I need help solving a problem

[youngster]

I suffer from really poor Internet speed because of my location. As a result, when the unlimited data plan was offered by Verizon I bought it with the hope that I could use the high speeds of LTE someday.

Now that we are days away from the iPhone 5 having LTE I am trying to figure out how I can use the iPhone 5 as a hotspot in my home. My iPhone will have unlimited data on it so I want to use it as a router for the other devices in my home.

Is there a way to do this?

 

[njn007]

You would need the hotspot feature to share the connection with other devices, but that might force you off of unlimited data- I may be incorrect here, but I know on AT&T if you're on unlimited data you don't get tethering/hotspot or FaceTime over 3G/LTE.

 

[youngster]

You would need the hotspot feature to share the connection with other devices, but that might force you off of unlimited data- I may be incorrect here, but I know on AT&T if you're on unlimited data you don't get tethering/hotspot or FaceTime over 3G/LTE.

I understand that the free hotspot is only offered for verizon shared data plans. Those with unlimited are out of luck.

I just was hoping there was some way around this. I have to keep my unlimited plan if I intend to use the iPhone for my entire homes Internet needs. But I can't leverage the free hotspot so I am screwed.

Anyone know of a way to use the free hotspot on the Verizon unlimited plan?

 

[Interstella5555]

You would need the hotspot feature to share the connection with other devices, but that might force you off of unlimited data- I may be incorrect here, but I know on AT&T if you're on unlimited data you don't get tethering/hotspot or FaceTime over 3G/LTE.

Yup, my choices were $50 for 5GB+tethering or $30 to keep unlimited...not too hard of a choice.

 

[nostresshere]

Hello Youngster:

You may have noticed that when folks need some help, they include enough information in their posting title to describe the issue.

If you scroll down the page, you will see others have already explained all this.

 

[youngster]

Hello Youngster:

You may have noticed that when folks need some help, they include enough information in their posting title to describe the issue.

If you scroll down the page, you will see others have already explained all this.

Sorry. I admit I'm not very good at this. I am not too sure how to search for an answer to my problem.

 

[greytmom]

I suffer from really poor Internet speed because of my location. As a result, when the unlimited data plan was offered by Verizon I bought it with the hope that I could use the high speeds of LTE someday.

Now that we are days away from the iPhone 5 having LTE I am trying to figure out how I can use the iPhone 5 as a hotspot in my home. My iPhone will have unlimited data on it so I want to use it as a router for the other devices in my home.

Is there a way to do this?

No, there isn't.

 

[leenak]

I forget what they call it, it used to be called Mifi, but can you add an internet hotspot device line to your plan? You'd have to pay extra monthly fee and they are LTE enabled now. I bought one for a relative of mine and they love it (DSL/Cable modem wasn't an option in their area).

 

[pure3d2]

You would need the hotspot feature to share the connection with other devices, but that might force you off of unlimited data- I may be incorrect here, but I know on AT&T if you're on unlimited data you don't get tethering/hotspot or FaceTime over 3G/LTE.

The hotspot is $20/month for 2GB. Wait for iOS6 to get the jailbreak, then you can buy TetherMe ($5) to enable the hotspot without paying the rip off price.

I have TetherMe on my jailbroken iPhone4 and I use the hotspot feature all the time; it just shows up as cellular data (as it should!).

Verizon had Apple disable the hotspot feature. They have it set so that it can be enabled once you sign up for the separate hotspot plan (it won't affect your unlimited data plan). Basically, it turns the tethering feature on and then sets a different APN record--that's how Verizon differentiates your iPhone's data from the tethering data/hotspot. Wireless carriers wanted this so they could gouge customers for more money.

I'm waiting for iOS 6 jailbreak to come out before I buy the iPhone 5 (at full price).

You're not going to be able to use the iPhone as a router per se. The hotspot allows 5 devices to connect (someone correct me if I'm wrong). What you could do is use a router which has DDWRT on it, set it to connect to the iPhone's hotspot (whenever it's available), then set your other devices to connect to the router, not the iPhone. This method will allow you to overcome the 5 devices limit.

In actuality, if you do manage to get this working, Verizon will either throttle you once you use a certain amount of data or drop you completely as a customer if you repeatedly use a lot of bandwidth.