| | |  | Batteries | Home » » T-Mobile 4G Hotspot (T-Mobile) | | | | | | | Description: | | | | | Features: | |
• Share T-Mobile's ultra-fast 4G network with up to five devices via Wi-Fi
• Share mobile broadband connectivity with laptops, smartphones, tablets, and more
• Flexible prepaid pricing for data ranging from 100 MB for a week to 3 GB for a month
• Includes microSD memory card slot for accessing optional cards up to 32 GB in size
• Includes SIM card
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 3.91 inches | | Product Width:
| 2.11 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.54 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.26 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 4.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.3 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.55 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 21 reviews |
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Most "cell phone accessories" shipped worldwide. All "cell phones" ship from wholesale warehouse in USA.
| | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 21 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 Great DeviceOct 29, 2011
By C Brown
Knowing that I would be somewhere with no Internet access for a couple of weeks, I researched several "MiFi" devices. Because they were all fairly similar, my choice was based on T-Mobile's 'pay-as-you-go' option.
The 4G Hotspot was a bit more expensive than other products, but I liked the idea of no contract, and being able to buy a gig of data-time for 30 bucks just for the times that I wanted or needed to use it.
My main objective was to be able to send/receive email and text from my iPod Touch and laptop. I understood that with only one gig, I would not be streaming movies from Netflix or watching YouTube videos. For the two weeks that I used it, primarily for email, I used half a gig of data.
Even though I bought the HotSpot from Amazon, when it arrived, I walked to the T-Mobile store in my neighborhood to have it activated. I did, subsequently, have problems setting up the password (and I never was able to change the SSID name), but I called the tech line and they were very helpful in solving my password problem.
The first time I went to T-Mobile's site to check how much data I had used, there was a glitch and it said I had used it all. When I checked the next day, it was working and I was able to see my correct data usage. In general, after getting used to using it, with a bit of trial and error, it turned out to be an amazing product. Almost every place I used it, I received 4G service. It was particularly helpful when I was out and about with my iPod Touch.
It's true, as others have mentioned, that sometimes it kind of "locks," but I found turning it off and then turning it on again (a kind of reboot) fixed that problem. If you have the patience to go through the activation process (I recommend doing that at a T-Mobile store), setting up the password, getting used to minor quirks at the beginning, this is an excellent and extremely useful product.
Also: If you want an iPad with 3G -- or have one without it -- and don't want to commit to AT+T or Verizon, this is a great alternative.
31 of 38 found the following review helpful:
 Buggy Little BoxNov 04, 2011
By David Mace
The speed is OK. I bought one and turned it into my 'primary' internet connection with a 10GB plan. It's enough, if you don't watch much TV or video, or super-sized downloads over it.
The bad things:
BUGGY connection. TCP/IP is supposed to be 'error proof'. Detecting and re-requesting bent UDP packets. You will find yourself reloading scrambled web pages, re-downloading LARGE files and software patches, watching videos that freeze, then watching ads again to see the rest, etc. using this device. It lets data errors through like no 2G, 3G or 4G device I have ever seen. This occasionally poisons the DNS cache with bad data, too, which will block web sites until you reset the cache. VERY ugly. T-Mobile doesn't seem to care about this at all. Apparently getting BAD data to you as fast as possible is what's important.
When ordering products on a web site (such as Amazon), be prepared to have to re-submit practically every page. You know, that queasy feeling when you don't know whether the previous order went through, or if you just ordered it TWICE? Yeah. PRACTICALLY EVERY TIME.
Backbone is wimpy. If you use this as 'the' wireless network, it will be super, duper, awfully slow, when network backups or file transfers between LAN computers, and that sort of thing happen. In other words, if 'Time Machine' starts up THROUGH this device, that's effectively the end of your internet connection until it's finished.
Two year contract. If you need the 10GB plan, that's only available with a contract. Boo!
Blocked sites. If you have a game console, the back-end URLs are blocked. This can be worked around by configuring a different DNS than what T-Mobile provides.
The built-in microSD slot is only accessible through USB (not a network share).
Tech support is laughable.
Was promised a 'rebate' with this device when I purchased it last summer. It was even filled out by the store. I NEVER got it. So don't expect that you'll get any 'rebate', either, if you order one, no matter how carefully you fill out the forms and jump through the flaming hoops. T-Mobile definitely comes from the 'deny rebates for any excuse' school or rebate processing. As well as the 'Lock them in to our GARBAGE and let them suffer' school of customer support. Basically, the only way they could have been more crooked was if they had been taken over by AT&T.
The good things:
There haven't been any outright outages. So I haven't been left 'without' a connection in the months since I bought it.
It is portable and convenient for travel. You KNOW you'll have a network connection wherever you go. Just not necessarily a fast one.
The connection is usually speedy... BUT if you burn through your bandwidth, you will SUFFER for it. It slows WAY down. Wish it were 3G way down? Wish it were DIAL-UP slowed way down! The person who sold this to me outright lied about the slow-down being '3G' speed. It is not even close. There is no way to 'add' fast bandwidth back onto it. You must wait until the next billing cycle. Of course, having to do whole enormous downloads (OS/software patches can be quite large), AT LEAST TWICE (and then sometimes having to manually reset corrupted download data in your file system to force a corrupted patch to download again) is a formula for burning through bandwidth.
It will plug into a Windoze or OS X machine's USB port, and take a charge, and provide a WIRED connection (but there is no Linux driver for this).
With the exception of the data errors coming through, absolutely unchecked, there are work-arounds for everything.
The latest patches 'fixed' some of the sleep issues that I had previously complained about (i.e. you can prevent it from going to sleep, EVER). They did NOT fix any of the buggy TCP/IP issues (and therefore HTTP issues) at all.
NEW UPDATE: Out of the blue, they began censoring web sites with 'Web Guard'. Even though the account shows it 'disabled', they are 'protecting me' from such potentially damaging content as NEWS SITES.
So not only is the gadget crap, and their service crap, now they are even further censoring my access to the web. Way to go! Got from a grudging three stars down to ONE in just a few months!
Update: The censoring was a glitch. But got bit by running out of the bandwidth allocation too many times, and downgraded the service, and bought a wired internet connection to the house again. When you run out of bits on the 10GB plan, you are well and truly hosed until the next billing cycle. Which can be a bit of a problem if you need the internet to do work.
29 of 37 found the following review helpful:
 Poor website design - customer serviceOct 08, 2011
By J. Williams
Terrible T-mobile website design and customer service. Took many attempts to activate device through their poorly designed website. Website instructions for activating were unclear. Kept asking to register new phone number of device to activate. To get phone number, had to figure out how to log onto device as administrator to view text message that contained phone number of device. Found solution buried deep in customer complaint forums. Then to buy prepaid minutes pass, would not accept any credit/debit cards I tried, had to set up a checking account transfer using routing/check numbers (electronic check). Also my.t-mobile.com website did not display metered usage of data until I had about 20% left. Also, by default, a feature called "web guard" is enabled on the device, so could not even view my states lottery web site because it was filtered! Suppose to be able to turn the web guard off through my.t-mobile.com website after filling out an age verification form that errors when submitting. Google on the web about the same experiences people had the same as I. Should have researched more b4 buying. That said, once device was painfully activated and topped off with prepaid credit, performed as advertised, was fast! To me, not worth the hassle that I went through, not to mention, it is not cheap to operate, went through 30 dollars for 1 GB of data in about 4 days of light usage. Please research other options b4 considering this prepaid plan.
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
difficult to activate, and my worst customer service experience in yearsDec 04, 2011
By M. Broderick
"mikebinok"
I am savvy enough to root my own Android phone, so I am probably more competent than 75% of the customers who will buy this device, but I have failed completely so far, as I took two hours to figure out how to read a required text message that doesn't display on the device (eventually I found that accessing it on my iPad wasn't possible, but that I could read it on an Android device). I've spent more than an hour on the phone trying to deal with the horrid customer service on different issues, and am now stymied because I can see the field where I should enter the required temporary password that came in the above text message, but I am somehow unable to type anything in that field, despite trying on an iPad and two different Android devices from different manufacturers. The customer service phone number given in the manual does NOT connect you to the right people, and after slogging through an automated voice recognition system, you are connected to an operator who will connect you to the 4G phone service people, who will then tell you that they do not do hotspots, and send you to another person, who will then transfer you to yet another person, and eventually I find myself on hold long enough that I hang up and start over. Before each transfer, the CSRs (who very obviously do not have English as their first language) read a lengthy script telling you that they are not the ones to solve your problem and another department does it, but they will transfer you to another department who will immediately solve my problem because my problem is so important to them, and T-Mobile is committed....blah, blah. Before I abandoned my attempt (after over an hour, most of which was either on hold or listening to CSRs read soothing scripts that had nothing to do with solving my problem, I was interrupting the last CSR as he began his "I'm going to transfer you...." and asking, "Just transfer me!" and he would begin reading the script again from the beginning each time. He did not understand what I was asking, and I'm sure he thought I was being a total jerk. After I spent a lengthy period of time on hold, I hung up. I'm going to cool off for 24 hours, and give one more Boy Scout try at solving my problem. If I don't succeed quickly, this will go back to Amazon. From what I've read, it sounds like it will be a nice device if I can just break through the activation process and the ineffective system of customer service. (Check my other reviews and you will see that I am rarely if ever this critical).
I'm sure I've had a worse customer service experience sometime in my life, but I can't remember it.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great little hot spotJan 21, 2012
By R. Garza
I used to have the tmobile rocket that was hooked to my computer via USB until I saw this device on the lighting deals. It appealed to me because I realized I could take my iPad with me and use my laptop at the same time. I just removed the sim card from my laptop stick and placed it in my new mobile hotspot device..and voila! All I had to do was enter my password into my devices trying to connect...clicked save..and I have been online ever since with my. Existing data plan. This device works well and I would definitely recommend it to others.
See all 21 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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