Hotspot on phone - can it still receive phone calls?

[vvanders]

That's usually done with a router, not many support USB, some support "bridging" over WiFi but it can be annoying to get running right.

If your not a fan of ATT check out the wireless isps in your area. If you aren't in a hole should be a lot faster and cheaper than cell connection.

 

[California]

Yes, I'm not familiar with any router that has USB-in.

I have a couple of old Netgear routers at the ranch as Ethernet-in, wifi out repeaters, and setup is a PIA. I found an ASUS router, RT-N12D1, $16 on Ebay, that has far simpler bridge/repeater setup than Netgear. I like this model, I'm using one in the center of my home in town, also fed via EoP, for uniform wifi throughout that house. The ATT FTTN service there is even worse than out here at the ranch, it goes down for a minute dozens of times a day and maybe 30 tech visits over several years hasn't been able to fix it. Everything my side of the outdoor junction box - including the ATT router - is now second or third generation replacement and no tech visit has provided flawless service past 24 hours. I've had it with ATT. At least in town there is fiber available - at perhaps double what I am paying for 20gb service now.

I followed your suggestion and looked for WISP's here. A couple are single-location far from me, another starts at $59 for 1gb service (location unknown) and two took over 30 seconds for their web page to come up - then didn't show cost or location. One I looked at seemed to be a broker elsewhere who claimed he could set me up with someone local - for a fee. There clearly are WISP's serving remote high-end wineries that are way out in dialup country, but the expensive full-service IT support that they offer is more than I need, or want to pay for. I think I'm back to phone hotspot as the only practical alternative to the flaky ATT FTTN.

 

[vvanders]

Ah, that's a shame. We've got a really nice community based WISP up where we're moving to. Run by a bunch of hams, if I didn't have gigabit via cable I'd def be checking them out. It's a shame it's probably hard to lease a rooftop from in town and do point-to-point, the hardware has gotten so cheap these days you can do it for under $150 over 3-5km.

I'm a pretty big fan of Ubiquiti gear when it comes to Wifi. I've dealt with all the consumer/prosumer brands over the years and they eventually all fail or are crippled in one way or another. Ran ddWrt/Tomato for quite a while but since I've moved to their gear it's been night and day difference. Been dealing with it since cable modems were first a thing back in '99 where you had to buy enterprise grade firewall just to not expose your local network to the whole neighborhood.

It certainly cost a little more than the mid-low end consumer gear but they're competing in the enterprise space against Cisco and the like so you get a heck of a lot for what you pay for. Sadly doesn't help if your base internet isn't stable.

If you wanted to dive into the deep end of the pool you could setup something like a raspberry pi or spare PC running pfSense and then use that to connect to your wifi router. It's probably more hassle than it's worth though.

 

[California]

Thanks for the comments. I've read about Ubiquiti gear, I'm impressed. This thread reminded me of something I thought about long ago, I have an ideal location for a WISP transmitter. I'm near the top of a ridge and my water tower is line of sight to/from several square miles including a few miles of US-101 corridor several miles from me. Maybe 10k people out there. I wonder if an ad on Craigslist could locate someone willing to give me access in return for locating an antenna here.

Photo several years ago.

 

[dog13]

For converting from the ATT Modem -> Powerline Ethernet -> WiFi repeater scenario you could bridge if the signal reaches and your repeater supports it as was mentioned above.

The other option is to add an inexpensive WISP such as Amazon.com: TP-Link N3 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router - WiFi Bridge/Range Extender/Access Point/Client Modes, Mobile in Pocket(TL-WR82N): Computers & Accessories

your config would then look like

Hotspot -> WISP (wifi client) -> Powerline Ethernet -> WiFi repeater.
One of the config options will enable the WISP to connect to your hotspot and put out a plain old ethernet connection which can be linked to the powerline ethernet and drive the rest of your config

 

[California]

For converting from the ATT Modem -> Powerline Ethernet -> WiFi repeater scenario you could bridge if the signal reaches and your repeater supports it as was mentioned above.

I started with that when I had 1.5mbps DSL, but after I subscribed to faster FTTN the distance from ATT router to repeater was too far for wireless to reach at full speed. That's when I converted to EoP to push full speed signal out to the repeater.

The repeater presently is a re-purposed Netgear WNDR3400v2 router. It broadcasts wifi better than the couple of single-purpose repeaters I have tried at that location. Nothing I have located there received wifi well enough to repeat it at full speed.

I like that 'Amazon TP-Link N3 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router'! I think I have equivalent features, theoretically, in the ASUS and Netgear routers in my junk bin but those lack the straightforward setup and tiny size of this TP-Link gadget. This device would bypass the hours I've spent online researching obscure and poorly documented capabilities in traditional routers. Only $33? New toys!

 

[California]

Final wrap-up.

The overhead cable from the lane was down. I called it in on Tuesday, ATT came out Thursday then quietly left without contacting me or repairing it. I phoned in again and they replaced the drop today (Saturday). Not real fast response. My FTTN service is back up.

I confirmed Metro-PCS includes hotspot with no setup or extra charge. Just choose it in the phone and its on. I learned this is a standard Android service built into the phone, limited only by what your phone company wants to charge or restrict.

Additional data is expensive. I phoned in and added 2gb for $5, and complained about the $3 transaction fee so that was waived.

Added another 2gb online after the failed tech visit Thursday. This cost $5 plus $5 unexplained.

Summary: Hotspot is a viable alternative to copper-wire rural 10mpbs FTTN. It slows down more in the evening, to 5mpbs here, which is still acceptable for my use. I may switch to that if ATT service is as unresponsive as I found this time, and if I can find a phone data plan at reasonable cost.

And that road warrior tiny travel router looks like it would be nice to have.

 

[Aquamoose]

I’m expecting equipment from UbiFi with unlimited data on Monday. Like others, I’m tired of the lack of service on the outskirts of town. Hopefully, I’ll have great news to report!