4G AT&T Hotspot is often very, very slow

[Erik]

THANKS to everyone for the great advice, with an extra shout-out to PorpoiseHork, who confirmed my suspicions about throttling with his AT&T head-to-head test.

And now I'm humbly requesting some more advice for a new in-car WiFi hotspot. Anybody using one?

Background:

My Ranger hotspot is expiring in a few days, and I clearly don't want to pay $200 to renew its unreliable AT&T service.

I use Google Fi for my cell service. It's cheap... but data cost builds up at $10/GB. (It's reliable too, as it uses both new T-Mobile GSM and old Sprint CDMA signals.) The Ranger AT&T hotspot would save me the cost of about 3GB of data annually, so the $200 annual fee for it would be well worth it if it was reliable.

So now I want to add an always-on hotspot to my Ranger. I'm looking to add one that uses the Verizon network, as this would consequently offer me coverage in T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon coverage areas.

Any recommendations for a hotspot and a pre-paid Verizon or Verizon MVNO (reseller) service that would get me:
- At least 4G speeds
- At least 3GB included per month
- Not more than $25/mo
- Prefer hotspot with its own battery to continue powering it after Ranger cuts off the USB power to it

Also... and yeah, I realize, I'm starting to ask a lot...

Anybody have luck with using an older Android phone or iPhone as an always-on hotspot?

Thanks again for your recommendations!
-Erik

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[Erik]

I get faster speeds on 1 bar of iPhone 5G than I do with 4 bars 4G on the trucks hotspot, I will not be renewing. My 4G Verizon hotspot in the RV is much faster, just limited to 20GB before they 'can' throttle.

Hi Jesse,

Would you mind sharing what hotspot you use, the approximate range of it when you're outside of your RV, and the approx cost of the service?

Verizon (or carrier using Verizon) is the direction I want to go with my new Ranger hotspot...

Thanks, Erik

 

[JesseS]

Hi Jesse,

Would you mind sharing what hotspot you use, the approximate range of it when you're outside of your RV, and the approx cost of the service?

Verizon (or carrier using Verizon) is the direction I want to go with my new Ranger hotspot...

Thanks, Erik

I use a Netgear AC791 in the RV, on medium power it will reach about 50' around the RV, I have a wi-fi repeater that will increase this to 1/4 mile or so. Yagi antenna on a 30' pole gives me long range to the cell tower. It will handle 10 devices but is only 4G, so for 5G I will have to find a new one, but no hurry. Verizon only adds $10 to my bill for it, and I have unlimited service (right!)

 

[Erik]

Hey everyone: I'm canceling the AT&T service -- actually making sure that when it expires, I won't be charged for another year.

To do so, website is https://myvehicle.att.com -- you'll need to login to get the phone number assigned to your truck.

Then call (866) 595-0191, make it clear that you're not interested in any more AT&T services, and that you are not to be billed or charged for additional services. (Cell companies in general and AT&T in particular is great at autobilling into eternity if you don't explicitly tell them not to)

I received a follow-up email confirming the cancellation.

Now off to explore hotspots!

 

[Erik]

I use a Netgear AC791 in the RV

Thanks, Jesse -- one other question: did you get the hotspot from Verizon directly? They are for sale on Amazon but might be GSM-only when bought there (i.e., unable to use Verizon's legacy CDMA network, while it still lasts...)

 

[Cabose-1]

Well, the car hotspot thing is cool and all, but i have hot spot on my phone, so no need to pay for a seperate service.

Especially for something we just haven't used. Our phones are like mini computers so thats all we use

 

[JesseS]

Thanks, Jesse -- one other question: did you get the hotspot from Verizon directly? They are for sale on Amazon but might be GSM-only when bought there (i.e., unable to use Verizon's legacy CDMA network, while it still lasts...)

Mine came from Verizon, but my friend bought one from Amazon and got the SIM from Verizon and it works fine. CDMA isn't long for this world, they are already phasing it out. I am thinking of getting either a 5G router or a 4G/LTE one for the RV, we park out so far that 5G is not going to work well because of its short range, even sub-6 5G has less range than 4G LTE. This supplier sells a lot of units to the Full-Time RV'ers.
https://mofinetwork.com/product-category/routers/

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