Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T iPhone data speeds vs HotSpot

jjk454ss

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 10, 2008
4,528
522
I have an iPhone 7 which consistently gets 25 Mb plus speeds, up to 50 Mb. I picked up an AT&T homebase which I understand is a test in our area. I've seen slightly higher, but my average speeds are well under 5 Mb. I know I lose some to Wi-Fi, but my speed shouldn't be so slow I don't feel. I'm considering returning the homebase while I still can and adding a hotspot to my data plan and maybe upgrading to the unlimited plan. Can anyone tell me if the hotspot would or should at least get the same speed as my iPhone?

I don't know why this homebase is so much slower but I've tried two of them and they're both the same. Is anyone familiar with the homebase, or does anyone have one? I'm wondering if there's anything I can do because I like this idea better than the hotspot.

Is anyone familiar with the homebase, or does anyone have one? I'm wondering if there's anything I can do because I like this idea better than the hotspot. If I go unlimited data and they never am on Wi-Fi, what do I lose as far as iCloud services? I know it won't back up in less I'm on Wi-Fi, but what about photos and other items syncing between my iPhone and iPad?
 
I've never heard of homebase before so I cannot comment on it, but I can say that with both my 6s and my 7+, my hotspot speed is identical to whatever my LTE speed is.

From my phone itself:

7t-IQLsaTWyiM3mveRTjcA.png

From my desktop tethered to the LTE:

-yEaXF4gSCa90gsuM1acNQ.png


fVqA_Sm9R0aWyU4BMCjZ_A.png



Burned through roughly 300 meg total on speed tests, so I can assure it it's practically identical. Hope this helps!
 
fartnugget213 said:
I've never heard of homebase before so I cannot comment on it, but I can say that with both my 6s and my 7+, my hotspot speed is identical to whatever my LTE speed is.

From my phone itself:

7t-IQLsaTWyiM3mveRTjcA.png

From my desktop tethered to the LTE:

-yEaXF4gSCa90gsuM1acNQ.png


fVqA_Sm9R0aWyU4BMCjZ_A.png



Burned through roughly 300 meg total on speed tests, so I can assure it it's practically identical. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Is this the hotspot on your phone? Or is this an actual hotspot separate device? I'm thinking of getting the separate device that would give me unlimited data rather than the 10 GB of tethering
 
The homebase does not have carrier aggregation. It may also not pick up on all the lte bands either, but I'm not 100% sure on the bands.
 
cope24 said:
The homebase does not have carrier aggregation. It may also not pick up on all the lte bands either, but I'm not 100% sure on the bands.
Click to expand...


OK, I don't even know what that means, I'll have to look it up. But thank you for the info. Do you know about the mobile hotspot? With that pick up the same bands and have the same features as the iPhone as far as getting the best service? I just left the AT&T store, they told me the homebase has a $45 restocking fee and if I picked up a hotspot that would also have a $45 restocking fee. I don't mind getting it if it works, but if it's just a slow I don't want to pay $45 restocking fee either
 
jjk454ss said:
OK, I don't even know what that means, I'll have to look it up. But thank you for the info. Do you know about the mobile hotspot? With that pick up the same bands and have the same features as the iPhone as far as getting the best service? I just left the AT&T store, they told me the homebase has a $45 restocking fee and if I picked up a hotspot that would also have a $45 restocking fee. I don't mind getting it if it works, but if it's just a slow I don't want to pay $45 restocking fee either
Click to expand...


No problem. I have the unite explore netgear model 815s. It has 3x carrier aggregation, which it will combine 3 lte bands together like your phone does. I believe it has the Qualcomm modem like the Verizon iPhone has in it. I had a homebase at one time and would peak around 18 Mb dl speed. With my unite explore I've hit around 80 Mb dl with an average of around 50. It's about the same as my iPhone. I am currently running my whole house from this hotspot docked into a netgear cradle (dc112a). Works well with the exception of online gaming.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xoAnna and jjk454ss
cope24 said:
No problem. I have the unite explore netgear model 815s. It has 3x carrier aggregation, which it will combine 3 lte bands together like your phone does. I believe it has the Qualcomm modem like the Verizon iPhone has in it. I had a homebase at one time and would peak around 18 Mb dl speed. With my unite explore I've hit around 80 Mb dl with an average of around 50. It's about the same as my iPhone. I am currently running my whole house from this hotspot docked into a netgear cradle (dc112a). Works well with the exception of online gaming.
Click to expand...

Thanks again, that's exactly what I needed to know. I think I'm going to rest the $45 restocking fee and pick up the unite hotspot.
[doublepost=1498958640][/doublepost]I was checking out that Netgear cradle, have you ever tried different antennas?
 
jjk454ss said:
Thanks again, that's exactly what I needed to know. I think I'm going to rest the $45 restocking fee and pick up the unite hotspot.
[doublepost=1498958640][/doublepost]I was checking out that Netgear cradle, have you ever tried different antennas?
Click to expand...

No, my signal strength is so strong I don't have the need for one. There are two ports on the back for them with a ts9 connection.

The cradle will boost the lte signal some on it's own.

The dc112a has 4 Ethernet ports on the back and the dc113a I think only has one. They're hard to find, I got one on eBay for ~$120. I believe they're $200 new. Last I checked one can be had on eBay for around $100 now.

You can also USB tether the unite explore to an asus router and go that route.

Pretty much whatever speeds you are seeing on your iPhone is what you will get with the hotspot itself. The cradle may increase it a little depending on signal quality and stength.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk454ss
cope24 said:
No, my signal strength is so strong I don't have the need for one. There are two ports on the back for them with a ts9 connection.

The cradle will boost the lte signal some on it's own.

The dc112a has 4 Ethernet ports on the back and the dc113a I think only has one. They're hard to find, I got one on eBay for ~$120. I believe they're $200 new. Last I checked one can be had on eBay for around $100 now.

You can also USB tether the unite explore to an asus router and go that route.

Pretty much whatever speeds you are seeing on your iPhone is what you will get with the hotspot itself. The cradle may increase it a little depending on signal quality and stength.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you. I'm excited to try this out. I ordered the DC112A from Amazon, and I plan on getting the Unite hotspot tomorrow and returning the homebase
 
jjk454ss said:
Awesome, thank you. I'm excited to try this out. I ordered the DC112A from Amazon, and I plan on getting the Unite hotspot tomorrow and returning the homebase
Click to expand...
Cool, I'm pretty pleased overall with it. For $20 a month unlimited data, you can't beat it. I'm in a rural area too so I never see much deprioritization, and I average around 500-700 Gb a month.
 
cope24 said:
Cool, I'm pretty pleased overall with it. For $20 a month unlimited data, you can't beat it. I'm in a rural area too so I never see much deprioritization, and I average around 500-700 Gb a month.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty rural as well so I don't see that being an issue for me either. When you say $20 a month unlimited data, is that just $20 added onto your unlimited data plan that you already had? It sounds like my bill will go up about $60 a month to go with the unlimited data and the hotspot, but I'll save $25 off my DirecTV and get free HBO
 
jjk454ss said:
I'm pretty rural as well so I don't see that being an issue for me either. When you say $20 a month unlimited data, is that just $20 added onto your unlimited data plan that you already had? It sounds like my bill will go up about $60 a month to go with the unlimited data and the hotspot, but I'll save $25 off my DirecTV and get free HBO
Click to expand...

Yes I already had the unlimited plus plan. $25 off my Directv, and free hbo. I called the day my Directv contract was over and they gave me $50 off a month for a year too!!

Also, I bought the hotspot outright and didn't sign a contract. You can find them all day on eBay for $125 but I didn't wanna wait on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk454ss
I probably should've bought it out right also, I'm not sure of $150 savings is worth a two year contract. But at this point I have no plans to leave, and I think the early termination is $150 anyway.

I'm going to have to play around a little bit, but I just tried it out for the first time in on my iPhone and iPad I get about 5 MB download speed, which is well under half of what my iPhone is getting right now. All three of the devices, the iPhone, the iPad, and the hotspot are on one table. I have to play around with putting the hotspot in different locations to see if it helps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cope24
jjk454ss said:
I probably should've bought it out right also, I'm not sure of $150 savings is worth a two year contract. But at this point I have no plans to leave, and I think the early termination is $150 anyway.

I'm going to have to play around a little bit, but I just tried it out for the first time in on my iPhone and iPad I get about 5 MB download speed, which is well under half of what my iPhone is getting right now. All three of the devices, the iPhone, the iPad, and the hotspot are on one table. I have to play around with putting the hotspot in different locations to see if it helps.
Click to expand...

Go into the deuce info and check out your signal quality and strength. Find out where your closest cell tower is and put it in the window in that direction. See if that helps ya any. A lot of trial and error finding the "sweet spot"

Also, if you leave it plugged in all the time, take the battery out. There's also a setting to extend the wifi range if you'd like to. Another to have both 2.4 and 5 ghz bands utilized. You'll see faster speeds on the 5 but the range is limited on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk454ss
cope24 said:
Go into the deuce info and check out your signal quality and strength. Find out where your closest cell tower is and put it in the window in that direction. See if that helps ya any. A lot of trial and error finding the "sweet spot"

Also, if you leave it plugged in all the time, take the battery out. There's also a setting to extend the wifi range if you'd like to. Another to have both 2.4 and 5 ghz bands utilized. You'll see faster speeds on the 5 but the range is limited on it.
Click to expand...

I'll give these things a try, thank you. I'll give these things a try, thank you. Do you know where I can find the closest tower for AT&T? The couple sites I've found don't seem to work anymore
 
  • Like
Reactions: cope24
jjk454ss said:
I'll check it out, thanks. I only tried one spot, the front window, and I'm getting 25 to 30 Mb. So I'm pretty happy with that, 2 to 3 times as fast as my DSL was
Click to expand...

Good! The cradle will also boost your signal when you get it. Glad it's working out for ya!
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk454ss
cope24 said:
Good! The cradle will also boost your signal when you get it. Glad it's working out for ya!
Click to expand...

I'm hoping it helps out with the cell signal, but I'm sure it will help a lot with the Wi-Fi signal. On the opposite end of the house it's very low right now
 
  • Like
Reactions: cope24
jjk454ss said:
I'm hoping it helps out with the cell signal, but I'm sure it will help a lot with the Wi-Fi signal. On the opposite end of the house it's very low right now
Click to expand...

Yes it def will help that tremendously. The 2.4 network will def cover your house, unless you're in a very large home.

Are you running dual bands on the hotspot now?
 
cope24 said:
Yes it def will help that tremendously. The 2.4 network will def cover your house, unless you're in a very large home.

Are you running dual bands on the hotspot now?
Click to expand...

I don't see how to run on both, I see where I switch to either 2.4 or 5 GHz but I don't see an option for both
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk454ss
I got the router the other day, but they sent it with one antenna instead of two. So I'm waiting for an antenna so I can test it. It's still drives me crazy that my iPhone while on a cellular connection gets 30+ Mb, when the hotspot in the iPad yet maybe 5 Mb.

I have created to the unlimited plan with AT&T, but I can't just tell her everything to my iPhone because that only gives me 10 GB.
 
jjk454ss said:
I got the router the other day, but they sent it with one antenna instead of two. So I'm waiting for an antenna so I can test it. It's still drives me crazy that my iPhone while on a cellular connection gets 30+ Mb, when the hotspot in the iPad yet maybe 5 Mb.

I have created to the unlimited plan with AT&T, but I can't just tell her everything to my iPhone because that only gives me 10 GB.
Click to expand...

I've gone way past the 10 gb with no slowdown. Idk if it's implemented yet.

The antenna on the dc112a is just for the wifi I think?? Try cradling the hotspot and check the signal strength and quality with the cradle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back