Plan for travel on the road

[askyoba]

Hello Community,

I am going to drive on the road for about 10 days. Is it possible to share my mobile data with my laptop through hotspot? I check emails occasionally during daytime and may have a 1-2 hours meeting through MS Team, how much data would be enough approximately? I would like to avoid paying for the most expensive plan, if other options are sufficient. I would be able to use Wifi in hotels in the evenings. Thanks! A.

[Nezgar]

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@askyoba wrote:

Hello Community,

I am going to drive on the road for about 10 days. Is it possible to share my mobile data with my laptop through hotspot? I check emails occasionally during daytime and may have a 1-2 hours meeting through MS Team, how much data would be enough approximately? I would like to avoid paying for the most expensive plan, if other options are sufficient. I would be able to use Wifi in hotels in the evenings. Thanks! A.

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You can also use MS Teams directly on your mobile device. The Apple/Android versions have a low bandwidth option which may use less mobile data than the desktop app:

https://www.onmsft.com/news/microsoft-teams-video-calls-can-now-use-less-data-on-mobile-devices

Another option, if the meeting host offers it, is to dial-in to the teams conference using a regular phone call. If the phone number and meeting ID are not in your meeting invite, you may see it when joining the meeting, or it may have an option to call you. This is an optional licensed feature, so not all organizations may have the option available.

[LurganIeUk]

For mail.....why not do that on phone using data or free wifi.

For MS.....try the hotspot at home and determine use of data by checking usage before and after. 

Plan your trip and meetings around free wifi at Home Depot, Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Shaw Free HotSpots.  

Do you have Shaw internet? It will pay you back if you register your devices.

See here https://www.shaw.ca/internet/wifi

[kselmak]

@askyoba 

One more thing, test it well before, even though WiFi hot spot should be working it may be defunct, i found that one the hard way once i just turned it on and it connected but i never actually tested if it works. You may find out you need to take your old phone or borrow one for the trip

[kselmak]

@askyoba 

If not for video conferencing you could get away with smaller plan and maybe an addon. If you can just call into meeting using your calling it would be feasible. Conferencing consumes a lot. I find it's best to pull close to a free WiFi and just ask them to send relevant screenshots by email if you are already using a laptop, this would be a nightmare if you are receiving files on the phone.

Make sure you use Google maps for that trip. i use it even with iphone as they give you the option to download maps offline, this will save some data.

Have a safe trip

[softech]

@askyoba , possible but be careful...  Your laptop might think this is a regular wifi network and download everything as usual (e.g  OS system and security update, video autoplay, etc)

When setup Windows to use this mobile hotspot, make sure you select this as metered connection/metered network.   Disable or Limit all your OneDrive and other Cloud Drive sync,   Disables automatic downloading of most Windows updates and apps update.   If you use Facebook, you might want to also disable video autoplay.

[Dunkman]

@askyoba 

Public mobile does support mobile hotspot. Not sure how much data is used for 1-2 hour virtual meeting though.  

From a quick search on internet,

https://gadgetstouse.com/blog/2021/02/12/data-consumed-by-zoom-google-meet-skype-microsoft-teams-sla...

It looks like 0.5-1.5 GB/hour depending on which service you use and quality of streaming, etc. 

[hairbag1 · Accepted solution]

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@askyoba wrote:

Hello Community,

I am going to drive on the road for about 10 days. Is it possible to share my mobile data with my laptop through hotspot? I check emails occasionally during daytime and may have a 1-2 hours meeting through MS Team, how much data would be enough approximately? I would like to avoid paying for the most expensive plan, if other options are sufficient. I would be able to use Wifi in hotels in the evenings. Thanks! A.

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You can use the "Hotspot" function on the phone to allow your tablet or laptop to use data.

Use free wifi as much as you can.