[Poll] LTE Tablet vs Tether off phone?

#37

Iā€™m with Cricket. Tethering is an extra $10 a month, but their Unlimited 2 plan is 4 lines for $100. I split it with some friends ($25 each), so even though tethering costs more, it is still much cheaper than I was paying for AT&T. And my service still worked great despite the large crowd at the Steelers game I went to this weekend.

#38

I would say it really depends on the situation.

I have Project Fi and can get a Data-Only SIM for no additional cost that ties into my plan. Data is the same cost as it is for my phone, so it wouldnā€™t make a difference if I tether or used the LTE tablet.

An LTE tablet also makes sense if you donā€™t want to use up the battery on your phone (Tethering destroys battery life). It can also be a better connection as it skips the (WiFi) middleman.

#39

Tethering (mobile hotspot) used to be viable on Verizonā€¦but that was when I had a fixed data plan (6GB shared). Once I moved to the ā€œnew unlimitedā€ plan, data is indeed unlimited BUT as far as tethering speed is concerned, itā€™s speed capped at a dismal 600kbps on any device that is tethered to the phone (at least on the lower-level plans):

ā€œAnd while Mobile Hotspot is unlimited, tethering speeds are capped at a maximum of 600kbps from the very first kilobyte of usage. The original Verizon Unlimited plan allows tethering at 4G LTE speeds for the first 10GB of data, with speeds reduced to 3G afterwards.ā€

I donā€™t know if other carriers are doing the same as Iā€™ve only been with Verizon (for 15 years or so).

That being said, my first iPad was a cellular model (iPad 3) but I never activated the service and always used it only on Wi-Fi. All other iPads I purchased from then on (iPad 4, iPad mini (1st gen), iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4) were Wi-Fi only.

#40

For years, there were only 2 ways to tether data, ā€¦

1, have a three contract (UK)
2, some business tariffs allowed and rarely some UK networks did a family tariff that allowed tethering,

Generally, apart from those 2 exceptions, tethering wasnā€™t really done in the UKā€¦ Mind back in the day, you had dial up, you could use your tariff minutes to access internet by using your mobile as the modem.

Now, slowly but surely with networks allowing/selling larger data deals, they allow tethering.

Until THIS contract, I wouldnā€™t have considered tethering, as I only just had enough data for myself. Now I have 20gb monthly, I will tether with the Mrs when out if there is no WiFi nearby as she is on monthly tariff and doesnā€™t get a lot of data. To be fair, the vast majority of wifi-ing, is at home, on the home internet/WiFi deal.

#41

cough

unlocked bootloader, root, iptables, shell script

cough

#42

Can I get you a throat lozenge, Nigel? :wink:

2 Likes
#43

I got a deal on a Samsung Tab S a few years ago when my wife an I got our Samsung S6 edges. The tablet had its own number and was part of our data planā€¦ I think we actually used LTE on it less than 5 times within the past 3 years. I primarily used it on WiFi or downloaded games and videos on to it to use on plane rides. We had to pay $10 a month for the extra ā€œlineā€ on our account that I was not allowed to cancel for 2 years. I actually forgot about it and literally just cancelled the extra line on it a week ago cause we never used it on LTE.

#44

I closed the poll. Interesting discussion, thanks.

The results in the end tally roughly with my anecdotal experience, I see a small number who have an LTE tablet, some who dont have tablet but majority who go with Wifi and tether off the phone.

1 Like
#45

So you paid $240 for data. Thatā€™s a typical tablet cost. So doubled the cost.

LTE hardware is not much $, so I could easily have an LTE tablet, it is the network costs which are prohibitive. The puzzle is why the carrier charges so much. If I had a SIM and LTE tablet, Iā€™d be largely moving demand from my phone to my tablet, so the total usage is the same, so the load on the carrier in the network is the same, so logically the carrier should make tablet SIMs and lines nearly free. But they do the exact opposite. Weird. Why?

#46

Depends if your allowed to tether from your mobile plan.

#47

I could never lock into 2 Gb, always haggle for best plan I can get. Currently have a 20GB a month plan for 2 people and am mulling the switch to unlimited.

#48

Wow! Very cool dude!

#49

i find that these LTE tablets are very useful but donā€™t see why you canā€™t just pair it off your phone

#50
#51

Some cellular data plans donā€™t allow tethering to other devicesā€¦unless you pay an additional charge for this ā€œfeatureā€.

In my case (as I mentioned above), Verizon throttles the data down to 600kbps when tethering on their basic ā€œUnlimitedā€ plan unless you opt (pay more of course) for a different plan. 600kbps is OK for web surfing/Googling/etc but trying to download something is an exercise in frustration.

#52

Just think, we use to download with dialup. Oh how Iā€™m glad times have changed, no more waiting a day to download 1 song:joy:

#53

I remember back in the day of dial-up.

Orange have free phone numbers for free! So me n my 5110 Nokia, would run AOL on my desktop, with my handset as my modem n dial-up.

It went ok, so long as a good signal.

Remember when laptops were for weightlifters? I had mobile internet. Hahaha a four seater table in maccies and just me n my laptop (you didnā€™t dare rest it.on your lap tho) n Nokia 5110

1 Like
#54

That is one of the reasons I do not got for unlimited. When you buy limited you buy a certain GBytes and so expect it. When you buy unlimited youā€™re in effect buying nothing. And you pay more. I am visiting UK shortly and I checked with a local PAYG provider, unlimited does throttle tethering, limited does not.

I had that weird conversation with T-Mobile and could not see a conclusion beneficial to unlimited. I just buy devices like tablets with SD card and put 128GB in and have oooooooodles of videos so never need to go above my data limit.

1 Like
#55

I was there too.

I also remember before VPNs were invented and you had to ring your corporateā€™s dial-up modem national non-local number rather than your local ISPā€™s number. I was part of the initial Demon Internet tenner/month launch and had a local call number (thinks: Manchester?). But I still paid like 130 quid / month in about 1995-ish.

The 2018 equivalent is say Giffgaff, free calls to free number.

Now this sounds all expensive and antiquanted but what what this did was:

  • get me exposed to the Internet before 99% were aware of the Internet. It was actually back then called usually Usenet, or DARPANet due to the protocols.
  • got me skilled up in now commodity but then scarce skills
  • tripled my pay

Think for example the early 1990ā€™s access to technology. The journalist would hear of something, write it up, it would become printed and shipped and youā€™d go into say WH Smith and buy a computer magazine, and usually youā€™re talking 1 month delay. Imagine the 2018 version of immediate information, live streaming.

So that expensive phone line gave me a return. But I didnā€™t know that at the time. The lesson learned was to not see costs but see opportunities.

Iā€™ve yet to know the future as I have not invented it yet.

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#56

Arrrrr Dial Up Internet. They were the days. I was a lot later to the party but me and the Mrs used to be online for hours playing Party Poker lol before you could get apps for everything and your mobile was just for ringing and texting.

Every night 10pm the free roll would start and by 12 I was knackered and needed kip but if you were down to the last few You obviously had to try and win :grin:

I got 2nd a few times out of 2000 or so but never won. Loved it though. Gotta love the Internet