Short-Term Internet Service

[Lewis Clark]

I'm investigating changing our home internet service. T-Mobile has a gateway that provides internet service through their cell network. One advantage of this system would be that we could take the unit back and forth to our vacation home, so we would only have to pay for internet service at the home we are using the time.

One disadvantage of this system would be if one of us is at the vacation home while the other is at the main home. Only one of us could have internet service at a time.

I thought this disadvantage could be overcome by renting a mobile hotspot for the time we would need internet at both homes. We would only expect to need it once per year, for about 7-10 days. I'd prefer not to have to pay for internet service at the unused home if I don't have to.

How have others handled situations like this? Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

 

[COcheesehead]

You can hotspot through a cell phone too.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I'm investigating changing our home internet service. T-Mobile has a gateway that provides internet service through their cell network. One advantage of this system would be that we could take the unit back and forth to our vacation home, so we would only have to pay for internet service at the home we are using the time.



One disadvantage of this system would be if one of us is at the vacation home while the other is at the main home. Only one of us could have internet service at a time.



I thought this disadvantage could be overcome by renting a mobile hotspot for the time we would need internet at both homes. We would only expect to need it once per year, for about 7-10 days. I'd prefer not to have to pay for internet service at the unused home if I don't have to.



How have others handled situations like this? Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

I have a friend that does the exact thing you are describing. Just make sure the T-Mobile gateway works in both locations.

I have not had that situation but I think you are on the right track with the mobile hot spot being the ”substitute” internet access for that one week or so out of the year. You could use a phone as the hot spot.

I don't know if T-Mobile will let you make changes to your cell phone plan on a monthly basis, for example adding a hot spot and increasing your data plan on one of the phone lines. Then, when that week is over revert your data plan back to its previous status. You will need to check into this. Most prepaid plans make a monthly change to your data plan an easy switch.

 

[Sunset]

This summer I used Google Fi, as a phone when we traveled to Canada. I chose this as I could hotspot it so we could have internet service. Total cost was $65 / month for UNLIMITED hotspot usage.
I did earlier start with the $50/mo plan but used up it's 5 (or 8) Gig hotspot allotment and upgraded.
They were great about the upgrade only charging me the difference for remaining days and it was effective immediately.

Both plans $50/mo and $65/mo had unlimited internet for the phone itself.

 

[HarveyS]

Maybe your library has a hotspot you can check out for 7-10 days?

 

[Lewis Clark]

You can hotspot through a cell phone too.

Thanks for the reply!

We had thought of that. Neither of us has an unlimited data cell phone plan at this time, but we are considering it.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I have a friend that does the exact thing you are describing. Just make sure the T-Mobile gateway works in both locations.

I have not had that situation but I think you are on the right track with the mobile hot spot being the ”substitute” internet access for that one week or so out of the year. You could use a phone as the hot spot.

I don't know if T-Mobile will let you make changes to your cell phone plan on a monthly basis, for example adding a hot spot and increasing your data plan on one of the phone lines. Then, when that week is over revert your data plan back to its previous status. You will need to check into this. Most prepaid plans make a monthly change to your data plan an easy switch.

Thanks for the reply!

The T-Mobile says the internet gateway works in both locations. Neither of us currently uses T-Mobile as our cell phone carrier, but the idea of changing plans for one month is a good idea.

 

[Lewis Clark]

This summer I used Google Fi, as a phone when we traveled to Canada. I chose this as I could hotspot it so we could have internet service. Total cost was $65 / month for UNLIMITED hotspot usage.
I did earlier start with the $50/mo plan but used up it's 5 (or 8) Gig hotspot allotment and upgraded.
They were great about the upgrade only charging me the difference for remaining days and it was effective immediately.

Both plans $50/mo and $65/mo had unlimited internet for the phone itself.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Lewis Clark]

Maybe your library has a hotspot you can check out for 7-10 days?

Thanks for the reply!

Our local library does have about a dozen hotspots for checkout. When I looked last night, all of them were currently checked out, and two of them showed as more than a week overdue.

This could be a good solution. The challenge would be to reserve one at the right time to have it available when we need it. I'll have to monitor their status for a while to get a feel for how often they are all in use.

 

[Bamaman]

I've too been looking into changing to T-Mobile's home internet service, however 5G coverage is required.

We live 10 miles out of town, and 5G is not available.

I did call our wired internet provider and get $30 service because the granddaughter we're raising is on Medicaid and gets free school lunches. It sure beats $115 that we were paying previously.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Thanks for the reply!

The T-Mobile says the internet gateway works in both locations. Neither of us currently uses T-Mobile as our cell phone carrier, but the idea of changing plans for one month is a good idea.

We tried out the T-Mo "home" internet plan for a bit and it wasn't really that great. Obviously, YMMV as it seems to work great for some and not so great for others...what I would warn you about though is cancelling the service. That was NOT easy and took a decent amount of time. My sentiment has been echoed in various forums about the service, so be prepared for that if you cancel.

 

[COcheesehead]

Thanks for the reply!

We had thought of that. Neither of us has an unlimited data cell phone plan at this time, but we are considering it.

We couldn’t have cable run to our new house for at least 3-4 months. It was built during Covid and the cable company just couldn’t do it. We looked at all kinds of options and settled on just paying for more data and using our cells as hot spots. It worked out better than any other option. T Mobile had the best plan.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Thanks for the reply!

The T-Mobile says the internet gateway works in both locations. Neither of us currently uses T-Mobile as our cell phone carrier, but the idea of changing plans for one month is a good idea.

Just remember, "works" and "works acceptably" are two different things.

When I first moved into my house here in Hawaii the cell service was terrible. I mean, it "worked" if you were in just the right spot. But it was not particularly useful. I had cable internet and was looking into a device that would provide local cell service through the cable connection (they exist). Then suddenly a tower went up about 200 yards from me, and wow, I now have amazingly good service!

 

[Lewis Clark]

We tried out the T-Mo "home" internet plan for a bit and it wasn't really that great. Obviously, YMMV as it seems to work great for some and not so great for others...what I would warn you about though is cancelling the service. That was NOT easy and took a decent amount of time. My sentiment has been echoed in various forums about the service, so be prepared for that if you cancel.

I didn't know T-Mobile even offered home internet service until I started doing this research. One neighbor a few houses down the street has been using it for a few years and said they get better download speeds from T-Mobile than they got from their previous provider on a fiber optic line.

My experience is that ALL of the telecommunications companies have weak customer service. We used to have fiber optic service through Frontier (after they bought it from Verizon.) Very happy with the fiber optic service, but we left because their customer service was horrible.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Just remember, "works" and "works acceptably" are two different things.

I agree.

A neighbor and current user is very satisfied with the service, which is a better local recommendation than their service map.

 

[Lakedog]

We tried out the T-Mo "home" internet plan for a bit and it wasn't really that great. Obviously, YMMV as it seems to work great for some and not so great for others...what I would warn you about though is cancelling the service. That was NOT easy and took a decent amount of time. My sentiment has been echoed in various forums about the service, so be prepared for that if you cancel.

Same here, took months for me to finally get resolution as T-mobile just kept billing. Calling usually required a couple of hours minimum to even speak to someone, and I probably called a half dozen times before finally getting things settled.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I didn't know T-Mobile even offered home internet service until I started doing this research. One neighbor a few houses down the street has been using it for a few years and said they get better download speeds from T-Mobile than they got from their previous provider on a fiber optic line.

My experience is that ALL of the telecommunications companies have weak customer service. We used to have fiber optic service through Frontier (after they bought it from Verizon.) Very happy with the fiber optic service, but we left because their customer service was horrible.

This seems improbable if it was a "true" fiber optic line and was run/configured correctly. I don't know of ANY cellular service that can deliver the same consistent performance as a TRUE fiber optic connection.

As far as customer service is concerned, I too was jaded until we signed up for fiber though our electrical co-op...nothing but rave reviews with them. I haven't had the occasion to do this, but the co-op's CEO's makes himself available by phone for folks.

 

[ncbill]

I'm investigating changing our home internet service. T-Mobile has a gateway that provides internet service through their cell network. One advantage of this system would be that we could take the unit back and forth to our vacation home, so we would only have to pay for internet service at the home we are using the time.

One disadvantage of this system would be if one of us is at the vacation home while the other is at the main home. Only one of us could have internet service at a time.

I thought this disadvantage could be overcome by renting a mobile hotspot for the time we would need internet at both homes. We would only expect to need it once per year, for about 7-10 days. I'd prefer not to have to pay for internet service at the unused home if I don't have to.

How have others handled situations like this? Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Switch to a phone plan that offers hotspot?

My Visible (Verizon) MVNO does but speeds are throttled.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Switch to a phone plan that offers hotspot?

My Visible (Verizon) MVNO does but speeds are throttled.

Thank you for the suggestion. We are considering it.