Colin Fee via luv-main <luv-main@luv.asn.au> writes:
In the scramble to get people to, work from home over the past weeks, we discovered three that do not have home internet. They asked us for broadband dogles or modems, to which we said use your phone, data charges are similar etc.
They contacted their respective telcos who all said don't use your phone for this, especially for long periods as it may damage the phone.
I couldn't find any compelling evidence for or against.
My experience of using my Phone, a Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, as a Wifi hotspot, is it is good most of the time, but terrible when it encounters congestion. As in it never drops packets, ping times are measured in minutes, and even when you leave the congested area it still doesn't work correctly - presumably because it has a huge buffer of old packets that it is still trying to send. Packets that should have been dropped because TCP has already tried re-transmitting the data numerous times already. i.e. classic buffer bloat problem. As tested going on a train through the city loop and coming out near Richmond station. Before COVID-19. I found it works a lot better if I turn it off before going into the congested area and turning it back on leaving the congested area. Also this only happens for packets using the wifi hotspot - apps on the phone itself are fine. In comparison I have a NetGear Nighthawk M1, and while reception is still pathetic in the city loop, and it still doesn't drop packets, ping times normally are under 30 seconds, and it comes good almost immediately when leaving the congested area. For example, I can often use Internet sites when at stations on the city loop using my Netgear Nighthawk M1, but can't when using the new phone. I am not sure I understand why there is such a large difference between the two, with the old obsolete device being so much better then the new phone. Some phones can consume battery quickly when acting as a wifi hotspot. I don't know anything about damage to the phone however. I was thinking of cancelling my 2nd mobile plan, and just using my Phone. But then when I found out about the above problems decided to keep the 2nd plan a bit longer. Now I am working from home in an area of poor mobile reception maybe I should think about cancelling again. Although maybe if I put the Nighthawk outside I might just get enough reception in case they stuff up my Internet if/when I can and do try connecting to NBN FTTN. -- Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/