Dual sim phone or mobile wifi hotspot?

Bill48 on 23/07/2014 - 08:13

What are the considerations to bear in mind here please? I am looking for the best overall solution for providing internet for my wifi tablet (Asus Nexus 7 latest running Android 4.4.3) away from the home/office network. One suggestion is to have a dual sim phone, and I need to update my current 3 year old Motorola handset.

Two considerations are operational/purchase cost and battery life. I know that having Bluetooth on in my phone consumes battery life much more quickly. Would either of these solutions (or others) give a better result? How secure is having your own mobile hotspot? Internode is my internet and phone provider and they use the Optus network.

Mobile

Comments

  • shake on 23/07/2014 - 09:45

    Sorry, I don't have any answers, but I'm interested to hear opinions too.

    And can I add a third factor to the equation? Would you get better network speeds either way?

    • ESEMCE on 23/07/2014 - 11:56

      Would you get better network speeds either way?

      Depends on the device..
      As a rule though, phones will generally have a slower data limit than a Hotspot.

  • ESEMCE on 23/07/2014 - 11:54

    1)Why doe you need a Dual SIM? over buying a bigger data plan for your standard phone SIM?
    2)BT uses bugger all battery.. I seriously doubt that you'd notice a difference of anything more than a few minutes runtime per day. Data usage on the other hand will chew battery on a phone as it will with a mobile hotspot. You'd need to be able to charge either phone or hotspot through the day if you need data on the tablet for more than 4-5 hours.
    3) You don't need to buy Mobile Internet through Internode just cause they supply you with home Internet.

    • Bill48 on 23/07/2014 - 14:45

      I appreciate your points. I'll need to upgrade the phone. And realise don't need to use Internode - just that posters are inevitably asked to give more details. Suppose for a one-off inexpensive cost I could buy a mobile power bank.

      Any recommendations for ideal phone to also use as a hotspot, bearing in mind these battery and data usages? I'm price sensitive. Perhaps a recently superseded model that's still the goods?

      • skyva on 23/07/2014 - 15:11

        I hesitate to suggest a galaxy s3 as it is getting old, but I use mine for tethering. I also have a portable power pack I bought here ($20), and a spare battery for the s3. Most recent android phones do tethering fine. I can go mobile without power and still have internet for a few hours at least.

  • skyva on 23/07/2014 - 12:53

    I am in a similar boat. I just bought a lg g pad tablet, and have a galaxy s3 with 2gb monthly allowance that I regularly chew through. I will want to tether the new tablet to the phone, increasing data usage. I also have an extra 500mb/month sim card through Telstra due to a phone bundle I pay for.

    I have a usb modem for the telstr sim so I can either juggle phone/laptop data , or get a dedicated wireless 3g router that will allow me use as a hot spot for the tablet.

    So far a tp-link TL-MR3040 looks promising, $65 from scorptec.

    Any other suggestions?

  • Bill48 on 23/07/2014 - 19:18

    How about LG G2? One at Kogan with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Is it a problem to upgrade?

    • ESEMCE on 24/07/2014 - 07:57

      Any Android phone (even the $20 prepaid bargain basement models) will do WiFi or Bluetooth Tethering fine.
      The G2 is a great phone with an awesome battery and decent camera, you could definitely do a lot worse and you'd struggle to do better especially at the prices they're now selling at.
      LG are sh!thouse with software updates though. I have the G1 and they've rolled out the first software update for it in 12 months for Korea only..

      • Bill48 on 24/07/2014 - 09:30

        I've just assumed that my current old Motorola Defy running Android 2.2 would not be modern enough - and so never investigated. I'd rather not go to the cost of a new phone just yet. So I will give it a trial.

        Also, I have a USB dongle that I am paying Optus $20/month for 2GB/month and now I have my tablet I scarcely take my laptop anywhere to use it. So, I presume if I buy a pocket modem for about $50-60 I can transfer the sim card from the dongle to that. Yes?

  • Bill48 on 24/07/2014 - 09:42

    I am finding the Nexus USB port to be loose and unreliable - I have to always check that charging is working. So for that reason alone I am keener on the wireless solution. So, am I right in assuming the dongle sim card should be transferable to an unlocked pocket modem?

    • ESEMCE on 24/07/2014 - 10:50

      yup

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