. Unless you were getting the 5Ge that ATT is marketing, which is actually LTE advanced and not true 5G standard.

 

[intrepid27]

my wife has a Verizon Hotspot and we take it with us whenever we travel. Usually does pretty good and I stream on it with few issues. But I'd make sure your specific location works well before committing. I have been in a few spots where it is pretty poor but those are remote such as NC Wisconsin.

 

[Sparkplug]

Originally had Hughesnet. As soon as the contract ended it went out the door. I now use Verizon hotspot. After 15g speed can be decreased. If I run short for the month, I’ll use my phone or iPad as hotspot
Basically juggle it around.

Much better than Hughesnet but my only option

 

[nfrine]

Anybody do this, and if so how is it? We're thinking about buying a home out in the sticks where our only options for internet are satellite or hotspot. There is a cell tower with line-of-sight across the valley so 4G reception is great. My wife uses the internet to work from home, but only for downloading and uploading documents - no streaming. We will do some streaming from time to time, but we can get a dish/DVR to watch most shows.

Data cap/data costs are the big issue(s). If you can see a cell tower, are you really out in the sticks?

 

[jcyclonee]

Why are you going on the lam this time?

 

[cycloneML]

i use it instead of my home wifi

 

[CYdTracked]

A hot spot is my parent's only option where they are at too. After years of dealing with dial up I finally talked them into getting one several years ago. Can't remember what their speed tested out but it wasn't terrible and definitely a huge improvement over the dial up they had. Just have to be careful about the data caps and make sure you get on a plan with enough data to cover your needs. Something most of us take for granted like watching YouTube videos can really add up quickly if you don't do it in moderation. I basically have them bring their PC and laptop into my house every time there is a huge Windows update to be run so they don't eat up a bunch of data.

Thought we were going to get them off the hot spot finally as their phone provider Windstream told them they could get DSL out there. But when the tech showed up to install he immediately told them there was no way it was going to work because they were too far out from where the DSL would reach and didn't know why they even allowed the order to be placed so that sucked to have them go through that only to have the rug pulled out from under them.

 

[IcSyU]

One more thing to keep an eye on in the next two years will be the rollout of 5g wireless, which promises to bring even better speeds.

5G may hit your larger cities but in "the sticks" I wouldn't plan on it anytime soon.

 

[discydisc]

A hot spot is my parent's only option where they are at too. After years of dealing with dial up I finally talked them into getting one several years ago. Can't remember what their speed tested out but it wasn't terrible and definitely a huge improvement over the dial up they had. Just have to be careful about the data caps and make sure you get on a plan with enough data to cover your needs. Something most of us take for granted like watching YouTube videos can really add up quickly if you don't do it in moderation. I basically have them bring their PC and laptop into my house every time there is a huge Windows update to be run so they don't eat up a bunch of data.

Thought we were going to get them off the hot spot finally as their phone provider Windstream told them they could get DSL out there. But when the tech showed up to install he immediately told them there was no way it was going to work because they were too far out from where the DSL would reach and didn't know why they even allowed the order to be placed so that sucked to have them go through that only to have the rug pulled out from under them.

Similar issue with where I live, am also looking at moving to a cellular hotspot for my home wifi as my phone is always faster to stream then when connected to the house wifi via Windstream DSL. Pretty much limited to one device using the Windstream internet at a time.

 

[BCClone]

I like hotspots.

 

[clonebb]

I use my girlfriend’s V spot daily. Works great and I can use it as often as I want.

 

[besserheimerphat]

How did you manage that? I didn't think anyone had commercially launched a 5G network, nor have any 5G capable phones come out quite yet. Unless you were getting the 5Ge that ATT is marketing, which is actually LTE advanced and not true 5G standard.

Yes, it was 5Ge (ATT and Samsung S9+). Still, much faster than 4GLTE.

 

[Rabbuk]

Don't they eventually throttle your data connection

 

[besserheimerphat]

A hot spot is my parent's only option where they are at too. After years of dealing with dial up I finally talked them into getting one several years ago. Can't remember what their speed tested out but it wasn't terrible and definitely a huge improvement over the dial up they had. Just have to be careful about the data caps and make sure you get on a plan with enough data to cover your needs. Something most of us take for granted like watching YouTube videos can really add up quickly if you don't do it in moderation. I basically have them bring their PC and laptop into my house every time there is a huge Windows update to be run so they don't eat up a bunch of data.

Thought we were going to get them off the hot spot finally as their phone provider Windstream told them they could get DSL out there. But when the tech showed up to install he immediately told them there was no way it was going to work because they were too far out from where the DSL would reach and didn't know why they even allowed the order to be placed so that sucked to have them go through that only to have the rug pulled out from under them.

DSL maybe an option there, but we don't know if that will meet her employer's "high speed internet" requirements (she grades papers for Western Governors U, get your mind out of the gutter). 95% of what she does is download an Office document and upload the graded document. Don't know why "high speed" is required, but whatever.

The kids are what I'm worried about - they use data over our wifi like crazy. YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon Prime... my modem says we used 695GB in January. Avg over 600GB/month from Nov through today.

 

[CYdTracked]

DSL maybe an option there, but we don't know if that will meet her employer's "high speed internet" requirements (she grades papers for Western Governors U, get your mind out of the gutter). 95% of what she does is download an Office document and upload the graded document. Don't know why "high speed" is required, but whatever.

The kids are what I'm worried about - they use data over our wifi like crazy. YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon Prime... my modem says we used 695GB in January. Avg over 600GB/month from Nov through today.

DSL is still a high speed option and depending on the provider many probably don't have a data cap or as restrictive of a data cap as Verizon would have. Who would be the DSL provider there and what kind of speeds do they have available? Your speeds over a hot spot through Verizon are really going to vary based off the signal strength and could be less than what you could get over DSL actually. Just did a speed test on the Verizon Hot Spot I have at my desk in West Des Moines and it tested at about 13-14 MB download and upload was actually higher surprisingly at about 17 MB. Guessing it would not be nearly as good out in the sticks though. I've got 20 MB DSL through Centurylink at home and it usually tests out slightly higher than that for download but upload speed is much less. Still though my wife works from home over a VPN connection once in awhile which usually bottlenecks the connection speed more and she saves fairly large Excel files and runs reports over it and doesn't have any issues. It's obviously slower than if she was working in the office but it doesn't impede her productivity much when she does work from home.

 

[Sparkplug]

The kids are what I'm worried about - they use data over our wifi like crazy. YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon Prime... my modem says we used 695GB in January. Avg over 600GB/month from Nov through today.

WOW

 

[MrApathy]

I am in the sticks and use 15gb a month through us cellular. recently switched from at&t which for some reason went through data much faster and was more expensive. wish someone offered a hotspot device with mega data package but its the expensive way to do internet but in the sticks its that or satelite or dsl if thats even a option.