Mobile which can act as a portable hotspot?

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

I have a Galaxy S2 which I use as a portable hotspot to allow me to use the internet on my laptop. It is a Three all you can eat plan and I use it as my main internet source.

Recently my phone has been playing up - I think (hope!) it may be just battery issues, but it occurs to me I should have a "back up"/spare phone in place in case it gives up the ghost, as otherwise I'd be completely without the internet.

Pls can anyone suggest a cheap spare mobile I could buy that would be capable of acting as a portable hotspot once I insert the Three SIM card into it?

It would just be a spare phone so anything cheap and cheerful would fit the bill.

Many thx in advance.

grumbler

Any smartphone does this. The cheapest I know costs £20+£10 at CPW.

That said, AFAIK, "all you can eat" doesn't necessarily mean that you are allowed to tether.

d123

Any cheap smartphone will do it these days, so a low end Lumia like the 520 or a cheap Android phone like the Moto E or G.

Be aware, if you don't have tethering included in your plan, Three are becoming much more efficient at blocking it now.

bsms1147

If you have all-you-can-eat data, you have a Personal Hotspot allowance of 2GB for new Pay Monthly plans and 4GB for new SIM 2014 plans

From Three.

d123

bsms1147 wrote: »

From Three.

Older handset and sim only contracts and all PAYG plans on Three do not allow tethering.

waterwatereverywhere

Hi,

Many thanks for the helpful replies. I will take a look at the phones which have been suggested.

I have one of the "older" Three "All you can eat" plans and I've been told specifically by Three that I have unlimited tethering and will only lose this if I choose to "upgrade" from my original plan, which I have no plans to do....

waterwatereverywhere

I've just managed to "dig out" of the bottom of a drawer an old LG GT405. This was my brother's quite a few years ago. I currently can't find a charger to charge and switch on. Would this be suitable to use as a portable hotspot or do I really need something more modern?

matttye

bsms1147 wrote: »

From Three.

My contract with them supports unlimited tethering.

grumbler

http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_gt405-3215.php

It doesn't even have WiFi

d123

waterwatereverywhere wrote: »

Hi,

Many thanks for the helpful replies. I will take a look at the phones which have been suggested.

I have one of the "older" Three "All you can eat" plans and I've been told specifically by Three that I have unlimited tethering and will only lose this if I choose to "upgrade" from my original plan, which I have no plans to do....

I presume it's called the "One Plan"?

Richard_T_

You may be able to use the LG Viewty GT405 to connect to the internet on your p.c but dont expect an easy plug and play experience.
You will need to have the phone set up and functioning with your three sim.
You will also need to have the correct lead to connect to your p.c (usually a USB data connection cable - if its not micro usb then you will need to find the correct one for that phone
You will also need to have the correct software running on your P.C

You will then need to find a feature called Use phone as a modem/internet connection
if you can do all that you will be in luck, however if the phone is an old 3G model it may not be compatible with the most recent 3G improvements, and your browsing speed will be painfully slow as its HSDPA only and not DC HSDPA or HSDPA+ this will limit any speed to a theoretical maximum of 3.6mb
It may be far far easier to get a cheap android phone and use that