Mobile Hotspot

[Russell]

How common is Mobile Hotspot on phones these days?

I'm thinking of changing my phone, mainly as WhatsApp will no longer be supported on my BlackBerry shortly, and there are occasions when I want to use my tablet with the phone.

I can't see it mentioned on the specs for the Moto 4G Play for instance.

Thanks

[Karla]

It's pretty ubiquitous.

Googling 'Motorola G4 Play mobile hotspot' tells you how to do it.

[Dibdib]

Baked into the OS, I believe, for both Android and iOS. I don't know if any networks are still playing silly games disabling it in their custom OS builds like the bad old days, but for "stock" OSes it should Just Work.

However, check that tethering is allowed on your data plan - on my previous contract it wasn't, and if Three detected it I'd have to sit on the naughty step with no mobile data for a few hours.

[Russell]

Thanks Guys.  I'll check to make sure it's allowed.

[Kim]

However, check that tethering is allowed on your data plan - on my previous contract it wasn't, and if Three detected it I'd have to sit on the naughty step with no mobile data for a few hours.

Indeed.  They have some fairly devious deep packet inspection going on in order to detect tethering, which occasionally false-positives.  (I kept losing my connection while roaming because I'd used Tapatalk.)

[aidan.f]

FWIW Plusnet mobile allow tethering..Others are available..

[Russell]

I was looking at Virgin SIM only deal.  They were offering a 30 day deal that was slightly better than my current Vodafone but with the bonus of data rollover for the duration.  However they do not allow tethering.

I will look at Plusnet and I hear that 3 offer it as well.

[Plug1n]

My experiences on tethering using various Android devices:

- Virgin, as of 6 months ago it was working fine (even if not in their terms)
- 3, works but not on an Essentials plan.  Never works on roaming.

[Wombat]

Seems to work everywhere on my Vodafone SIM only plan.  I seem to recall using it in France with my laptop, (not something to be encouraged, considering the cost of data abroad, when using Vodafone Euro Traveller.)  Not going to France this year, so can't check with the changes afoot.