Please tell me your experiences with tethering

[klbcec]

I would really like to get a Galaxy Note Pro tablet because the size as well as the S-pen allows me to get the most out of my law firm's hosted case management platform. Unfortunately, AT&T has been dragging their feet offering this tablet, and I have no faith that they will since they skipped right over the Note 10.1 2014. I have all of my firm's phones and tablets on AT&T and don't want to pay Verizon $50 per month for one tablet when AT&T would be $10 per month.

I could get the wifi only version and use my phone as a hotspot.

What have been your experiences with tethering? Would it be more effective if I used a Samsung phone since the Note Pro is Samsung, or will any phone be equally effective? And does anyone have an opinion on the phone with the strongest antenna?

TIA.

 

[SiempreTuna]

I've only used tethering with a laptop and an old HTC Desire. That was painfully slow - but then, everything internet-related was painfully slow with the Desire When I got my Nexus 4, I couldn't believe the speed I got from the exact same network.

The brand of the phone you use for tethering shouldn't make a whole lot of difference. In fact, most tethering issues are around people trying to avoid paying the additional network charges - which, as a law firm, I'm guessing you wouldn't be doing

 

[Rukbat]

1) It's the receiver sensitivity that makes the difference. All cellphones use less-than-unity-gain antennas, and the same transmitter power.

2) AT&T Isn't dragging its feet. As far as I can tell, the US GSM version of the Pro isn't out yet, so they can't buy it.

3) Any Samsung device sold by AT&T is going to be locked down tighter than Ft. Knox. That means that unless it comes with tethering, it's going to take a little work to get it going.

4) AT&T is going to charge you extra if you use a phone as a full-time internet connection for another device. They may let you slip by if you browse a web page a few times a month, but a few hours a day, Monday to Friday, is going to mean a tethering account.

5) Think about the 10" Tab 3. The 2 inches won't make that much of a difference.

6) The Pro weighs about 26 ounces. Add a small Bluetooth keyboard and a mouse and there are lighter netbooks (albeit they'll be running Windows). Add an AT&T dongle and it's connected to the cellphone network.

Tethering works. If you don't play games with the connection (using a VPN to "hide" what you're doing, etc.), the phone acts just like a wifi router, with its internet connection being the data connection on the phone. Depending on where you are, that may be a bit slow, but unless you're downloading mountains of data, it should be fast enough for practical purposes.

 

[dan330]

tethering is not and issue.. and if you have a newer type phone.. that supports LTE .. and you have a good LTE signal from the tower.. then speeds will be fine.

the connection between phone and device is standard wifi connection .. so that will NOT be the bottleneck

it really just depends on your ATT account.
if you have a grandfathered UNLIMITED plan.. then you can not tether without extra charges.
if you have one of the new Data consumption tiered plans.. then wifi tether is included.
there should be apps for that already on the phone.

 

[!on]

My experience with tethering (WiFi) is that it will drain your battery & might attract the attention of the network if you're on a no tether plan! So it's OK for 'emergency' internet access.

It's easy to do though, if you use the set up wizard on your computer for pairing. You can also do this for USB or bluetooth.

TBH I think it's best to get a portable hotspot.