Can I use mobile hotspot to watch Netflix on my smart TV?
I so badly want to get rid of my crappy Internet service provider. If I add mobile hotspot to my cell plan, would I be able to connect my smart TV to that and stream Netflix? I have an unlimited data plan. Anyone ever tried this?
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The big issue is the bandwidth that your mobile hotspot delivers. Netflix is smart enough to send a less quality signal for slow connections, so it might work OK. Really, the best thing to do is to try it, maybe with someone else’s hot spot, before you cut the cord.
The secondary issue: Most cell providers say “Unlimited”, but once you use a certain amount of data, they slow your connection by about 80% – to a trickle. So you have a connection but godawful slow. You need to check that out as well.
Yes, I have done that. I used to do everything from a 4G hotspot until an evil ISP bought out my provider and made it die. It works if your mobile hotspot really gives you enough data and bandwidth and they don’t do something evil like block or choke Netflix or streaming.
Yup. My sister and her kids did it for a few months when they moved.
But beware. Double check that you cell provider allows unlimited while acting as a hotspot. Some have unlimited plans but only allow a certian amount when acting as a hotspot.
You might want to speak with your cell provider. With mine, I have unlimited data for my phone; however, the data on my mobile hot spot is limited to 5gb a month. Once I cross the 5gb threshold, I’m raped by the per gigabyte fees!!! You might be able to watch your movies on your phone covered under the unlimited data plan.
I’ll definitely have to check on whether there’s a cap on the hotspot data.
I’m not 100% sure this will work. But I am about 90% sure it will. You could get a Chromecast (35 bucks from Google) and mirror your phones screen and audio to your TV. That would get around the bandwidth limit since you would never turn the hotspot on. I believe mirroring only works from Android phones.
A couple caveats. You might need to have a router in the middle somewhere. That is easy enough, they are 15 bucks for a cheap wifi router. And the second problem is it might make the phone unusable for anything else while mirroring.
Not ideal but a option.
If you have a iPhone you could get a apple tv and just Airplay it.
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