cheap alternative with hotspot??

[you2]

I currently have Verizon with 4GB for 80. I tend to use less than 1Gb so I was thinking of straight talk but learned they are anti hotspot. One nice thing about Verizon is hot spot is free due to pack with fcc. Question does any one less anal than Verizon ( locked boot loader et all) cost less than 80 and include (or allow) hotspot ??

( I tend to use modest minutes and text so don't need unlimited et all -- att 3Gb plan would work if it had included hot spot)

 

[ImDonly1]

Install a hotspot app and you can tether with any provider.

I tether with Straight Talk (att sim) occasionally, but only to browse the web and not download.
It you want to be less stressed worrying about data use when tethering then go with t-mobile directly, or straight talk tmobile SIM (it allows more data use than att SIM).

Then there's the sprint MVNOs, but their speeds are slow.

If you want verizon coverage, you can try pageplus, but their phone selection is limited to non-LTE phones.

Edit:
Also straight talk website took down their att sims. They are only selling t-mobile sims right now. Not sure what's going on with that maybe they will be back soon. You can still buy the att sims from the walmart website or ebay.

Edit 2: I forgot to mention. T-mobile checks the useragent of the browser to see if it is a phone or desktop. If it detects a desktop, pages won't load. This can easily be bypassed by changing the useragent.

 

[corkyg]

My Moto has the Verizon data package w/Hotspot, 6GB for $50/mo. Coverage is very good. 4G when available, 3G when not. So far it has worked everywhere I travel.

 

[pm]

If you don't travel much outside Boston, you could pick up a Freedompop.com "photon" - no contract, the device is free (requires a deposit though), and the first 500MB is free. And then keep what you have.

My sister and mother use Freedompop in San Francisco and seem pretty pleased with it.

 

[ImDonly1]

If you don't travel much outside Boston, you could pick up a Freedompop.com "photon" - no contract, the device is free (requires a deposit though), and the first 500MB is free. And then keep what you have.

My sister and mother use Freedompop in San Francisco and seem pretty pleased with it.

This is an option, but there are many hidden fees. Read the slickdeals wiki about it.
http://slickdeals.net/f/5273826-Fre...e-Internet-500MB-per-month-with-49-99-deposit

Based on user experience, FreedomPop calculates data usage every 15 mins. This data is also rounded up to nearest MB(Link to rounded up confirmation). Even though it only use few kilobytes of data like checking email does every 10 minutes, freedompop data metering rounts up to one full megabyte This translates to a minimum of 4MB per hour for a device that simply checks email or 2880MB per 30 days because freedompop's rounding methodology.

If you use less than 5MB in a month, you will be charged $0.99 to keep the account active.

Some people are being charged a restocking fee of 20% ($10 of the $50 deposit), even if they return the device with all of the packaging. ymmv.

 

[pm]

This is an option, but there are many hidden fees. Read the slickdeals wiki about it.
http://slickdeals.net/f/5273826-Fre...e-Internet-500MB-per-month-with-49-99-deposit

Interesting. My sister said she goes through data a lot faster than she had thought that she would based on her usage on her phone. That might explain the issue she's had.

That said, even with sneaky rounding, she is still spending ~$20/month on her Freedompop vs. the $15/month smartphone data fee and then $45/month DSL line she paid previously. So it's much less than what she used to pay for data on her phone plus her rarely used DSL line, so she's been very pleased. But she was confused how ~75MB per month on her smartphone became ~850MB on Freedompop.

 

[you2]

I travel a bit - infact it is when I travel I want hotspot; not to download but just general web browsing on laptop or tablet. That is why verizon (with hotspot works) - I'm not using a lot of data; and I find (for example at&t 5g plan in excess). Straight talk would work if they said - you can use up to 2gb of data; we don't care how (tether, surf, watching moveis); instead they say if they catch you tethering they will kill your account (and i presume) your phone number.

 

[you2]

That's ill. I use desktop user agent on my phone to get full website.

Install a hotspot app and you can tether with any provider.



Edit 2: I forgot to mention. T-mobile checks the useragent of the browser to see if it is a phone or desktop. If it detects a desktop, pages won't load. This can easily be bypassed by changing the useragent.

 

[you2]

What is mymoto; i tried a google search but hit too many other 'my moto'. Is that $50 include voice/text ?

My Moto has the Verizon data package w/Hotspot, 6GB for $50/mo. Coverage is very good. 4G when available, 3G when not. So far it has worked everywhere I travel.

 

[ImDonly1]

That's ill. I use desktop user agent on my phone to get full website.

Like I said there are ways around it.
If you use the useragent of a googlebot it gives you the desktop version but still let's you tether. Google for exact instructions.

 

[wirednuts]

tmo does 5GB of 4g data for $30 a month right now. just root and use wifi tether. i havent got kicked off yet anyway. and if they complain about me tethering, i am arguing with them in email. im sick of them trying to double charge for the data.