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Phone as a hot spot


cjpj
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With the Medallion only allowing you one device with free internet, does anyone know if I can use my phone as a hot spot for my laptop? Would I be able to do something like a Teams or Webex meeting with the hit spot?

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2 hours ago, cjpj said:

With the Medallion only allowing you one device with free internet, does anyone know if I can use my phone as a hot spot for my laptop? Would I be able to do something like a Teams or Webex meeting with the hit spot?

I have a Google Pixel 4a with Android 11 and you CAN use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot.  I've tested it by turning off mobile data and turning on hotspot and connecting an iPad to the hotspot.  Worked fine.   That said I have NOT done it on a cruise ship yet.  In theory it should work unless Princess does something to stop it.

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While you are at sea, you will likely be out of cell tower range for your local provider.  You would likely end up paying enormous roaming data charges if you use your cell phone as a hot spot on board.  (That is if you can connect to a cell network onboard at all...)

 

As stated above, you can log off one device and then log the laptop onto the ship's internet.  If you are getting free wifi through the Princess Plus Package/Fare, the free wifi is per person, not per cabin, so if you have two people in the cabin, each person gets one free unlimited wifi account.

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4 hours ago, cjpj said:

With the Medallion only allowing you one device with free internet, does anyone know if I can use my phone as a hot spot for my laptop? Would I be able to do something like a Teams or Webex meeting with the hit spot?

As clueless2 said, there is no reason why you can't use the WiFi hotspot on your phone to connect your laptop to the internet. In fact, some people take travel routers to do the same thing.

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3 minutes ago, dwhe said:

As clueless2 said, there is no reason why you can't use the WiFi hotspot on your phone to connect your laptop to the internet. In fact, some people take travel routers to do the same thing.

Yes, a travel router, but not same as a hotspot. 

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1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, a travel router, but not same as a hotspot. 

A hotspot still needs to connect to a cellular telephone network.  That's where it becomes very expensive roaming data charges.  I use a router with my cellular hotspot and it creates a network for multiple devices, but it won't work if I don't have a cell signal.  I definitely leave it home when going on a cruise.  There is also the option to purchase a multiple device package from Princess...

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4 minutes ago, dwhe said:

Why would a hot spot not work when a travel router will?

"Travel routers and cellular hotspots are different in a key way. While travel routers create a private WiFi network out of a public internet connection, cellular hotspots create a private WiFi network out of a cellular connection."

 

Travel Router vs. Cellular Hotspot – Go Connect (goconnectinc.com)

 

 

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1 minute ago, Daniel A said:

A hotspot still needs to connect to a cellular telephone network.  That's where it becomes very expensive roaming data charges.  I use a router with my cellular hotspot and it creates a network for multiple devices, but it won't work if I don't have a cell signal.  I definitely leave it home when going on a cruise.  There is also the option to purchase a multiple device package from Princess...

Right, but it was about that the router can connect to ship's Wifi at least and be used.  We just do the 4-device package and share with friends.  I'd order it even for us as same price as two singe device packages.

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My phone can use a mobile (cellular) data connection or any WiFi connection as a hot spot, in theory I should be able to use my ships WiFi connection as a hotspot. I will try it out in 10 days time and let everyone know if it works, but I see no reason why it should not.

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29 minutes ago, dwhe said:

My phone can use a mobile (cellular) data connection or any WiFi connection as a hot spot, in theory I should be able to use my ships WiFi connection as a hotspot. I will try it out in 10 days time and let everyone know if it works, but I see no reason why it should not.

That would be great if you can test out the theory on the ship.  The internet provider has the capability (in theory, Princess) to tell whether the data going to the phone/device is being siphoned out through the hotspot app on the phone/devce or whether the data is being used by the phone/device itself.

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58 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

A hotspot still needs to connect to a cellular telephone network.  That's where it becomes very expensive roaming data charges.  I use a router with my cellular hotspot and it creates a network for multiple devices, but it won't work if I don't have a cell signal.  I definitely leave it home when going on a cruise.  There is also the option to purchase a multiple device package from Princess...

Not correct. At least for Pixel phones.   You can share a wifi connection with a pixel phone.  I've done it.  But not on a ship.  You do not need a cell connection.

 

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3 hours ago, phabric said:

You log off one device then log into another device.  You can not use 2 devices at the same time.

 

3 hours ago, franktown said:

As mentioned above all you need to do id logoff of one device than logon to the other device.  You just can't be logged on to 2 devices at the same time.  

@Steelers36help me work through this. WHY couldn't someone be logged onto 2 devices at a time if they purchased the 4 device pkg?? What don't I understand? You're the guru here so please shed some light on what I'm buying on a cruise with 2 kids / 4 devices / 1 might be gaming on her iPad + keeping touch with us on her iPhone (so I thought she could be on 2 devices at a time)

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33 minutes ago, clueless2 said:

Not correct. At least for Pixel phones.   You can share a wifi connection with a pixel phone.  I've done it.  But not on a ship.  You do not need a cell connection.

 

 

Being able to share a wi-fi connection is a fairly unusual feature.

Not impossible, but rare.

 

Being able to create a hotspot from cellular data is pretty common.

But, even if the phone can do it, it can be disabled (or enabled for a fee) by the carrier.

 

Using a travel router will work, but as others have pointed out, it's probably

easier to simply log out of one device when you want to use another.

 

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8 minutes ago, Ombud said:

 

@Steelers36help me work through this. WHY couldn't someone be logged onto 2 devices at a time if they purchased the 4 device pkg?? What don't I understand? You're the guru here so please shed some light on what I'm buying on a cruise with 2 kids / 4 devices / 1 might be gaming on her iPad + keeping touch with us on her iPhone (so I thought she could be on 2 devices at a time)

The posts you quoted were referencing the standard one device package where it is as indicated.  With the four device package you can be logged into as many as four at the same time.  So one person could be on two devices and another on just one, etc.  Any combination - as long as each user knows the credentials to login.

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35 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Being able to share a wi-fi connection is a fairly unusual feature.

Not impossible, but rare...

 

On all my Samsung Galaxy S range phones I have been able to share wifi without people having to log on, they just connect to the SSD

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Thanks to everyone for their response. So, one thing I didn't know, is that Princess assigns you a login and you can use that one login on multiple devices - just not at the same time. Do I have that right? If that's the case I don't need to use a hot spot. But now I'm curious. Have to see how @dwhe testing goes.

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41 minutes ago, cjpj said:

Thanks to everyone for their response. So, one thing I didn't know, is that Princess assigns you a login and you can use that one login on multiple devices - just not at the same time. Do I have that right? If that's the case I don't need to use a hot spot. But now I'm curious. Have to see how @dwhe testing goes.

Yes, you have that right. It's very easy to swap devices. You just bring up the website and click a button that says "connect this device" or something like that. Easy peasy.

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So I'm back to my earlier point. Why not 4 devices if you want to be on 2 at a time? Why be concerned about using the phone as a hot spot  (which I've done on my Samsung but I'd rather just have 2 devices if that crucial to be on both)

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22 minutes ago, Ombud said:

So I'm back to my earlier point. Why not 4 devices if you want to be on 2 at a time? Why be concerned about using the phone as a hot spot  (which I've done on my Samsung but I'd rather just have 2 devices if that crucial to be on both)

I don't want to be on two devices at once. I'm Elite and we get free wifi for each person. I thought you could only register one device per person. So if I wanted to use my phone most of the time, that is what I'd register.  But if I needed to do work (yes, I know it's a vacation), I didn't realize I could log off my phone and onto my laptop. If I have that right.

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5 minutes ago, cjpj said:

I don't want to be on two devices at once. I'm Elite and we get free wifi for each person. I thought you could only register one device per person. So if I wanted to use my phone most of the time, that is what I'd register.  But if I needed to do work (yes, I know it's a vacation), I didn't realize I could log off my phone and onto my laptop. If I have that right.

No more free wifi but yeah, the rest of it works. Happy Vaca

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