Many (although not all) mobile phone plans include a separate data allowance for hotspotting. The most common way to hotspot is to use your mobile phone as a personal hotspot. There are dozens of plans in the US that offer hotspotting, including mobile phone plans and mobile hotspot device plans. Verizon has the most expensive data per GB for mobile hot spotting while T-Mobile has the most affordable plans. You can buy prepaid data for your mobile hotspot and then use it as you go, or sign up for a monthly plan that gives you a set amount of data each month. Plus, you’ll pay more for each GB of data than you will with most other types of internet. All data-only hotspot plans limit the amount of data you can use. There are no unlimited mobile hotspot device plans (yup, you read that right-you’ll have to use a cell phone plan like we mentioned earlier if you’re interested in getting unlimited data). However, if you’re thinking about using a mobile hotspot instead of getting a dedicated home internet connection, we recommend against it. Many plans let you choose how much data you want to pay for each month, which can be handy if you travel seasonally and don’t need a lot of data year-round. But the more devices you have connected at once, the slower your data speeds will be. If you have a mobile hotspot device, you can provide Wi-Fi to five or more devices. Public hotspots are less reliable than carrying your own hotspot with you and are less secure, but they can be helpful in a pinch.
A public hotspot could be a free public Wi-Fi zone, Wi-Fi offered to customers by a business, or a network of Wi-Fi hotspots provided by an internet provider (such as Xfinity’s Wi-Fi hotspot network).