Re: AT&T Foxfi/Pdanet+
So there is no way to use the Foxfi/pdanet+ mobile hotspot on AT&T?
On the xda forums two Verizon users say their Foxfi/pdanet+ mobile hotspot works and another poster said it didn't work on Sprint & TMo.
If not I'm going to have to switch to a Mobile Share plan to pick up the mobile hotspot. I haven't gotten around to calling them to see why my login portal pricing is so much higher than yours.
The only way I knew to use FoxFi after I received the 4.3 update OTA on my Note 2 was to root and flash a custom ROM. Now, this would not seem that problematic, but remember if you took 4.3 OTA, you now had the locked bootloader problem as well as Knox. I took the 4.3 update OTA so I could get the Gear watch, and that created an additional problem, which was that I also had to find a custom TouchWiz type ROM that would work well (or at least work) with the Gear. This got very frustrating, so after I researched the Mobile Share deal, it actually proved to be a no-brainer to switch.
Here are the relevant excerpts of the last AT&T bill on my old, "unlimited" data plan, which my wife and I both shared (her summary is in the left column). As you can see, we each had the $30 "unlimited" data plan for a total of $60, shared 1400 minutes of talk for $80 and unlimited messaging for $30, and paid an extra $10 for her line (and paid another $10 for mobile protection and insurance for her, a fee I later removed). After taxes and fees, that came to $215.86 total per month:
Here are the relevant excerpts from my latest bill. You'll see that for each line (again, my wife is on the left)l, there is a Mobile Share Value Smartphone charge of $40 a month, but also a $25 discount for each line -- that's for either bringing your own phone (which is what we did) or using a phone through the Next plan. (It's important to note that if you go the two-year upgrade route instead -- e.g., paying $300 for the Note 4 and the additional upgrade and activation fees -- you do not receive this discount.) Then there is the $100 Mobile Share charge for 10GB of shared data, and unlimited minutes and unlimited messaging -- and free hotspot on each line. After taxes and fees, this comes to $139.78. (We got a $3.00 credit on this bill when I remove the mobile protection/insurance on my wife's phone.)
The bill is going to go up another $30 this month because I changed from the $100 10GB plan to the $130 30GB plan -- AT&T has a special offer this month to double the 15GB plan to 30GB when you switch plans or sign up. Even that's still waaaay cheaper than the old plan. Using Next to get my Note 4 will add another monthly charge, but I will still come out ahead. And I have hotspot.