Dongle or Personal Hotspot

Submitted: Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 10:57

ThreadID: 147758 Views:2210 Replies:4 FollowUps:3

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mepvic

For the past 6 or 7 years, we have hooked up our Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 to a Telstra 4GX dongle when we go away. Add the dongle to our existing Telstra account for the 3 months or so we are away then simply have it removed. All done at the Telstra shop. Use the tablet for general internet access, banking etc. including hooking up to EO Traveller. We have the tablet velcroed to a bracket on the dashboard and run EO Topo as well as Traveller in the background.
Have had a couple of short trips lately and rather than have the dongle set up I have used the personal hot spot on my phone. Works ok for all that we use the tablet for including Traveller.
Has anyone had an issue using the phone hotspot? It does shorten the battery time available in the phone but I normally have the phone plugged into the car when travelling anyway.

Have searched threads on this but they are mainly between 2010 and 2019. Any more up to date comments appreciated.

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Reply By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 11:30

Reply By: Briste - Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 11:41

Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 11:41

I've got a Tab S6 and use it much as you do. I would always use my phone's hot spot where my carrier (Optus) has decent reception. When there isn't I have a Nighthawk modem with a Boost SIM. (I could put the Boost SIM in the S6, but having the modem means that my wife still has connectivity if I've gone missing with the tablet.) I've never thought of getting a USB dongle for the tablet. I have an old one lying around somewhere that I used with an old laptop, but that's old technology IMHO.

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Follow Up By: mepvic - Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 12:01

Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 12:01

Thanks Briste. I call the device a dongle for want of a better name but it doesn’t pllug into a usb port. It’s a wireless device that I usually leave powered up in the car. Given to us by Telstra when we moved into our new home and used it till they sorted out our nbn issues.
If there are no major issues as indicated by David and Michelle, might continue with the hot spot arrangement and buy more wine rather than pay to add the dongle to our Telstra account.

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Follow Up By: Briste - Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 12:22

Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 12:22

OK, so you have a battery-powered wireless broadband modem. If it's not a Netgear Nighthawk like mine then it would be broadly similar. If I didn't have it then I'm not sure I'd buy it now. Nowadays you can use eSIMs to have two carriers on the one device, or I could just put the second SIM in the tablet. I'd hotspot from one or other device depending on which carrier is available.

I bought the Nighthawk when I was intending the follow the approach of a vlogger named Overland Exposure, who was advocating the use of a Nighthawk with a directional MIMO antenna as a way to get reception in very marginal areas. But the price of Starlink hardware dropped before I bought the antenna. So the Nighthawk is not much used, really only when I'm away for a sufficiently short period that it's not worth unpausing the SL account, and there's a decent Telstra signal but no Optus. Or at home during an Optus meltdown.

In theory one advantage of the Nighthawk is the option to use a better (MIMO) antenna, but I've never really been in a recent situation where I wanted to do that. I got the SL dish for remote travel.

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