[Electronics-talk] Mobile hot spot question

[George]

Hi Linda,

I'll answer to your questions and give you my advice based on my latest 
experience.

> I want to make sure I have the proper understanding of what a mobile hot 
> spot is before I give up my landline and internet service.
It's just a wi-fi connection via your smart device or your iPhone.  Your 
iPhone will act as a Wi-fi transmitter and will give access to the internet 
via your iPhone internet connection if you allow it.
It's a wi-fi connection using your iPhone.
There are much better ways to use wi-fi, by buying a small device that you 
can connect to the modem of your internet cable; you will have many more 
ports and no more charges than the price of the device, probably $30 or $40.

> I heard that a smartphone can somehow be connected to my iPad so that I 
> will still be able to use it or my laptop.

Yes, but you will need to have internet connection on your smart phone and 
your laptop needs to have wi-fi connectivity. You might have it if your 
laptop is a rather new one.

>
> Is this tru?  Is it easy to connect to the mobile hot spot?
Yes, it's easy to connect if you can read the ID and password displayed on 
your iPhone settings; generally, you'll need them only once for each device: 
the next time devices probably will connect automatically.

>   I have never been without a landline, and want to make sure I'm doing 
> the right thing in getting rid of it.

Well, from my experience, I can't advise you to do that.
Cable is more secure (it's much more difficult to intersept a line than 
waves flying in the air), faster (measured in data amount per second between 
your device and your provider) and more stable (the connection will never be 
cut no matter the distance from your modem unless you cut the cable) than 
wi-fi.
I have recently bought a wi-fi device and stopped tethering: I had to pay a 
fee each month for tethering.
My daughter used an iPad and connected to the internet via my wife's iPhone. 
Her connection would be cut if she is not in a certain distance from the 
phone. Other electronic devices might interfere, too.
 The main problem was that, in Japan, where we live, they make your 
connection very slow after you used 7 GB of data and, if you want to have 
fast internet connection again you have to pay like $20 for each additional 
GB of data until the end of the month.  The next month you will have fast 
internet connection until you get to the 7 GB.
Our daughter used Youtube for a few hours at the beginning of the month and, 
after that, my wife couldn't use internet comfortably: not only Youtube, but 
also she had a very bad time even navigating on the internet and sending 
emails (everything was terribly slow).
They say that they do that to limit data traffic by waves.  On cable, you'll 
never have that limitation.
They might implement some similar restriction in the U.S. some day, or they 
might have it already, I don't know.
Also, in case of a natural disaster, internet cable is much reliable; you 
might become unable to communicate by talking or by email on your smart 
phone; we had that problem right after the big earthquake and nuclear 
accident of 2011.  Internet cable worked much better.

If you want to use tethering, try it first for a few days before getting rid 
of your internet cable and check with your mobile company about costs before 
using it.

Hope it helps.

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Linda via Electronics-talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2014 2:38 AM
Subject: [Electronics-talk] Mobile hot spot question


> Hello,
>
> I want to make sure I have the proper understanding of what a mobile hot 
> spot is before I give up my landline and internet service.
>
> I heard that a smartphone can somehow be connected to my iPad so that I 
> will still be able to use it or my laptop.
>
> Is this tru?  Is it easy to connect to the mobile hot spot?  Thanks for 
> your assistance.  I have never been without a landline, and want to make 
> sure I'm doing the right thing in getting rid of it.
>
> Linda
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