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Mobile hotspot
- Thread starter ng4ever
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auntjemima
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You mean like an LTE modem your carrier has for internet when not at home? Or do you mean someone turning their mobile hotspot on?
The first, I find their modems are shit, for the most part. I find speeds are slower than your cell. I would think the cost is wasted. You would be better off with a better cell plan.
The second, the speed will depend on their device plans options and phone capabilities.
I mean an LTE modem your carrier has for internet when not at home.
auntjemima
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In me experience, I find their signal is trash. Even though it's supposed to use LTE like you phone, but I don't find it has the same quality. I also find it expensive. I mean, I pay $65 a month for 30gb or data on my cell.. I can't see a carrier LTE modem matching that.
That said, I haven't tried one in nearly a decade.
Wow a decade is a long time in tech world.
Thanks though!
Your most likely right.
Plus the most disadvantage is having to carry around something else which is really annoying.
auntjemima
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If you don't hotspot often, you'll notice the battery life changing. I hotspot a few times a week and it's noticeable.
Are you talking about battery percent of how much the battery is charged or battery health itself ?
Or both ?
auntjemima
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Battery percentage. I've never monitored battery health. I charge to full every day. Use to dead most days. I've neve had a phone battery not last me as long as I expect it to. My pixel 2 xl is 5 years old and the battery is original and it lasts all day.
I wouldn't worry so much about it.
Ok thanks.
Makes sense.
I am not so worried about battery percentage more battery health. Was just told tethering a lot can degrade your battery health some. Though not really that big of deal. Can always get a new phone battery.
auntjemima
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Tethering uses the battery exactly the same way. The way to extend battery life is to not use it to 0% and to not charge over 80%. So they say.
Tethering doesn't use the battery differently.
Ok.
From my (albeit limited) experience, you might as well charge by astral fields and moon phases, it turned out the same. In the end, it was just best to use/charge however is more convenient and forget about trying to cuddle the battery.
Today's batteries are much better at tolerating no-linear charge cycles (0-100, 100-0, etc), but it still doesn't hurt once in a while to let it drain down almost all the way and then charge it up nearly all the way while off on a low ampage charger that doesn't generate as much heat. I know heat is one of the worst enemies for today's batteries.
Take this what its worth. I’ve been using a NetGear MR1100 for a couple of years. I was using it as a third line with 2 DSL lines. Currently I am using it as back up to Star Link.
We have no signal to 1 bar intermittent inside the house. No LTE signal, and no WiFi signal, the phone will continuously look for a LTE signal, that will use tremendous amount of battery. No LTE signal and presence of a WiFi signal (for example the mobile LTE hotspot WiFi), the battery on the phone can last for days.
So on long trips, I take the mobile hotspot and plug it into the car and everyone in the car uses that signal. Yes, of course, we could plug in the phones in the car. This is just an alternative.
Now this is where it gets interesting. If you are able to mount a directional MIMO antenna outside and high up, that will massively increase your signal the modem sees.
I do have a MIMO antenna in my truck as well. Its like $20 shipped and the modem gets a signal when we are driving, even when all the phones show ZERO.
The phone has no way to attach an antenna, much less a directional antenna. Most phones do have MIMO antennas built in (tiny in comparison).
To be clear, I don‘t think the modem is the key, but rather the ability to hook up an external MIMO antenna which makes the package more robust.
My opinion is that the modem has the provision of an external antenna which makes all the difference.
Modem inside with out any antenna, 1 to no bars. With the MIMO antenna, I was able to pull down 75-100. I agree that speed doesn’t necessarily indicate signal quality or take into account throttling. However y’all will agree, without ANY signal, my download speed was ZERO.
We have no signal to 1 bar intermittent inside the house. No LTE signal, and no WiFi signal, the phone will continuously look for a LTE signal, that will use tremendous amount of battery. No LTE signal and presence of a WiFi signal (for example the mobile LTE hotspot WiFi), the battery on the phone can last for days.
So on long trips, I take the mobile hotspot and plug it into the car and everyone in the car uses that signal. Yes, of course, we could plug in the phones in the car. This is just an alternative.
Now this is where it gets interesting. If you are able to mount a directional MIMO antenna outside and high up, that will massively increase your signal the modem sees.
I do have a MIMO antenna in my truck as well. Its like $20 shipped and the modem gets a signal when we are driving, even when all the phones show ZERO.
The phone has no way to attach an antenna, much less a directional antenna. Most phones do have MIMO antennas built in (tiny in comparison).
To be clear, I don‘t think the modem is the key, but rather the ability to hook up an external MIMO antenna which makes the package more robust.
My opinion is that the modem has the provision of an external antenna which makes all the difference.
Modem inside with out any antenna, 1 to no bars. With the MIMO antenna, I was able to pull down 75-100. I agree that speed doesn’t necessarily indicate signal quality or take into account throttling. However y’all will agree, without ANY signal, my download speed was ZERO.
Awesome info--thank you for sharing!