Are all phone hotspots created equal??

[jymbee]

Two phones in the same space, one basic phone costing around a hundred bucks, the other high-end, latest greatest $1k+ phone. Would there be a noticeable difference in up/download speeed connecting to either's hotspot?

 

[Isaac-1]

Depends on the data plan and the data network, right now many cell phone companies are in the process of moving from 4G LTE to 5G which has performance improvements, for rural areas it is not much faster, though has much lower latency and overhead so it feels more responsive. Generally only newer phone models support 5G data connections.

 

[docj]

There are a lot of features in newer, high end phones that have nothing to do with 5G. The buzzwords you might hear people talk about are MIMO and carrier aggregation. The cellular modems found in higher end phones can use these features to essentially make parallel connections to a cell tower and this can be true for both LTE and 5G. How much of an improvement these features will give you on any particular tower at any specific time are not known in advance, but if you don't have them you'll never know.

Cellular modems are ranked by "category". At the bottom of the heap are the Category 4 modems found in "throwaway phones" and older hotspots. I think my MiFi 7730L which is several years old has a Category 8 modem. My Nighthawk MR1100 has a Category 16 modem and my new Inseego M2000 hotspot has a Category 22 modem.

I'm not trying to say that newer is always better, but there definitely are features in newer phones and hotspots that can significantly improve your cellular experience.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Probably not. Variables such as carrier, plan, locale and traffic volume have far more impact than the physical equipment. That doesn't mean there are not situations where the upgraded model may not do better, but the odds are there won't be much difference most of the time.

 

[Isaac-1]

Joel makes a good point here, when I moved my SIM card from my Category 3 Mobley, to a Category 9 Netgear 815S I saw more then doubling of my average connection speed at my house. This not to say that moving it to a Category 16 MR1100 would see such a gain again, but I would expect some performance boost doing so in many locations.

 

[NY_Dutch]

In checking out various levels phones and hotspots, one of the key features I look for is how many and which frequency bands they cover. Often the lower cost devices have fewer band capability, limiting which towers will give the best coverage or speeds.

 

[jymbee]

In checking out various levels phones and hotspots, one of the key features I look for is how many and which frequency bands they cover. Often the lower cost devices have fewer band capability, limiting which towers will give the best coverage or speeds.

Interesting, informative comments from all. The situation is this...

Some friends signed up with Visible and ordered one of their lower end phones, a Samsung Galaxy a11.i. GIven there was a relatively new Verizon tower built fairly close by and they now have ATT, they expected an improvement in speed using their new Visible phone on the Verizon network. However, early speed tests are showing very week up/download speeds.

Trying to figure out if somehow it might be the phone itself, or perhaps Visible doesn't "see" this Verizon tower, or something else.

 

[NY_Dutch]

The Galaxy A11 actually does have excellent band coverage, hitting all 20 bands from 1 to 71. Band 66 is the current "hot" band for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and the A11 does cover it along with Verizon's band 2,4,5, and 13. One thing to keep in mind with Visible, is that hotspot use on the phone is limited to 5 Mbps down and up. That works fine for most streaming with one device...

 

[jymbee]

The Galaxy A11 actually does have excellent band coverage, hitting all 20 bands from 1 to 71. Band 66 is the current "hot" band for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and the A11 does cover it along with Verizon's band 2,4,5, and 13. One thing to keep in mind with Visible, is that hotspot use on the phone is limited to 5 Mbps down and up. That works fine for most streaming with one device...

Got it-- thanks much for the insights.
Now I'm left to wonder whether it's possibly an issue with this particular phone, Visible's ability to connect to that tower, or perhaps I'm missing something altogether in the mix given I'm trying to assist these friends remotely.

I've suggested that they see if they can get a Verizon user near them to do some tests which should narrow down the possibilities.

Here's what they sent me for the last speed test. The Ping value alone makes me wonder just what tower they're hitting:

 

[Isaac-1]

Visible works on the Verizon network, though has a lower data priority than native Verizon phones and hotspots. Meaning someone with a genuine Verizon phone / data plan will tend to get a faster connection when connected to the same tower. My nephew went though this, starting out with a Visible phone plan for rural data, then bought into a legacy Verizon plan reseller hotspot at a much higher monthly rate in order to gain higher download speeds. Initially Visible was capped at 5 mbps download speed, though I think that was lifted sometime in 2019.

 

[SpencerPJ]

My new iPhone 12 creates a hotspot for the iPad that is far superior than my wifes Samsung Galaxy 10 or my old iPhone 6+.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Visible works on the Verizon network, though has a lower data priority than native Verizon phones and hotspots. Meaning someone with a genuine Verizon phone / data plan will tend to get a faster connection when connected to the same tower. My nephew went though this, starting out with a Visible phone plan for rural data, then bought into a legacy Verizon plan reseller hotspot at a much higher monthly rate in order to gain higher download speeds. Initially Visible was capped at 5 mbps download speed, though I think that was lifted sometime in 2019.

Visible lifted the speed cap for the phones, but not for the hotspot feature. The newer 5G phones have a 200 Mbps cap for the hotspot feature when using a 5G connection.

 

[DonTom]

I guess this is a good thread to ask my related question.

As it is now, I have a portable V/WL Hotspot. It gets a fair amount of use. It costs me about $56.00 per month.

I also have a PAYG V/WL cell. I make an average of three calls per year on it, at the very most. And it's NEVER on until I need it. I mainly only use it when there is no other choice, such as some small emergency or whatever, while on the road. It costs me only $12.00 per month.

A total of around $68.00 per month.

But I am finding it to be a small hassle to have to set up both my cell and hotspot at times. Such as when I need to activate an EV charge station by cell from my electric motorcycles.

I own several inactivated cell phones. They all, AFAIK, have the tether capability, if I have them activated. But I can use just one cell phone and move it around to different bikes as needed, if I have one that is activated.

Coverage is very important, even if rarely used, I want the phone to work as well as possible.

My question is, what type of plan would be best for me, based on all of above?

Or should I stick with what I have?

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[John From Detroit]

Two differenced timed 3 differences
The phones. Android phones are very friendly to other devices.
I-Phones well they can be made to work with everything but if you are trying to connect with say a raspberry pi you may need to jump through hoops.. i can not help you with that by the way

Now the 3 Depending on your carrier you may have data lifts or throttling of just flat "NO SIGNAL" I get like 100Gig or more before a priority reduction 50 I think for the hotspot bevore throttling and fairly good coverage with my T-mobile geezers plan (55+) but since I now have cable internet in the house I almost never go over on the phone.