Wireless Hotspot with AT&T

[mmoy]

I got rid of my MiFi recently and turned on tethering/hotspot this morning because I need to use my laptop remotely. I just went from the 3 GB plan to the 5 GB plan. I talked to AT&T yesterday and they said that they prorate you on the monthly charge.

I only need to use the Hotspot feature one or two days per month so I was wondering if it was worthwhile to get it for a day and then switch back later in the day. It would basically cost me about $1 per day or a little less given that it's $20 to go from 3 GB to 5 GB. Has anyone tried this and does it work?

The other question I have is how long you can use it as a wireless hotspot? I understand that that can vary with how strong your signal is but I was curious as to what people get as a ballpark figure. In general, I just need it for half an hour so I think that I'll be fine. I'll report my findings later today. Basically it's one of those take your kid to an appointment thing and work while they're at the appointment - and public WiFi isn't available or isn't reliable enough for work.

 

[Skull One]

If you are on the AT&T Family Data Share Plan, then you don't need to do anything since the personal hotspot feature of your phone is included. If you are on a single phone data plan, I wouldn't attempt what you laid out. If memory serves, the AT&T small print says they can charge you for one month ahead of a change in service plan. Which means if you try to turn it on and off like that, they could do some serious damage to your next month bill. I would call them and find out what is your best option.

 

[mmoy]

I'm on the individual plan hooked up with an employer discount.

I called them up yesterday and they said that they prorate the bill. Basically you pay for the portion in the plan for the days that you are on the plan. I suppose that the person that I talked to could be wrong. I guess that I can just leave it in there to see what I get charged for the next month. I just needed it today for 20 minutes, will need it in two weeks for 20 minutes and the following two weeks for 20 minutes. I don't think that I'll need it after that unless I take a trip.

What I found:

I was in a 4G (not LTE) area and I used it in Wireless Hotspot mode for 20 minutes and used 7% of my battery life. That works out to something like 4 1/2 hours of use. The iPhone got warm (I found this out when someone called me and I took it out of my pocket), but performance doing other things was fine.

Battery life is supposedly better with LTE than non-LTE so performance in Boston (I go there from time to time) but I can find WiFi in Boston pretty easily.

Battery life might have been quite a bit better if I tethered instead of using a hotspot. I did have a cable with me and I was connected to my MacBook Pro. I will have to try that option out next time.

This is quite a nice feature to have if you need to work remotely from time to time.