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Place where I'm temporarily staying has poor internet speed. Fire stick will be just fine & then disappear. GONE. Got up this AM & the app. was working & then gone again ! Cable TV works , but I like to hear & see what's going on back home. Is it worth the time & money to invest in a Hot Spot ? thanks for any replies, Derf
A “hotspot” is incorporated into most decent cellphones. Go to “cellular / settings” to enable it. Yes, there are separate “hotspot” devices you can buy. But they won’t give you any better service than a good cellphone. A lot of providers include access to the phone’s hotspot in their overall voice / data plan. My cellular costs $25 monthly from Visible, which operates on Verizon’s network. It includes hotspot and unlimited data. (Obviously one needs a lot of data to stream.)
How well will a hotspot stream video? If you only have 4G cellular a hotspot doesn’t work well for that purpose. Back when I relied on cellular for internet, my 4G cellular hotspot would stream reasonably well to my Macbook where I viewed some movies. But it failed miserably when I attempted to use a Firestick streaming device. Those types of devices consume loads of data.
If you are fortunate to have the newer 5G cellular in your area I’d expect that to perform reasonably well with any streaming device. Only newer cellphones / hotspot devices can receive 5G and even than 5G coverage is limited - but available in / near larger cities.
BTW - With the shakey internet you describe, a device like a MacBook or ipad might work better than the Firestick for streaming video. If so, there are ways to “patch” (using various cables) from the device into a TV. Gets complicated. Radio Shack is good at helping with such a connection.
@hank : Thank you for all the info. Food to think about. When the wheel starts to go around , I can live with that. It's when the picture locks up & I have to reboot the TV connection , which has the fire stick, that's the problem . We'll see how things work out going forward.
I’d think you could get better streaming through a conventional device - laptop or tablet. They do a better job with weak wifi. Than, if you wanted, you could run a cable from that device to any TV as long as you could obtain the correct adapters so they’d plug in to both the device & TV. I realize that’s a lot of trouble.
You might want to google “wifi speed test”. You can easily run a test to see how poor the wifi is. There’s a lot of information online telling what functions you can accomplish with different speeds. From what you describe, your download speed sounds well under 10 mbps.- possibly under 5. My “hotspot” (cellular 4G) provides about 5.5 mbps. My old Starlink service provided anywhere from 75 to 120 mbps. The current fiber optic (land-line) puts out 200 mbps (upgradable to 400).
@hank : You're correct about about the speed test it's low here, where I'm staying. Also it seems the internet has a per chance of disappearing. After internet returned this morning , good to go this morning. Last night it fled my location during the second half of Sunday-night football, so I went to cable TV & watched the last two innings of MLB. Living room TV seems not to carry local , CBS , NBC, etc. channels, so I'll check the TV in bedroom & see what I can find. Wouldn't one think both TV's would be carrying the same channels ? Maybe the "tuning" or channel watched needs to be reset. Have a good day, Derf
@hank: just a $2 wager on the Rangers? Good call! I thought Scherzer would get roughed up, but it did not happen.
Scherzer got jerked in the 2nd or 3rd inning. Recovering from some kind of shoulder injury. Gave it a good try. Turned the game off in the 7th or 8th inning as the scoring turned lopsided. I much prefer to watch and wager on NBA games. You can, of course, buy and sell positions during the contest … so it resembles investing (just a little). Regular season begins tonight. All for fun …
Long story short !! No need for hot spot. Tech from Spectrum came on Monday. Nothing wrong with modem or router, a bad connection in wiring. In case you were wondering, Derf
Ahhh … Similar event here. After having a new 200 mps fiber optic installed, I started pulling only 9-10 mps on multiple tests. Called the provider. They sent out a tech guy to replace the defective cable which the 1st guy had damaged (the connector) by forcing it through an opening it wasn’t big enough to go through.
@Derf - I thought of you when the NBA games I watch became herky-jerky. Occasional freeze ups. Turned out the 2-3 year old Amazon Fire Stick wasn’t up to the demands of my network. Bought a new Apple streaming device from a seller at EBay and works great.
Comments
How well will a hotspot stream video? If you only have 4G cellular a hotspot doesn’t work well for that purpose. Back when I relied on cellular for internet, my 4G cellular hotspot would stream reasonably well to my Macbook where I viewed some movies. But it failed miserably when I attempted to use a Firestick streaming device. Those types of devices consume loads of data.
If you are fortunate to have the newer 5G cellular in your area I’d expect that to perform reasonably well with any streaming device. Only newer cellphones / hotspot devices can receive 5G and even than 5G coverage is limited - but available in / near larger cities.
BTW - With the shakey internet you describe, a device like a MacBook or ipad might work better than the Firestick for streaming video. If so, there are ways to “patch” (using various cables) from the device into a TV. Gets complicated. Radio Shack is good at helping with such a connection.
Good luck @Derf
I’d think you could get better streaming through a conventional device - laptop or tablet. They do a better job with weak wifi. Than, if you wanted, you could run a cable from that device to any TV as long as you could obtain the correct adapters so they’d plug in to both the device & TV. I realize that’s a lot of trouble.
You might want to google “wifi speed test”. You can easily run a test to see how poor the wifi is. There’s a lot of information online telling what functions you can accomplish with different speeds. From what you describe, your download speed sounds well under 10 mbps.- possibly under 5. My “hotspot” (cellular 4G) provides about 5.5 mbps. My old Starlink service provided anywhere from 75 to 120 mbps. The current fiber optic (land-line) puts out 200 mbps (upgradable to 400).
Just some perspectives … FYI: Here’s one speed test https://www.speedtest.net/
Take care.
After internet returned this morning , good to go this morning.
Last night it fled my location during the second half of Sunday-night football, so I went to cable TV & watched the last two innings of MLB. Living room TV seems not to carry local , CBS , NBC, etc. channels, so I'll check the TV in bedroom & see what I can find.
Wouldn't one think both TV's would be carrying the same channels ? Maybe the "tuning" or channel watched needs to be reset.
Have a good day, Derf
BTW - I lost $2 last night on that late inning grand slam HR. Had wagered on under 8.5 total runs in the game.
Hope that works better than my stock picks of late!
In case you were wondering, Derf
@Derf - I thought of you when the NBA games I watch became herky-jerky. Occasional freeze ups. Turned out the 2-3 year old Amazon Fire Stick wasn’t up to the demands of my network. Bought a new Apple streaming device from a seller at EBay and works great.
Glad you got your issue resolved. Enjoy!