T-Mobile Hotspot Internet

[Jim1348]

I have some friends and family members that are T-Mobile customers. If I added a $20/line/month tablet plan, onto their account, can that SIM card be used in a hotspot or is it locked to the tablet?

What is the best way to check the data speed of T-Mobile in my area? I assume the best and easiest is to simply stop at a T-Mobile store.

[billm261]

Not sure how that would work but T-Mobile does have a prepaid tablet/hotspot plan. 10.00 for 2GB 25.00 for 6 GB and others increments. SIM is free to go from hotspot to tablet or the opposite.

[jet1000]

If I added a $20/line/month tablet plan, onto their account, can that SIM card be used in a hotspot or is it locked to the tablet?

If they recognize the device as a hotspot, it won't get full speed data. They used to block it altogether. Now they might just throttle it to 3G speed (512k). Because the T-Mobile One tablet plan does come with Mobile hotspot data at max 3G speeds when you're using the tablet as the hotspot so I'm guessing they might treat a device they know is an actual hotspot the same way.

Here are the details on the T-Mobile One tablet plan:

https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-36964

[gregoryb1]

What is the best way to check the data speed of T-Mobile in my area? I assume the best and easiest is to simply stop at a T-Mobile store.

I've found that for whatever reason, T-Mobile speeds are amazing everywhere but in the T-Mobile stores themselves.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[high technology]

As noted by the posts above, there are two different plan structures. T-Mobile One is $20 and includes throttled hot spot data speeds. Theoretically, they should throttle a hotspot on this plan, but not sure if they throttle or block a hot spot device. I do know they can detect the devices as the free 200MB/month SIMs don’t work in hotspots.

The other is the Simple Choice data-only plans that offer fixed data buckets and aren’t throttled ($10 for 2GB and $25 for 6GB). These should also work in any device as several people have been using these in phones too.

[NotABiot]

I've found that for whatever reason, T-Mobile speeds are amazing everywhere but in the T-Mobile stores themselves.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

It must be a field eminating from the magenta window lights and displays that blocks cell signals!

[wralford]

Not sure how that would work but T-Mobile does have a prepaid tablet/hotspot plan. 10.00 for 2GB 25.00 for 6 GB and others increments. SIM is free to go from hotspot to tablet or the opposite.

If you ask a store rep -- any reading can confirm/deny -- they will say that these plans are avail on post-paid also as stand-alone plans. But if you have voice lines, the $20/month Tablet additional line would be a better deal.