Visible Phone Hotspot

[Kountryguy]

Can anyone recommend a router to wirelessly connect to my Visible smart phone to enable me to use more than one device at a time?

[Tom_M1]

I have two phones which were purchased from Visible. One is a ZTE Blade 11 Prime and the other is a Motorola one 5G UW ace. I just checked and both allow more than one connection. I don't recall if I ever checked but am pleasantly surprised. I have a wireless router and have been using it for a while. Perhaps I no longer need it.

[dieseltruckdriv]

austinjenna wrote:
Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

Some Visible phones will allow more than one connection, mine will only allow one connection. If we both want to surf the internet, then the repeater is necessary.

Also in our case, it depends on whether I am using the Visible phone or the ATT hotspot for internet service. With the repeater our devices only need to know one connection. The phones don't care, but some of the things like the Chromecast and the Kindles or wifi camera need setting up for each different connection and that gets to be a much bigger pain than just plugging in the repeater and having it set up for the different internet connections.

[DancinCampers]

I use the hotspot in my Win 10 desktop to share share my Visible phone in my motorhome.

[austinjenna]

One advantage of a cell modem (travel router) is the ability to add an external antenna. In fact, most cell modems have two antenna connections, allowing dual external antennas in a MIMO configuration resulting in considerable data speed increases.

Thanks for the explanation. I dont have visible so can have multiple connections and also have the surecall booster so I can put an antenna up on a telescoping rod in those fringe areas.

[1492]

Reviewed the latest Visible TOS (08/2022) and there is no mention of hotspot or limits to one device. Their FAQs state "All Visible members have mobile hotspot included with their service with unlimited data at a speed that’s perfect for streaming, up to 5 Mbps." No mention of the one device limit anymore.

[vermilye]

austinjenna wrote:
Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

One advantage of a cell modem (travel router) is the ability to add an external antenna. In fact, most cell modems have two antenna connections, allowing dual external antennas in a MIMO configuration resulting in considerable data speed increases.

[Tom_M1]

Most phones sold by Visible only allow one device to connect to the phone's hotspot. Connecting the phone to a wireless router allows multiple devices to be connected.

[austinjenna]

Just a curious question as to why folks are using travel routers. It seems most phones/mifi devices have a hotspot feature where they can share the connection so I wanted to know of why go through the trouble of all the other setups people have.

[Kountryguy]

Thanks dieseltruckdriver. That looks perfect.

[dieseltruckdriv]

Kountryguy wrote:
Can anyone recommend a router to wirelessly connect to my Visible smart phone to enable me to use more than one device at a time?

I am using THIS with a Visible smart phone for one of our internet options. The 5Gb limit isn't an issue, we stream whatever we want to watch, do Zoom and Teams meetings, just not doing all of it at one time.

It will work well for you, and they are easy to set up.

Edited to add more:

We can both connect to the repeater and the Visible phone only sees one connection. We usually have both our phones and our Chromebooks connected and have not had problems surfing, but it isn't as fast as our home connection.

[Tom_M1]

Hopefully this will enlighten some folks.

Most of Visible's smart phones allow only one connection to the phone's hotspot. It appears that iPhones are an exception.

You can connect to a wireless router either by a USB cable or with a WiFi connection. The router will allow you to connect to multiple devices. The SIM remains in the phone. The router is the only device connected to the phone's hotspot.

Visible limits the hotspot data speed to 5 Mb/s. There is a hack that you can apply to the router that disables the limit. This might violate Visible's terms of service.

Here's a link to a lengthy thread on iRV2 forum:
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f53/25-month-unlimited-internet-interested-442091.html

[1492]

As mentioned, per their terms of service, Verizon Visible only allows one device connected to hotspot at a time. Some have taken the Visible SIM card and placed it in a mobile hotspot. The problem with doing so is if Verizon detects that you're using Visible on a hotspot device, they will disable and cancel your account. This has been documented on other forums.

[Second_Chance]

From a tech trade rag:

"Visible limits mobile hotspot data speeds to 5Mbps—most carriers don’t have speed limits for hotspot usage.

Visible only allows you to connect one device at a time—the single connection makes sense, though, considering that the 5Mbps speeds don’t really support multiple devices."

Rob

[Lwiddis]

Same as flyboy for me and my iPhone.