OT: Internet access question

[CNY rider]

I'd appreciate any input from this smart bunch of people.
We are spending the next 2 months living in a lakeside cabin, while home renovations happen in our home.
We do not have cable TV up there but there is good cellular service.
In anticipation of this summer, we bought 2 iPads during the holidays and I got them cellular enabled. I had planned to activate them on monthly Verizon plan and use them for internet access.
Now however my wife really wants her laptop to have connectivity up there because she is using it a lot for work.
It is not able to connect to cellular, I don't think (but I'm pretty much an idiot about his subject).

So am I looking for a "hotspot" device to give a WiFi signal up there? Is that my phone or some other separate device I get from Verizon , and then her laptop and the iPads all use that wireless signal?
Or do I still do cellular on the iPads and something else entirely for her laptop?
:confused:

Thanks.

[tuscanyswe]

Its very easy to set up your ipad / iphone as a hotspot and then connect your devices to that connection and use the same bandwidth for all devices incl your wifes laptop.

[nicrump]

your I-pad can be setup to provide "hot spot" services for your laptop or any other wifi enabled device.

be warned, it designed to suck up data IMO, keep an eye on your usage if you have a capped plan.

[fmradio516]

Yes, at least with Verizons unlimited plan, if you use the hotspot feature, they bog the speeds down to a crawl. Another option is to get something like a Mifi which is a portable hotspot, but it is like having another device on your monthly phone plan.

[CNY rider]

Thank you for the replies.
I currently have no relationship with Verizon.
Is it better to activate one iPad on cellular and use it as the hot spot, or to get a device like the MiFi?

[AngryScientist]

is there cable in the neighborhood eric?

it may be a better idea to just call the cable company and pay for a 2-month internet only contract.

that said, since i travel a lot for work, i have a verizon mifi puck and use it literally constantly, and it's been superb.

[oliver1850]

My only internet service is phone based. I use a Netgear wifi adapter in a USB port of my PC.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-NETGEAR-A6100-WiFi-USB-Mini-Adapter-AC600-150-450-Dual-Band/253698182354?epid=28014611597&hash=item3b11970cd2:g:gNwAAOSw~K9bKPbw

[Vientomas]

https://www.roamingman.com/

[rounder]

I do not know what it is like where you will be, but when I go to Maine, we stay on a lake with no internet service and barely phone service. But there is a nearby town with a public library that I go to when I want free wifi.

We use Verizon MiFi when we travel on work and it works great. But you have to pay for the plan and use of the device. I looked into getting MiFi for vacations, but it was not cost effective for me.

[weisan]

https://www.roamingman.com/

wow. never heard of that before, at $9.99 per day unlimited.

[fogrider]

My only internet service is phone based. I use a Netgear wifi adapter in a USB port of my PC.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-NETGEAR-A6100-WiFi-USB-Mini-Adapter-AC600-150-450-Dual-Band/253698182354?epid=28014611597&hash=item3b11970cd2:g:gNwAAOSw~K9bKPbw

I don't get it, don't you still need a router for this adapter to connect to?

[oliver1850]

Apparently not. I don't have a router.

[Hilltopperny]

I’d look into getting some form of internet service out there. If this is the only form of entertainment aside from the other lake activities WiFi hotspots use a ton of data and will be slowed down to a crawl after a certain amount is used.

Not sure who your provider will be out there, but we have Frontier out here and it works ok. It isn’t super high speed, but it’ll get the job done. Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oliver1850]

If it's like my area, phone and satellite are the only options. There is no cable or DSL here.

[CNY rider]

Yes, I think the answer is cellular service to the iPads and connecting my wife's laptop via WiFi to one of the iPads.

[oliver1850]

Don't know if I am clarifying or muddling but will forge on. I should have mentioned that my PC was not Wi-Fi capable out of the box. The Netgear adapter that I linked just establishes a connection between the phone and the PC. Devices that are Wi-Fi capable would not need the device I linked, at least as I understand it.

[pbarry]

It sounds like the iPads are 4g, not just wifi capable? If they are Verizon specific 4g, you are stuck using V as your carrier. TMobile One Plus offers unlimited data streaming and hotspot usage, no cap, and no contract. $95/month. You could get a TM plan/phone and use that as your hotspot for the other devices. Check coverage and get local anecdotal reports before pulling the trigger.

[sitzmark]

Yes, I think the answer is cellular service to the iPads and connecting my wife's laptop via WiFi to one of the iPads.

If you want maximum throughput plug the iPad charging cable into laptop USB and leave the wifi turned off. Turn soft switch for "hotspot" (Settings) on and iPad /iPhone will function as a cellular modem.

[CNY rider]

It sounds like the iPads are 4g, not just wifi capable? If they are Verizon specific 4g, you are stuck using V as your carrier. TMobile One Plus offers unlimited data streaming and hotspot usage, no cap, and no contract. $95/month. You could get a TM plan/phone and use that as your hotspot for the other devices. Check coverage and get local anecdotal reports before pulling the trigger.

They're the latest model iPads.
Verizon is the best signal at the lake, I'm not sure TMobile even has anything there, so we're stuck with them that way.

[CNY rider]

If you want maximum throughput plug the iPad charging cable into laptop USB and leave the wifi turned off. Turn soft switch for "hotspot" (Settings) on and iPad /iPhone will function as a cellular modem.

Will definitely try this, thank you.

[pbarry]

They're the latest model iPads.
Verizon is the best signal at the lake, I'm not sure TMobile even has anything there, so we're stuck with them that way.

Some rural areas have local broadband cos. that offer good service. Might be worth seeing what else is available.

[commonguy001]

I have Verizon unlimited (not the top tier unlimited) and they throttle the heck out of your hotspot. It's 600 kbps or something and works for logging onto work but it's super slow. If you get the top tier unlimited they don't throttle hot spot until you've used it for something like 15 gig of data. May be worth it for a couple months but IDK, everyone is different.

Wife has a MiFi through work and it's loads better than my hotspot but I don't use it for my work when we're on the road.

If you want to push netflix or whatever to a TV, Apple has a nice HDMI adapter that works with phones and ipads. It has a HDMI port and a powercord port on it and just plugs into the newer style iphone jack. We use one in our RV and they work great.