If you're not familiar with what hotspot devices are, these are portable Wi-Fi devices that you can keep with you to get a connection anywhere.
I've replaced my phone's data connection and my Wi-Fi at home with a hotspot device since I was incurring tons of overage charges, paying too much for a measly 10 GB data plan, and paying too much for my Wi-Fi at home.
These devices allow for unlimited data usage with very high speeds (capable on most of the devices listed below). I will try to be as detailed as I can with each business below so that you can make your own decision. If anyone has something I'm missing, please let me know and I will edit it in. A big hurdle I dealt with, is that these sites sometimes require you to be a student, or very low-income individual having have next to no assets, so I've included that as something to look for. I’ll also try to add in some of the suggestions from past threads.
(Mods: I posted links for each one, please message me if I shouldn't do that.)
FreeData.io
This is the device I’ve been using for a little while now. One difference with this is that it's a one-time fee, unlike the others which require monthly payments. My speed varies somewhere between 12 to 32 mbps, depending on where I am. The connection never drops but I have had other unrelated problems with the service which I will discuss below. I keep the device on my dashboard and it's been able to stay in place for some time now.
They have no income eligibility as far as I could tell, I was able to purchase the hotspot without any income forms etc. One of the problems I've had with FreeData was there response time. Their page said they would get back to me with 1-2 hours but it actually took around 3-5 hours. Although it's not a huge issue, it's still something I wish they were consistant about. Another problem I had was the format of the website. It was a little tricky to find out where to buy the items in the product page. They may have changed it since a while ago but I haven't checked. Other than that, the device works well for my general internet and streaming needs.
Limitless Hotspot
It was hard to find much info on this since the site doesn’t seem to provide a lot of details and I don’t know anyone who has this. Anyone I found on any niche forums didn’t seem to provide much info either so my findings are a bit limited. From one of the forums, someone reported speeds of around 2-5 mbps. This is still good for maybe streaming 360p videos, but I’m not entirely sure. Another user also reported that their speed fluctuated due to where they were, but only noted that it would be slower than the earlier speeds I mentioned. The few users I was able to find that used this business mentioned that it was probably not worth the price due to the lower speeds and connection fluctuation. If you are interested any further than this, I would recommend emailing them, even though I still haven’t gotten a response form my initial message I’ve sent a few days ago.
UnlimitedVille
This is also another device that I do not own. More people have this than the previous hotspot business so there was a little more information available for this. One good thing about this is that you’ll get slightly higher speeds than the FreeData.io phone. Another positive is that the website is very clean and informative now and is easier to navigate than before. Lastly, they provide multiple options for which type of device and plan you want. They have four types of plans and their cheapest one is $99 a month. Compared to FreeData.io and Limitless Hotspot, this is a very expensive plan and they offer around the same thing except for slightly higher speeds. It is not really ideal for replacing this with your existing data plan for your phone since you would be paying $1200 a year to continue their cheapest plan. I would suggest going to their website and navigating to the plans section if you want to learn more of the specifics.
Internet Anywhere
I do not personally own a device from this business, but I’ve known someone that does and they’ve been able to answer some of the questions I’ve had. One of the pros I’ve seen with the connection of this device is that they get slightly higher speeds on average, but nothing too ridiculous (maybe 1-2 mbps higher than FreeData.io). A second positive for this device is that it’s able to allow several devices to connect to it at the same time. Although the FreeData.io can do the same thing, the last device below (Limitless Hotspot) can not handle more than 1. They require proof of income to purchase one when I emailed their customer support. Some of the negatives compared to FreeData is that it will cost around $200-$300 more than FreeData and Limitless Hotspot. I’m not sure if that’s worth it if you only want 1 or 2 more mbps but that’s up to you. Another big negative is that site seems to crash quite often so it may be hard to connect at anytime you want. I have been trying to find the email of the business and I will edit it in if I find it.
I’m trying to get a comprehensive guide here for this subreddit, so if any of you have anything I should include please let me know!
May 19, 2017 at 10:57AM
