Tethering/Hotspot Connection

[aataddict]

I frequently use tethering/hotspot with my cell phone to connect my laptop to the internet when I'm working away from the office. I've been using this method for about two years. Initially, the connection was very fast, and at times, it seemed even faster than the regular connection in my office. However, lately, it has often slowed down to almost a standstill. Most of the time, it takes a few minutes just to load a webpage. What could be causing this slowdown, and what can I do to make the tethering/hotspot connection faster? My cell phone is Android. I did change my laptop during this period. Could it be because of something related to the new laptop? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Tech Junky]

It could be the carrier slowed things down. Sometimes they'll reduce tether speeds or require a separate data bucket for faster speeds.

My way around it for other reasons was to get a USB sled and a separate modem to unlock 24/7 tether at full speeds.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, I'd guess its most likely the carrier is now throttling you, possibly due to increased prevalence in the area (if you were using a 5G device, as more and more people got 5G phones it started adding congestion, although most likely they're doing it simply because they can and they want to push you to pay up more or move on so that they can add a customer that uses less data).

I think quite a bit of them were allowing pretty unthrottled 5G initially trying to get people to upgrade, but now they are quite aggressive at throttling. They're pulling the same with 5G home internet, where they were allowing true unlimited data, but they're now implementing caps (~1200GB/month).

It is absolutely not a technical limitation (that they began offering unlimited home internet service while claiming they're overcongested should be a tipoff of how BS that claim is), they're doing it just because they can, hoping they can force people to pay up more. The FCC (under Democrats) have been trying to build enough leverage to stop this, but they either get hamstrung by courts (often Republican ones that flip-flop between recognizing internet service as a utility like communication, or a data service, depending on how ISPs are lobbying them to view them), by Republican interference (them refusing to hear nominations for FCC seats for instance, or screaming that any remotely pro-consumer nomination is the devil incarnate - frankly that's only somewhat hyperbolic). If you don't like bringing politics up in it, then take the issue up with those making it that way vs a simple consumer rights vs widely despised greedy corporations.

It could be the carrier slowed things down. Sometimes they'll reduce tether speeds or require a separate data bucket for faster speeds.

My way around it for other reasons was to get a USB sled and a separate modem to unlock 24/7 tether at full speeds.

What service allows that? (Not meant accusatory manner or like "nuh-uh, just wondering.) In the US, Hotspotting is locked pretty hard, and even buying a dedicated Hotspot device/modem does nothing once you use your data allotment which is often quite low (and often costs more than just doing it via your phone anyway). And they're straight screwing people by claiming you get "unlimited 3G" Hotspot after you use your 5G/4G LTE "premium data" allotment, but its often like 128-512kbps which is functionally unusable for the modern internet.

 

[Tech Junky]

What service allows that?

It could be any of the providers. The key is to get a modem and not use a phone or prebuilt hotspot device. There are ways to track devices that are prebuilt based off their MAC or IMEI as provided from the device makers to the providers. They dump a list from the OEM into their systems for "rating" them when they show up on the networks.

When you buy a modem you have the ability to change the IMEI with some quick commands if you need to. Doing this can make it look like a phone instead of a HS. The SIMCOM modem I'm using doesn't appear to make a difference if I leave it in the original IMEI or change it to a phone one when it comes to metering the data as one or the other. I picked up a 2nd modem that's from Fibocom though that doesn't allow changing much of the configured options and it gets metered as HS data and it's quite slow in terms of speeds.

When you get into the modem options though there's 4 different configuration options for how it talks to the networks. For the HMI side there's a different APN used on the networks that classifies the data and enables the device to work which is why you can't simply swap SIM cards on them to get around the speed/cap issues.

Taking the modem and putting a normal subscription phone SIM into it though works as a phone as far as the network provider is concerned and unlocks all of the speed and data.

This is what I'm running....
SIM8380G-M2
USB sled for the modem to sit in and connect to the PC
TMO phone SIM through CircledIn.com (because it's cheap at ~$38/mo and has 40GB of HS data for when I'm in the car)

The USB option might be an issue for those with cheap routers that can't figure out how to use the modem or don't have a USN port to plug one in on. My "PC" is setup as a router using Linux and provides the point of egress for my whole network. This is something I did back in 2015 because I got sick of consumer device with crappy firmware and planned obsolescence forcing replacements on a frequent basis. But, I cam also take the modem/USB and just plug it into my laptop and be online as well and not use data out of the "tether" bucket.