Does the hotspot pick up signal better or worse than a cell phone?

[DeanR]

My question is this, does the hot spot pick up signal better or worse than a cell phone? I spend most of my time on the edges.

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[brnpttmn]

I'd imagine it should be better since it won't have the space or power constraints of a mobile device. Of course it's highly dependent on the cell phone you're comparing to, and the bands/frequencies each support.

 

[BeachBum]

My thinking is that the antenna on the outside of the truck is going to get a better signal than my phone which is tucked under the dash, inside a metal and glass box. For me though it's not a true one-to-one comparison because the truck's cell carrier (AT&T) is different than my phone's carrier (Xfinity Mobile/Verizon) and where the truck might be in an AT&T dead spot, my phone may not, and vice versa.

 

[FirstFord]

My question is this, does the hot spot pick up signal better or worse than a cell phone? I spend most of my time on the edges.

If you're not living on the edge...you're taking up too much space.

 

[BoxxerDad@50]

How will the hot spot Wi-Fi work? Will I be able to use it to connect my phone to and then access the apple play functions? If so maybe a good alternative as my location and carrier is Verizon which doesn't always work so well?

 

[Whitenight]

Just a quick note about the onboard Wifi through AT&Thief - even though you have unlimited data, after you reach 22gb of data used for the month, they will start to throttle down your connection speed until the beginning of the next billing period.

 

[BeachBum]

How will the hot spot Wi-Fi work? Will I be able to use it to connect my phone to and then access the apple play functions? If so maybe a good alternative as my location and carrier is Verizon which doesn't always work so well?

Yes, that's exactly how it works.

 

[brnpttmn]

Just a quick note about the onboard Wifi through AT&Thief - even though you have unlimited data, after you reach 2gb of data used for the month, they will start to throttle down your connection speed until the beginning of the next billing period.

They may throttle after 22gb of data:

Data Restrictions: After 22GB of data usage on vehicle Wi-Fi hotspot in a bill cycle, for the rest of the cycle AT&T may slow data speeds on vehicle Wi-Fi hotspot during periods of network congestion.

This is relatively common for "unlimited" plans across carriers, and it actually sounds more like a de-prioritization than a throttle.

 

[Whitenight]

They may throttle after 22gb of data:


This is relatively common for "unlimited" plans across carriers, and it actually sounds more like a de-prioritization than a throttle.

My fat fingers dropped one of the "2"'s from the post, but I have the plan in my Escape and yes, they do slow down the connection and I have seen it through the speed tests before and after the "limit" was reached.

 

[brnpttmn]

My fat fingers dropped one of the "2"'s from the post, but I have the plan in my Escape and yes, they do slow down the connection and I have seen it through the speed tests before and after the "limit" was reached.

How slow are the speeds after the limit is reached?

 

[Rob Cactus Gray]

My thinking is that the antenna on the outside of the truck is going to get a better signal than my phone which is tucked under the dash, inside a metal and glass box. For me though it's not a true one-to-one comparison because the truck's cell carrier (AT&T) is different than my phone's carrier (Xfinity Mobile/Verizon) and where the truck might be in an AT&T dead spot, my phone may not, and vice versa.

I would assume the outside antenna is just the radio.

AT&T is almost non existent here so I am screwed

 

[Whitenight]

How slow are the speeds after the limit is reached?

I've gone from 56mbs to 18mbs.

 

[brnpttmn]

I've gone from 56mbs to 18mbs.

Good to know. That's not bad. I've seen throttling that will limit to 3g or even 2g speeds after the limit is reached.

 

[Whitenight]

Good to know. That's not bad. I've seen throttling that will limit to 3g or even 2g speeds after the limit is reached.

I just don't know why Ford decided to lock their modem to a specific carrier instead of letting you choose your own. They may have one of the largest coverage areas, but as someone else has stated in this thread - they aren't available everywhere. Once I reach the limit where my speeds start to drop, I just switch over to my cell phone and use its mobile hotspot.

 

[brnpttmn]

I just don't know why Ford decided to lock their modem to a specific carrier instead of letting you choose your own. They may have one of the largest coverage areas, but as someone else has stated in this thread - they aren't available everywhere. Once I reach the limit where my speeds start to drop, I just switch over to my cell phone and use its mobile hotspot.

I'm sure they were paid a hefty sum of money from ATT. At least we get the base features for free, and if you really want to you can always buy a hotspot/service from another carrier.

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