Android phone as permenent modem/ hotspot

matt167

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 18, 2016
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The only services that I can get for internet here is satellite or 4G... My At&T Ipad plan finally got cracked down on and terminated. Knew it was coming since Febuary.. Looking for a better option, I turned on my cell hotspot, fired up an old Cradlepoint CTR35 I had laying around, and set Wifi as Wan up, so that my house has some internet. ( AT@T Prepaid high speed cap is 2gb, so I'm clocking 80 kbps now. Feels like 1995 all over ).

I found a recent youtube video of a solution, and managed to watch it in 144P. It was worse than the 2 music videos that came with windows 95... Anyway, the guy used a Visible plan which allows unlimited data and hotspot for $40/ month. He used a cell as a modem and a wifi repeater, pretty much exactly what my fail safe setup is, except it should do 5 mbps ( Visible speed cap on hotspot ). I know I can hack it to get the full 4G speed, but I'll stay within TOS..

Is there any danger in doing this with a phone? I've ordered the service and I know it will eventually nuke itself. more worried about the battery.. I ordered their cheapest ZTE phone as everything I own is AT&T
 
I do some phone farming and keep my phones plugged in 24x7. Yes, there will be battery bloat eventually. Just swap the battery and you are back to the races.
 
No need for like a weekly/ daily switch timer? I was thinking to turn the charger on/off and allow charging and discharge based on how long it took to charge to 80%
 
No need for like a weekly/ daily switch timer? I was thinking to turn the charger on/off and allow charging and discharge based on how long it took to charge to 80%
For what I do, no, but certainly can do that. Does your CradlePoint have a usb port on it? You may be able to charge the phone through that router.
 
It automatically tries to connect to an EVDO modem if I plug something in. I'm going to place the phone wherever it's signal is best. I'm hoping that is within a good signal distance to where the router connects to it's wired connection, or at least somewhere I can get a wired connection if not in the equipment closet
 
Might I recommend signing up for a beta for Starlink? It should, in theory, only get better as time progresses
 
Netgear makes dedicated devices for this. Probably a better choice for a long term solution. Hell Amazon has a ZTE device for 79 bucks if you need it cheap.
Amazon product ASIN B01N5ASNTEAmazon product ASIN B08F2WW1H1

I was running the AT&T Ipad service/ Sim through a Huawei router before they shut it down.. I put my phones sim in it, but it comes up with a webpage saying I have no data. I know it's because it passes different APN's.. I can try it with the Visible sim but I fear it will do the same. I might be abler to add the correct APN. A quick google search shows that is probably what will happen is it won't work
 
Well, this service is great. I'm getting about 6/2 with it.. I live in the middle of nowhere, BUT I get 2 bars of VZW 4G so it's good... The ZTE Blade cellphone is actually a nice phone for $50 too AND it has a prolonged charging feature which keeps it around 50% charged once it notices you have not unplugged itl
 
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