Why use a mobile hotspot?
Mobile hotspots can come in handy in a variety of situations, from road trips with small children to video conferencing sessions with a boss to surfing the web while out in the great outdoors. Even gamers can use mobile hotspots to compete online away from home.
Let's say you're at a crowded airport and a large number of people are using the public Wi-Fi connection. You need to have an important business meeting over Zoom with one of your colleagues from work but all the network traffic at the airport is slowing down the wireless internet speed.
If you try to use the airport's public Wi-Fi, you could experience awkward delays in your business meeting, or you might even lose the connection entirely. You don't want to risk missing important information about your company due to a bad connection.
A mobile hotspot lets you bypass all the network traffic and get a better connection to your co-worker. This way, you can avoid interruptions and make sure your meeting is as productive as it possibly can be.
Mobile hotspots let you work online anywhere you want to. Let's say you're a college student and need a quiet space to work on an online school project. The only problem is that your roommate is blaring their music and you can't concentrate. With a mobile hotspot, you can take your laptop to a serene area outside, like your apartment pool, to complete your project.
Hotspots are ideal for people who travel a lot for business, remote employees who like to work in unconventional settings or anyone who wants to use the internet away from home. A mobile hotspot can give you Wi-Fi access anywhere there's a cellular signal.
Can you use a mobile hotspot for your home internet?
Because a mobile hotspot converts a cellular 4G LTE or 5G network signal into a wireless connection, it's possible to use one at home. However, a mobile hotspot may not be a great alternative to a home broadband connection unless you use the internet very sparingly or you're willing to severely limit your usage.
Most mobile hotspot plans have data caps that restrict the amount of internet you can use. If you go over your data cap, your ISP will slow down the speed of your connection to a point that even the simplest tasks online might be almost impossible to get done. Your ISP may even charge you extra for the data you use beyond your plan.
At most, many of these mobile hotspot plans only give you as much as 20 to 30 gigabytes of internet usage per month. Compare that to the national household average for internet usage of 344 GB. Mobile hotspot plans simply aren't expansive enough for heavy internet users or families.
If you have multiple internet users in your household who go online to game, stream movies or do business, you're better off getting a home internet plan. Frontier has great home internet plans for all types of internet users. Better yet, we only offer unlimited data plans, so you'll never have to worry about frustrating data caps or overage fees. Check availability in your area today.
Are mobile hotspots secure?
There are always risks associated with using the internet and using the internet in a public space amplifies them. Strangers may try to go online using your personal connection, which can drain your data, and any time you use the internet in public, your personal information could be accessible to hackers.
Luckily, there are some ways you can help make your mobile hotspot connection safer and more secure. Modern mobile hotspots will usually have security encryption in place automatically, but you can change your data encryption type to Wi-Fi WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) or WPA3, which are the most secure forms of encryption offered by most cellular service providers.
You can also update your service set identifier (SSID) to something that will be difficult to hack. Your SSID is basically the name of your internet connection. Hackers have lists of commonly used SSIDs. By creating a unique one, you make it more difficult for them to find yours. A great SSID should be as random as possible with no popular words or phrases.
Finally, you should make a long, complicated password for your connection. Strong passwords usually include a series of words or letters and inconsequential numbers. Don't use things like your pet's name, your street address, a parent's birthday or any other information that a hacker might be able to access. Change your password periodically just to be safe.