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Ask Slashdot: LTE Hotspot As Sole Cellular Connection?
New submitter iamacat writes I am thinking of canceling my regular voice plan and using an LTE hotspot for all my voice and data needs. One big draw is ability to easily use multiple devices without expensive additional lines or constantly swapping SIMs. So I can have an ultra compact Android phone and an iPod touch and operate whichever has the apps I feel like using. Or, if I anticipate needing more screen real estate, I can bring only a Nexus 7 or a laptop and still be able to make and receive VoIP calls. When I am home or at work, I would be within range of regular WiFi and not need to eat into the data plan or battery life of the hotspot.
Has anyone done something similar? Did the setup work well? Which devices and VoIP services did you end up using? How about software for automatic WiFi handoffs between the hotspot and regular home/work networks?
Has anyone done something similar? Did the setup work well? Which devices and VoIP services did you end up using? How about software for automatic WiFi handoffs between the hotspot and regular home/work networks?
Good points on battery life. Having the hotspot and the device constantly connected to each other, and monitoring the internet for incoming calls probably will run the batteries down quickly on both devices. Mobile hotspots (I've used a Huawei 3G with great results) will often 'sleep' when not used for a certain period as well, so that should be considered.
As for VOIP service, Vonage ($$) has a nice feature that allows you to share your number between your home phone and mobile devices, and voicemail email alerts, which might be handy in such a setup.
You can stop auto updates on Android devices for the most part, but switching back and forth to auto/manual or manually implementing updates is a bit inconvenient.