I PHS my work laptop to my work Samsung S23FE and it works a dream on all Apps. Citrix, Teams, etc.....

Jvipers2: I believe heat is the biggest problem, thus why a standalone would be better

What?

gnfb:

 

Is there any major diffrence speed reliability etc between using a mobile phone's hot spot or using say

 

TP-Link M7450 Duo-Band WiFi 4G LTE Mobile WiFi Hotspot with SIM Card Slot ? 

 

@gnfb Just use PHS for all we know your mobile phone might support 5G which will be better than 4G

I've found my S21 to be pretty variable. It used to be consistently rock solid -- I used to be able to do Zoom calls over hotspot over 4G with almost no noticeable latency or dropouts almost anywhere. More recently I've found it to have weird issues such as randomly dropping packets and no traffic passing for several seconds. I thought it was my mobile carrier until I realised I was seeing the same thing across all 3 networks (and even in locations where I can see the tower I am attached to!) which seems to point to my S21 as the culprit.

If you already have the phone you may simply want to test it and see if it works for your purposes. If it works fine then problem solved. Otherwise if try the standalone one or a different brand phone.

Please define what you mean by 'better'?

I'm guessing you always have your phone handy which would make it the 'better' device to use. This is also better for single users of the hot spot.

If the hotspot is used by multiple people & devices and if the hotspot location is relatively stable, i.e in a bach or caravan / campervan, I would suggest stand alone.

Stand-alone devices are generally 4G unless you want to spend $$$. You are more likely to replace your phone than a stand alone device, so if you want the latest tech, a phone is better.

The other day my slingshot Internte went out forseemed like several hours that also knocked out my cellular phone which is on slingshot using 2 degrees i belive

However my android phone which is with skinny was working fine. I was going to use my android phone as a hotspot but dont think i have a large data ability.

Hence I arrived at the point of finding a solution. Didnt vodafone use to supply a standalone modem/router thing? will see 

any other suggestions of a solution ? I doesnt go down that often but it does go down

When I'm working from home but not at home, I'll hot spot all day off my phone. No problems with Teams meetings, RDP, Git, pushing packages to deployment servers, and no problem with heat. And often multiple devices connected.

gnfb:

 

The other day my slingshot Internte went out forseemed like several hours that also knocked out my cellular phone which is on slingshot using 2 degrees i belive

 

However my android phone which is with skinny was working fine. I was going to use my android phone as a hotspot but dont think i have a large data ability.

 

Various towers are fed via different fibre (or in some case microwave radio) -- some of these fibre/microwave/etc backhaul connections may be the same ones involved in the delivery of fixed line services as well. Or they happen to end up running along the same route in the ground and a cut may affect multiple cables.

Sounds like your fixed line and local 2degees tower has a fibre link in common somewhere, whereas Spark runs their via a different fibre link.

Like a camera, the best hotspot is the one you have with you.  I see no benefit in a standalone hotspot unless you specifically need to use your handset for something else while you need the hotspot (though even then I can still use my phone while another devices shares its internet), or you need provider diversity for some reason.

gnfb:

 

However my android phone which is with skinny was working fine. I was going to use my android phone as a hotspot but dont think i have a large data ability.

 

Hence I arrived at the point of finding a solution. Didnt vodafone use to supply a standalone modem/router thing? will see

 

Either you pay for a standalone SIM and plan with enough data, or you add enough data to your existing mobile plan to cover your purposes.  Either way it's all mobile data, so if you already have a plan and a device that can be a hotspot, it makes sense to just bump up your data for that, rather than get a separate plan for it. 

If you're only concerned about using the hotspot in the infrequent event of issues with your main internet, a prepay SIM with an annual top up is probably fine.  Kogan and others do annual prepay SIMs with lots of data.  Just keep it in the drawer for when you need it, and don't forget to top up within its expiration period.

If it's just an issue at home you might also consider a router with both fibre + SIM connectivity as a fallback.

Ok thank you people on geekzone once again Have a nice christmas or holiday

gnfb:

 

Is there any major diffrence speed reliability etc between using a mobile phone's hot spot or using say

 

TP-Link M7450 Duo-Band WiFi 4G LTE Mobile WiFi Hotspot with SIM Card Slot ? 

 

Or perhaps buy a cheap 4G router off Trade Me?  Also, Thinkpad/Elitebook laptops take SIM cards (or can be upgraded with WWAN cards), something to think about.

I am not sure if my old msoft book laptop has a sim slot it does have a large mem card slot .... might look into that thanks

SIM slots aren't common and tend to be more in the business focused device skus than retail.  But might be something to consider next time you upgrade devices if internet availability is of concern to you. One limitation is if you rely on other devices in your home network (e.g. Plex server), connecting to a mobile hotspot from your device means you won't be able to access the home network while its internet is down.  Joining the hotspot network basically disconnects you from the home wifi network if it's happening on-device.  If the SIM is in the router then you'll still have home network access while using mobile internet through the router.  It all depends on the things you want to be available while your main internet is down.  There's no 100% solution, there's always trade offs.