How much bandwidth will a mobile hotspot provide?

[polarisinc]

Hi All,

My wife and I are planning a trip and at the end of the trip, we will be staying for a week at a friend's place in Portland, OR.  This place has very slow internet access.  We will need to work during the week and are looking for a solution.  So far, what we've come up with is a mobile hotspot device.  We both use laptops for work and I connect via a VPN.  My main concern is not having enough bandwidth for work.  We won't be downloading/uploading videos or photos or streaming music or playing games.  Does anybody have a guess as to how much bandwidth we would need?

Thanks,

Tim

[vzw_customer_support]

Hey polarisinc,

I've heard Portland, Oregon is a wonderful city and I hope that you are your wife enjoy your time there. A mobile hotspot would be an excellent idea to use our 4G LTE network while there. Your device may even have that functionality.

When you mention bandwidth do you mean if the area you are going to be in has adequate coverage or are you concerned with how much data you are going to use?

If you are concerned with coverage use our coverage map,http://vz.to/1aezHZQ, to check the coverage in that area.

If you are concerned about data usage use our online data calculator to help estimate your usage,http://vz.to/1eXbB9Y.

Please provide additional details so that I can better assist.

NicholasB_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[John_Getzke · Accepted solution]

No one can tell you how much data you will be using.  Everyone is different and estimation tools are only an estimation.  To know for sure you need to setup a monitoring application or frequently check in with VZW for updated usage statistics.  Some Jetpack models can tell you your current data usage on the front display which makes it a little easier.

In terms of bandwidth, or the capacity of your connection anything with 4G LTE is going to be sufficient.  The download speeds of a 4G LTE area are between 5-12 Mbps and are typically higher in certain spots.  This is a fairly big improvement from 3G speeds at 1-2 Mbps.  3G is normally acceptable for folks who do not have heavy usage and only do light browser/surfing activities.  If you can stay away from streaming music, video and large image files you should be fine.

A good benchmark to help you compare these numbers with whatever you currently have is www.speedtest.net.  Run a few tests from this site and compare it to the numbers posted above to see approximately how similar the services are.  You can also use VZWs coverage map to determine where in Portland is covered by 3G and 4G LTE.

[polarisinc]

Thank you, John.

Tim

[lookinforanswer]

Activity/Download	File   Size
1 email	10   KB
1 webpage visit to EVDOinfo.com	150   KB
1 Hr of Online Poker	2   MB
1 downloaded song from iTunes	4   MB
1 digital photo (point & shoot   digital camera)	3   MB
1 digital photo (pro / prosumer   digital camera)	10   MB
1 typical 3 minute video on   YouTube/Google	5   MB
1 hour of 56k audio stream	25   MB
1 typical 5 minute video on iTunes	30   MB
1 typical 45-minute TV show from   iTunes	200   MB
1 hour of video stream or 2-way   video chat	52   MB
1 hour of World of Warcraft online gaming	32   MB
1 hour of Netflix Standard Definition stream	660   MB
1 hour of Netflix High Definition stream	1.67   GB
1 Full-length (2 hours) movie   MPEG4 download	1.5   GB
1 entire DVD (MPEG-2) disk image	4.5   GB
1 hour of Hulu Standard Definition   stream	350   MB
1 hour of Slingbox Standard   Definition stream	444   MB
1 hour of Ustream Viewing	192   MB
1 hour of Ustream Broadcasting	102   MB
1 hour of Xbox/PS3/Wii Online   Gaming [Average]	50   MB
1 hour of Microsoft Remote Desktop   Connection	60   MB
1 iBook download for iPad   [Average]	0.5   MB
1 episode on ABC Player for iPad   [1hr episode]	183   MB
1 hour of Pandora Radio streaming	27   MB
1 hour of AOL Radio streaming	50   MB
1 hour of Facetime 2-way video   calling on iPhone 4	90   MB

[lookinforanswer]

This is a good "guide" for your usage questions.  Now, there is a free bandwidth monitor but it must be installed on each machine using a connection to get the accurate usage data.  This too is to be used as a "guide" only because it does not take into consideration the roaming onto other carriers towers and such when using a jetpack.

http://rokario.com

Maybe this will help a bit.

[austindlmercer]

i am only getting 15 kilobytes per second for my downloads and i don't use my hotspot ever, anyone know why my hotspot is so slow? 

[vzw_customer_support]

Good morning, austindlmercer. It's important to have the best speed, so I understand your concern when your speed is slow than expected. I'm here to help. When did this begin? Does it happen in a particular location? Please check your private messages for further details.

TracyB_VZW