Best cheap phone for Verizon Unlimited LTE tethering

[bearxor]

Hey there Verizon peeps!

My mom has an old Samsung Android phone that's on it's last legs and I want to replace it.

She's on unlimited data so I'm looking for something newer that does LTE for cheap. Like under $200.

The other part of this is that she lives in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. She gets no internet service there other than cellular or satellite. She's using satellite right now. Those of you that have used that know you're limited pretty limited in what you can do.

I want to change that by getting her a phone that works great at tethering LTE, which she is in range of for Verizon.

My first instinct is to go for a Galaxy Nexus, since it can be rooted easily and the built-in tethering application should work fine without Verizon's ok. But, since Verizon can't block tethering applications anyway, I'm not limited to that device. The Verizon GNex isn't exactly the greatest phone so I'm wondering if anyone else out there has any other opinions for a device that would work really well for tethering.

I'll likely buy a router for home that is set up as a repeater. When she turns the tethering app on, the router would connect and then it would feed the rest of the devices, wired or wireless, in the home.

Thinking right now about a Droid RAZR M, HTC Thunderbolt, Galaxy Nexus, Rezound, RAZR HD.

Thanks!

 

[openwheel]

Motorola RAZR M. Great battery life especially while tethering. Its what I am using and I don't have any desire to even upgrade at the moment. Such a great little unknown gem

Your other choices are battery nightmares. RAZR HD is good but performance will suffer due to higher resolution. The RAZR M is silky smooth even though it has 2012 hardware.

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, that's about what I can get in my price range. I wasn't considering battery because she'll have it plugged in when she's at home using it as internet and her job is a mail courier so she always has it plugged in there anyways.

 

[s44]

Ah crap, I should have responded to your PM.

I'd just make sure it can do 5ghz wifi so you can repeat on an entirely different frequency range (2.4ghz).

 

[notposting]

I'm assuming she doesn't want to pay for the tethering?

 

[bearxor]

Ah crap, I should have responded to your PM.

I'd just make sure it can do 5ghz wifi so you can repeat on an entirely different frequency range (2.4ghz).

That's a good thought but I don't know if I'm very concerned. There's no other homes with a quarter mile of her house and the bandwidth used by the LTE connection will be very small so I can use a very small piece of spectrum for it. The main issue will be the router sending/receiving over one radio but even that would be significantly improved over the satellite connection.

I'm assuming she doesn't want to pay for the tethering?

Correct and, with Verizon's LTE C-Block, she doesn't have to.

 

[notposting]

That's a good thought but I don't know if I'm very concerned. There's no other homes with a quarter mile of her house and the bandwidth used by the LTE connection will be very small so I can use a very small piece of spectrum for it. The main issue will be the router sending/receiving over one radio but even that would be significantly improved over the satellite connection.


Correct and, with Verizon's LTE C-Block, she doesn't have to.

For some reason with unlimited plans though, they don't offer official "free tethering". Not sure what the deal is with that.

<--WP8, no real WiFi tethering apps. Built in works fine but only if your plan includes it (ie, added on or a Share Everything one).

 

[bearxor]

Correct, they don't officially offer it.

They just can't block it.

 

[Binky]

A rooted Galaxy Nexus should work. This is still a good phone and it is easily rooted and ROM'd. Its only real problem is a very poor battery life. Get one used, slap any ROM you want on it, and use the included wifi tethering.

It looks like these are going for ~$100 on ebay.

 

[Red Storm]

A rooted Galaxy Nexus should work. This is still a good phone and it is easily rooted and ROM'd. Its only real problem is a very poor battery life. Get one used, slap any ROM you want on it, and use the included wifi tethering.

It looks like these are going for ~$100 on ebay.

In my experience the Galaxy Nexus lost signal pretty regularly. I would look at Moto phones, they have always had the best reception in my experience.

 

[golem]

Correct, they don't officially offer it.

They just can't block it.

Are you sure about that? I thought they couldn't block devices capable of using using their LTE on onto their network. I don't think this prohibits them from blocking tethering.

Read further on it and apparently they can't block tethering on plans that aren't unlimited. It's murkier for unlimited plans, but they would have to know you're tethering in the first place.

 

[Lifted]

Are you sure about that? I thought they couldn't block devices capable of using using their LTE on onto their network. I don't think this prohibits them from blocking tethering.

Read further on it and apparently they can't block tethering on plans that aren't unlimited. It's murkier for unlimited plans, but they would have to know you're tethering in the first place.

This is my understanding. We have unlimited data on our lines and I'm pretty sure VZW has the blessing of the FCC to charge a bit for tethering with unlimited data plans. $20 for unlimited data and $20 more to tether. Being a business account (is your mom on business or personal) I would never try to get around the tethering fee. Only a small percentage of staff have it anyway.

 

[notposting]

From what I can tell, Verizon certainly thinks the TOS on unlimited plans says they get to charge you for tethering. Now, the FCC ruling really doesn't cover that I expect, so I think it is more of an effort on their part to get mo' money.

The real question is whether they can do anything about it if you, for example, tether away like crazy on an unlimited plan with a 4G phone. I think legally the user might be in the right (FCC conditions superseding faulty TOS) but in the meantime you would probably get your account shut down.

I think for any sort of reasonable amounts you would be fine (hell, I tethered for free on my 3G WP7 Trophy with VZW) and with Android it is super easy (I assume iOS as well?).

We had a couple days while moving last month without Comcast and I just turned on unlimited tethering for a couple bucks (prorated and discounted) on my Lumia. Was super easy, surprisingly.

 

[Chocu1a]

Galaxy S3, or Motorola Razr M.

 

[Binky]

I'm sure that granny checking her email and playing online solitaire will not raise any red (tethering) flags.

I'm still voting for the Gnex, based solely on price and ease of rooting.

 

[jjsbasmt]

FWIW I tether my Razr M from time to time and it works rather well. I generally pull about 15 - 20 Mega Bits down and 5 on the upside. I live in the country and my Verizon 4g LTE is very good since I live near a major US highway.

 

[Thegonagle]

Do yourself a favor and avoid the GNex. Mine overheated easily if charging and hotspotting. When it overheated, it would stop charging and the battery would actually drain. Also, the stock tethering app on my Verizon Gnex connected in Ad Hoc mode. I don't know whether that would pose a problem if you use a separate repeater/AP, but I also prefer not to deal with the extra hardware if I don't have to.

Also, the Thunderbolt is old, slow, and outdated. Don't buy one. In fact, if someone offers you one for free, don't take it.

Razr M is probably your best bet out of that bunch.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Do yourself a favor and avoid the GNex. Mine overheated easily if charging and hotspotting. When it overheated, it would stop charging and the battery would actually drain. Also, the stock tethering app on my Verizon Gnex connected in Ad Hoc mode. I don't know whether that would pose a problem if you use a separate repeater/AP, but I also prefer not to deal with the extra hardware if I don't have to.

Also, the Thunderbolt is old, slow, and outdated. Don't buy one. In fact, if someone offers you one for free, don't take it.

Razr M is probably your best bet out of that bunch.

That has never happened to my Nexus, even when I'm running the internet at full speed (torrents)