Hello.
My small family and I have multiple desktop computers and laptops/notebooks (Linux/Debian stable, 2008's MacBook Pro's Mac OS X, and very old Windows XP Pro. SP3) and mobile phones (an Apple iPhone 4S and two LG Cosmos 2). We want to get a back up fast Internet connection in case Time Warner Cable (TWC) goes down which does happen once in a while for hours and is quite annoying. Currently, we use dial-up Internet through Verizon's old copper phone lines on one Windows computer but it is too slow (3 KB/sec average even on various 56k modems -- it has been like this since the mid 1990s/90s)!
I assume I need an USB wireless modem if needed for emergencies, but 4G type. iPhone 4S uses 3G. Do we connect it to these mentioned phones? How will that work? Are these modems backward compatible? Do we need new phones that we just bought earlier this year?
Thank you in advance. 
If your goal is to connect computers to the internet over 3G or 4G then look into the JetPack products. A single MiFi can wirelessly connect multiple computers. The new 4620L can even tether a connection via USB.
If your computers do not sit close enough then you can team up the JetPacks with a PepWave Surf to provide cable ethernet connection to the distant computers or a more powerful router/access point. There are many possible combinations that would work much better than the hotspot services offered from the Verizon smartphones.
Otherwise you will need to have a smartphone that supports a mobile hotspot feature. Any computer you try to connect to the smart phone will need a wireless adapter. Wireless adapters can be internal network cards or external USB attachments. All wireless is backwards compatible, its the newer technologies that are not always detected. If your phone does not provide mobile hotspot then it will need to be replaced.
So I can't reuse the current iPhone 4S (3G) and the two LG Cosmos 2 phones and Verizon's 3G data plans it seems like. Am I correct? I was hoping to connect my computer to these mobile phone to use Verizon Wireless' 3G data plan. 
Ann154 wrote:
Like John mentioned above when you turn the iPhone hotspot on, it becomes a wifi hotspot. The computers can connect to the hotspot with a wifi connection. You need the Wifi antenna hardware installed on the computers.
You also need to change your data plan to the 4 GB with hotspot for $50 per month to use the hotspot feature on your phone.
Ah OK. So I have to change the current data plan to include hotspot to use on iPhone 4S or a different phone. And get a wifi device for computers. I actually have a few very old ones that should still work (WEP only though). Is 4 GB with hotspot the highest? Also, is this only 3G? I assume it can't do 4G. I don't care as long as it is faster than 3 KB/sec like on dial-up modem and copper lines (ugh!).
Ann154 wrote:
There are higher data plans. They all only include 2 GB per month for hotspot data though. The iPhone will only connect to 3G signal. You could upgrade a phone to a 4G LTE phone or get a separate Jetpack mifi device that is a dedicated mobile hotspot. It all depends on how and what you want to connect to the Verizon Wireless network.
Hmm, I wonder which one is cheaper. I am disappointed that I can't use iPhone 4S' existing phone data plan to use with computers to save cost.
I think you best Bet to go with would be J.G's suggestion!
Ann154 wrote:
I'm not sure if you understand the post correctly. You have a smartphone data plan that is either the old unlimited data plan or one of the tiered data plans starting at 2 GB per month. The mobile hotspot feature is an additional 2 GB per month and a separate charge for that feature if you have the unlimited data plan. If you have one of the tiered data plans, you NEED to change the plan to a data plan (starting at 4 GB per month) that includes the mobile hotspot.
IPhone's data plan is not unlimited. It's only 2 GB cap per month. Verizon doesn't even have unlimited anymore.
