Multiple connections on hotspot?

[Hotspots]

So I get that Visible officially only allows one connection per mobile hotspot but there are many people, including myself, that have phones which do allow multiple connections. You can't do a lot with 5mbps spread across multiple devices BUT it allows me to just use my phone to connect my vacuum, TV, etc without having to manage these connections manually. 

My question is, in the new update, is this "loophole" going away? I would easily pay extra per month to have multiple connections because its that convenient to me. Just wanting some clarity before upgrading or switching providers. 

[Anonymous]

Not sure what new update or loop hole you are talking about. Are you on the old Legacy(party pay plan) still?

I switched to the new plan a week and a half ago. I am not sure why Visible says one device only when I am still able to connect to multiple devices at once. On my phone I have set the limit number of devices allowed to 10. Will Visible make updates or changes to actually limit the number to one on hotspot, that remains to be seen.

Another thing I don't understand is why Visible mentions video will be delivered in 480p, not referring to hotspot but streaming in general. I can easily stream 1080p on YouTube on my phone and can easily stream 720p on my laptop on hotspot, even then I can switch to 1080p and stream at that speed sometimes. 

[Hotspots]

Yes, I'm still on party pay. I've been with Visible about 3 years now. I had a ZTE and  a Motorola phone which only allowed one connection per Hotspot. When I switched to Pixels I had access to multiple connections on my hotspot. 

Good to hear your hotspot wasn't affected after the upgrade. This is what I was worrying about because the multi connections are so useful to me. 

[Anonymous]

I have a Motorola G Power 2022 and the hotspots devices was set at one. It took me some digging on the phone but I finally found it last fall and I changed it to 10/max, this was when I was on the old plan. When I got my new card last week Monday, I double checked that it was still set at max. I normally only use my laptop on hotspot, I just checked it by grabbing my old phone and turned on wi-fi along with my tablet, it connects, it even shows 2 devices connected on my newer phone.

So if you are getting multiple connections now with your Pixel there should be no reason it should change if you decide to upgrade to the new plan. I would have held out on the old plan as long they kept it running but with the new $5 off for us legacy customers I jumped on it.

[Anonymous]

Whether you'll see the limits enforced primarily depends on your phone's capabilities and operating system version... so the answer is it all depends.

The ability for you to configure maximum hotspot connections on your device is one thing. Whether the carrier can actually enforce those limits is another. Both depend on the phone and its current operating system software version. With iPhones depending on version the ability for carrier control of their networks is more commonplace. Android not so much but some Android phones and versions of the Android operating system do, in fact, allow carriers to enforce this limit (as well as other limits). Getting all of the various Android phone manufacturers to agree on standards for carrier enforcement is a harder task than in the iPhone world. Apple has shown to be more accommodating to carrier enforcement - both in the carrier and Apple's best interests (not necessarily the same as your best interest).

Remember you're getting a new SIM with the new plans. Network limitations as well as other limits are typically stored on the carriers SIM and are then applied by the operating system. For example when I swap SIMs between Visible and my primary carrier (as I on my phones to evaluate which one works best where), the ability to modify some of my phones settings changes. Similarly some carriers want to limit personal hotspot usage in its entirety depending on which plan you subscribe to.

Regardless carriers do want the ability to restrict usage of their networks for monetization purposes or network utilization. The ability for carrier control is constantly evolving. Eventually all of the loopholes will likely disappear as manufacturers and carriers determine what's best for us.

Video stream throttling ("optimization" as carriers like to call it) is a different topic, as are hotspot speed limits are both handled differently and are educated guesses (some guesses are better than others). For example, use the Netflix fast.com speed test site and you'll see that Visible detects Netflix streaming as well as any other Netflix activity and typically throttles speed to about 2 Mbps. That's more than sufficient for reliable 480p and in some cases can even handle 720p. However, Visible is not so good at detecting other streaming sources. The methodology used to detect video streaming by all carriers is weak. Similarly, hotspot speed throttling is weakly implemented.

[Hotspots]

Thanks for the reply, BobT! Appreciate your insight. 

[kvando21]

Has anyone confirmed with the new Visible Basic Plan and a newish IPhone 12/13 with the latest SW that you can have multiple devices on the hot spot? Currently on the Legacy plan and they keep pushing to upgrade for free but I'm nervous about losing the ability for multiple devices. 

[LuluBrooks]

I just upgraded today, iPhone 13 and can no longer connect my MBP or iPad while using my roku. ☹️ 

[LuluBrooks]

I just “upgraded “ today and can no longer connect to other devices. Am on a iPhone 13. Use to be able to connect my Mac book and iPad while streaming on my roku. No more!😳

[NigerianKing]

Time to switch to Android lol, I'm using a Galaxy S22 Ultra and can connect to multiple devices all the time

[NatashaC7]

I lost my ability to add multiple devices to my hotspot as well. I am currently exploring other carrier plans and it is more important to me to connect multiple devices.

[sia12655]

I agree. The one device only is very inconvenient. I had a WIFI connected printer that I used remotely from my laptop. Now I can not do that. I would be willing to pay a little more for this capability. If the plus plan offered this, I would switch to that plan.

[rogerdpack]

FWIW I just checked the terms of use and it says "Visible includes mobile hotspot with unlimited data at speeds up to 5 Mbps. Video streams in SD. While more than 1 device may be connected to your Hotspot at one time, a single connected device will experience optimal speeds. Performance will be reduced if multiple devices access data through the Hotspot simultaneously. " so maybe the one device limit is gone?