One of the things we needed to do before our second practice trip was to qualify whether the 4G Smartphone Hotspot  service on my mobile phone had its own data plan or not. A hotspot enables you to use your mobile data service and share it through a Wi-Fi connection to multiple, nearby devices. Since the data plan on my phone is unlimited, you can see how verifying this would be helpful. We could connect all the devices in our camper to this universal utility and leverage the Verizon network to fuel our digital lifestyles.

I already knew that I had an unlimited data plan on my phone, so that was never in question. However, I wasn’t certain that the data usage through the $30/month hotspot that I would enable later on was unlimited, as I utilize it through my phone. When the service was activated on my phone , the Verizon representative told me it had a 2GB data limit and was treated just like a new phone, but without a number. Damn, I thought. Really? Why doesn’t it just use the data plan on my phone? The hotspot is a service running on my phone, not an external device, so why would it have a separate plan? I never saw another entry for the 2GB data plan on any of my monthly Verizon invoices, so I was always skeptical about the 2GB limit and wasn’t ready to take on the unknown extra costs if I were to enable the hotspot prematurely without knowing how we could use it.

Liza and I ran several travel-related errands before our trip to Sandusky, OH, and stopping by the Verizon store was an important one. I had to talk to someone and review my account directly. I had a fear that if we opened up my hotspot to all our devices, we would receive a $400 phone bill. We ended up going to a Verizon anchor store and not a re-seller, so everything was very official. After a warm greeting from Patricia, she asked me to verify my account information and then asked to see a driver’s licence. Now we could finally get to the meat of this situation.

Patricia reviewed the account and thanked me for being a Verizon customer for 11.6 years. I explained in detail my situation and she was empathetic and scanned every line of the last invoice, confirming that the hotspot was using the unlimited data plan. In fact, the new invoice just came out and my phone used up just over 4GB without any extra charges. I got the answer I was looking for and the confidence to use the hotspot for our travels without receiving a hefty invoice.

A key component to our nomadic lifestyle is having a reliable internet connection to run our business and stream Minecraft videos. Now we can.

To learn more about the 4G Smartphone Hotspot, visit our Happy Campers post.