Questions and Answers

Can anyone give me a bead on the best way to tether data abroad? At home I tether with my T-Mobile iPhone. When I have LTE and use a USB cable to hard-plug the phone, it works like a charm.

T-Mobile makes a big deal of free data and texting in many foreign countries, but the LTE connections I use abroad are noticeably slower, and I can’t seem to tether.

The exception to this seems to be Mexico, where unexpectedly my tethering worked. But I also activated a plan for that trip that allows full usage throughout north America, including Mexico and Canada. (My T-Mobile plan is older … I understand that with newer T-Mobile plans the north American coverage comes standard).

Does GoogleFi tether worldwide? Offer faster LTE speeds abroad? Can anyone guide me to the best product out there?

Hey Paul, what phone do you have?

iPhone 6, with T-Mobile

Oops, sorry for missing that.

I believe you should be able to use your phone as a hotspot (iPhone users please chime in!), which might be subject to different rules and throttling than the tethering functionality? On my phone they’re very different experiences.

Nope, not for my iPhone 6s with T-Mobile. Didn’t work for me last week in Italy. I was told the reduced data speed was too slow for tethering.

Same here, Gia – I’m in Italy right now, in fact! And my Mobile HotSpot doesn’t work. Was the same all over Europe and South America. Mexico was the only exception (T-Mobile’s North America coverage, I assume.)

Tiffany, what’s your experience with Google Fi? Can you tether and/or use your phone as a hotspot anywhere in the world where you have cellular data?

Yep! Have been using my phone as a hotspot all week in Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria, has worked without issue everywhere I had signal (didn’t have data signal in the countryside between Berlin and Dresden, but not surprised by that.

Google Fi also gives you additional data-only SIMs for no charge, so I’ve put a couple of those in MiFi devices for my cousin and our moms, and have had no problems.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] what do you use as your hardware for your wireless hotspot?

I have a Huawei mifi, but anything similar should work.