Mobile Hotspot (3G only)....you've GOT to be kidding me!

[JiveTurkey]

I'm still on the trial period and the 3G mobile hotspot is abysmal.  It gives an option for 5 devices, but I don't buy it.  All I have connected is my O.G. Droid streaming Slacker radio. 

I *CONSTANTLY* get a pop-up on the TBOLT's status bar that flashes "Mobile hotspot active: 1 connected user".  Yeah, I'd *HOPE* it's connected!  It seems to keep dropping the connection.  I've already tried WPA2 & WEP, this time I've turned off encryption all together (something I didn't want to do), and no difference.

Seems that when the Droid is trying to buffer the Slacker song, the TBOLT has no data connectivity & vice versa.  VERY frustrating because the wonderful programmers for Slacker decided that if the network connection times out or has lag, the song skips to the next one automatically (good thing I'm paying for premium, or else I'd be upset with the limited number of skips per hour being burned by a stupid software glitch). 

What happens the most is that I let things be (not using any data features on the TBOLT, pause my Droid's Slacker feed), and it sometimes comes up.  Sometimes I have to kill the WiFi on the Droid & re-enable, sometimes have to turn off & turn on Hotspot on TBOLT. 

And it's not just Slacker radio by the way.  Other functions on the Droid (web browsing, etc) disrupt the hotspot too.  Why do they claim 5 devices can be connected, sending & receiving data, as well as the TBOLT itself.  I call bullcrap on that....

Either way, this is GARBAGE!  Do they really expect people to PAY for this when the trial ends, especially in us "poor" areas that don't have 4G yet....

[GreenRobot]

Don't take this the wrong way but why did you buy the brand new first 4G devices if your not in a 4G area? I had the OG Droid and [edited for TOS violation]  to my computer and I paid to use the hotspot on my DX now I use the 4G hotspot and find that its way faster than both and works great.

[TheMiz]

FWIW i too bought the 4G T-bolt  but leave in an area that is still only 3 G 

Reason I did was I use a One year contract and that program ended April 17th

I am sure the T-Bolt will be outdated by the time we get 4G but I will also be able to upgrade by then too.

[TheMiz]

How did you get a free trial ?

I just bought my T-Bolt Friday and was never told anything about this.

[AZSALUKI]

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TheMiz wrote:

How did you get a free trial ?

I just bought my T-Bolt Friday and was never told anything about this.

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i believe it's free until may 15. i wasn't told that either when i bought it. but i've read that here (just check on my date because i'm not positive and i don't want you to be stuck with a bill). i believe there will be an opt in or opt out option, once you try to activate the hotspot after may 15????

[GreenRobot]

VZW is going to send out a so called update around the time the free hotspot period ends. I was told that this update will remove the hotspot ( app / icon )  from the device and to add it you must purchase the service. I know that you cant even add hotspot data service to your bill even if you wanted the option to add online won't let you and VZW csr's can't do it. So enjoy till they take it from you. I just wish we could see how much data we are currently useing so we can purchase the correct amount of data when the time comes. 

[Ann154]

The mobile Hotspot is included until May 15, 2011 per the news release.

http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/03/pr2011-03-14u.html

And in other news. The Samsung DROID Charge is official.
http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/04/pr2011-04-20.html

[PJNC284]

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Ann154 wrote:

And in other news. The Samsung DROID Charge is official.
http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/04/pr2011-04-20.html

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Hopefully it doesn't take them almost 9 months to update it to gingerbread. 

And WOW, $299 on a 2 yr contract.  That's a full $50 more than the Bolt. O_o

[Ann154]

And yet the DROID Charge still doesn't appeal to me. Sure I will try one out in the store, but that is it.

[AZSALUKI]

how did they manage to even load it with froyo????? lol....and what drives that price? specs look pretty comparable to the bolt (which, through various other sites, you can already get for well under $200)??

[JiveTurkey]

I think you all might have misread what I was getting at....

I don't mind at all that it's only 3G where I am at the moment, it's plenty fast for me (from what I've heard, LTE kills the T-Bolt's battery even faster...yay).

The issue is where the data connection keeps dropping (to the device in which I'm using the Hotspot as a wireless tether or the T-Bolt itself if it's using data, such as Slacker Radio, web browsing, etc)

Seems like it can't handle routing traffic to two different devices.  And yet it's marketed to support more than one.....oh really...

[Wildman]

Wouldnt it just be easier to just use Slacker Radio on TB instead of connecting another device wirelessly to it because that is simular to having 2 devices on line, the TB to make connection and the other device for access to app.  Why dont you just play it from TB?

[AZSALUKI]

wildman, he's having data drops during hotspot, which would be unnacceptable to me. there were many complaints about this, initially, but i hadn't seen many recently so i figured one of the updates resolved it? i guess not for everyone though.

[PJNC284]

The same thing happens with my parents Mifi which gets really annoying.  It will handle 1 computer fine, unless I come to Verizon's site and the mifi will lose data everytime.  2 or more computers and you can forget it.  There's a fairly long thread in the mobile hotspot section with no resolution.  Seems that hotspot performance in general is flaky (both standalone and on handsets).