Anyone using something other than a mobile hot spot. Don't really wanna spend 60 bucks a month. I got rid of my directv just looking for something to get me enough speed to dl movies on hulu. Just trying to get ideas from other people.

 

Do you have an Android phone? Investigate PdaNet. For a one-time $15, you can share your phone's internet access with your computer. There is software to install on your phone and the device you are going to share to. I think the $15 is for the phone software and the computer software is free, or vice versa. I don't recall exactly as I have been using this app several years now. I use it for work when I am travelling if my customer will not let me use their network. I also use it at the hotel, as hotel wifi isn't very secure.

 

hows the speed?

 

I have streamed videos with it. If you have 4G data speed on your phone the app should keep up.

 

They used to offer a free trial period for evaluation. That's how I picked it.

 

The speed when using your phone as a hotspot depends on how strong the signal is between your phone and the cell tower. A strong signal will work very well. A weak signal will result in a lot of lag.

I was camping a good 30 miles from the closest small town recently. My phone switched between a 3g and 4g LTE signal, but only 1 or 2 bars. I was able to get to email and a few news web sites, but there is no way I would have watched anything on YouTube.

There is hardware you can buy to boost the cell signal. I don't have that.

 

No matter what you use to stream, if you're using your cell plan it will eat data. If you have one of those "unlimited" plans (many will throttle you after so many gigs) or one of the plans that includes "unlimited" data streaming (there are also caveats to that), it's one thing, but streaming on a regular data plan will still cost money. As full-timers, we have a 4G MiFi on Verizon with 22GB/month with rollover. We still don't stream using it. We use RedBox or wait until we're in a park with strong enough WiFi to stream with the Fire Stick on the TV. IMHO, WiFi boosters to pick up campground networks are a waste of money. Most of the time you'll just be amplifying signals from networks that don't have the bandwidth to support what you want to do, anyway. Most of our TV watching is on Dish HD.

Rob