Originally Posted by
jonsail
However, in general do people find that using their phone as an internet hotspot works wells when the ship is in cell phone range? Also, it seems that cell phone range extends quite a bit from land. Any tips or experiences using your cell phone as a hotspot to work a laptop in your cabin w/o incurring ship internet charges? Any tips for working with a weak cell signal? Thanks.
Yes. We use a T Mo ipad mini as a hotspot in port for email and stuff, and a project Fi Moto X4 if we need speed in port. The travel tech part of Flyertalk might help with some info.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology-169/
I am not sure how to improve a signal using a phone hotspot in a cabin. It seems in my experimentation that the metal structure of the ship will block cell signals depending on where the tower is. There are apps that will help you locate the antenna. When the signal looks blocked, I typically put the phone/ipad on the veranda...
The most amazing phone hotspot use for us was in the Beagle Channel many miles from Ushuaia.