Looking at different options of Internet out in the country. I've had dish for almost two years and don't like the unreliability and slow speed of it.

If I use my phone as a hot spot, will I loose internet connection to other devices (iPad mainly) if my phone starts ringing? I have AT&T. Or should I look at getting an actual mobile hotspot?

Thanks for the help.

I'm in the same scenario. ATT out in the sticks, satellite internet sucks. We finally ditched it and use our data on the Family Plan. For several months I parked my G2 in a window with the hotspot on and had several devices running through it.

Using it as a hot spot never interfered with phone calls. I don't know if it would be the same with Apple devices or not, but I wouldn't think it would be a problem.

We finally did get a dedicated device, for two reasons. 1, I was tired of having to leave my phone in the window to catch a signal, and 2, the device gets much better reception, I suppose due to antenna design.

We're still limited by data caps, but the reception is MUCH better than it was with satellite.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm gonna try the phone method first and see how it works. I have pretty good cell service so there shouldn't be an issue with reception. Tired of satellite internet.

I have a AT&T hotspot for exactly this purpose. I have a 40GB family share. LTE Speeds. I have my router connect to the hotspot wirelessly and have wireless internet through out. However, the hotspot is solid. The wireless connection TO THE HOTSPOT is not. No idea why, but a wired ethernet port on teh hot spot would be ideal...no such luck. At any rate, it seems to work pretty well. Nothing lie a cable internet in terms of reliability but its the best we have.

I use a cradlepoint MBR95 router I carry with me and USB LTE air card. Its far more versatile than the hotspots the carriers sell.

That cradlepoint looks pretty cool, nice specs and great price. Wish I'd heard of them a couple of months ago!

Turn off computers when not in use, turn off automatic updates for things like adobe, Java, windows, etc. otherwise you will use up your cell data quickly. ...