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Robert asked: “Since the hurricane, I don’t have Internet at home. I’m thinking of getting a mobile hotspot. I would like to know what is the best offer and how many gigs I could be able to buy so I could be able to make a good deal out of this service.”
Robert, whichever phone company you’re with may be a good first place to check, we’ll give you a generic answer based one what companies are offering, but given what happened in Puerto Rico, your current cellphone company is already worth considering simply because you know it works, some may not have service where you are.
In more general terms, if you happen to be on T-Mobile, they offer a $25 add-on to their T-Mobile One plan that includes unlimited full speed tethering, that may be worth a shot, since you could use it today from your phone without having to wait for any devices to ship.
The same goes for Verizon’s Unlimited plans, they both offered unlimited hotspot data, though the cheaper $75 plan throttles the hotspot at 600kbps.
AT&T offering is more limited they just give you 10GB on current plans, and that won’t get you very far.
On any limited plan you’re offered, you’ll probably go over unless you’re holding back
Unfortunately, if you’re looking to replace a home connection, the low gig count that phone companies usually make available to hotspot plans won’t be enough. You will have to pace yourself, use a lot less than you normally would, and keep in mind that whether you use your phone or a standalone device, battery life will probably be an issue at some point.
On any limited plan you’re offered, you’ll probably go over unless you’re holding back, especially if you intend to use anything like Netflix. The other side of that is that if you’re thinking of it as emergency-only and only using email, pretty much any plan will do.
You’ll find that most carriers are offering standalone hotspot plans as an add-on to regular phone service, so you may not find a lot of them willing to sell you a hotspot only plan unless you speak to them in person, online they’re usually advertised as another device to use with the plan you already have.
In Puerto Rico, if you live in the country like my family does. HughesNet is the best. All the infrastructure on the island can go down but their satellite will not be effected. I pay $50/mo for 10gb high speed and then I get throttled to 1-3mbps. The throttle is still better than Claro.