Sync 3 WiFi Hotspot Download Speed Limitation?

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Riggs Brown

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I just purchased a 2019 Expedition Limited with Sync 3 and activated my trial AT&T "4G LTE" WiFi hotspot account.

I connected to the hotspot with my iPhone, ran a speed test, and it seems I am only getting 1Mbps of download speed.

To test that against my phone's AT&T internet, I disabled WiFi on my iPhone, ran another test (over the iPhone's AT&T 4G LTE cellular data signal, NOT WiFi), and was getting 7Mbps speeds.

Is there a speed limitation on the car's WiFi hotspot? Would be completely useless if so...I intended on using the hotspot to stream video for my kiddos, but doesn't look like that's an option if I am correct.

If anyone has input, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!
 

Squark

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I've wondered the same thing, but I average ~8Mbps down on my car's hotspot. My phone is on T-Mobile and almost always gets >15Mbps (my fastest was 99.5Mbps). I wasn't sure if AT&T's data is actually that much slower in my area or if there's another issue.
 
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Riggs Brown

Riggs Brown

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Good to know you're getting better speeds than I am.

I wonder if it is because I have a "trial" account? I may try upgrading to the paid account and see if that increases the speed...if not, I see no reason to keep it.

Anyone else have experience with speeds on their hot spot?
 

nate6966

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Either way, I was pretty ticked off about how a third of the trial data was burnt by the downloads and updates for the vehicle's systems (Sync). I have no other data usage to understand how it used up that data on the first day.
 

Grey ghost

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Will it work on verizon? I'm put out because apparently my moto z Droid won't charge in the built in charger but my girlfriends apple works fine. So I just imagine this hot spot is probably a one carrier deal too.
 
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Riggs Brown

Riggs Brown

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Problem solved. Apparently I just had bad luck with the first few spots I tried the speed test on. Drove around a bit, tried some different spots and was getting up to 8Mbps speeds.

Grey Ghost, it is AT&T 4G LTE service, but any wireless charge enabled phones should work on the charging pad, do you have anything metal on the back of your phone or a case that might be blocking it? Try taking your case off and see if that works, or turn your phone around.
 

Yoop33

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How consistent has the connection and speeds been? I need solid, not blazing, speeds for work while driving around town.
I also wanna make sure that my laptop will just automatically connect and that I don't need to do anything else like "connect to hotspot"... I just want it to connect
 
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Riggs Brown

Riggs Brown

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Connection is consistent and my phone automatically connects every day so I would imagine your laptop would do the same. However, I find myself more often than not disabling WiFi on my iPhone because speeds can be slow at times, which is unfortunate. I am paying for this service to offload some data consumption from my phone plan but I’m not sure it’s worth it at this time. If I were you, try it out and see how you like it. Please post back with your findings if you choose to use it. I will try to do the same as time goes on...anyone else having a similar issue?
 
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Riggs Brown

Riggs Brown

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Connection is consistent and my phone automatically connects every day so I would imagine your laptop would do the same. However, I find myself more often than not disabling WiFi on my iPhone because speeds can be slow at times, which is unfortunate. I am paying for this service to offload some data consumption from my phone plan but I’m not sure it’s worth it at this time. If I were you, try it out and see how you like it. Please post back with your findings if you choose to use it. I will try to do the same as time goes on...anyone else having a similar issue?
 

Yoop33

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Well I'm going back and forth between a '16/17 Navigator or a '19 Platinum because of this feature. I obviously want something new and has all the bells and whistles but will be super disappointed if I get into the Platinum and the wifi doesn't work as I need it to.
Plus I just watched a youtube video explaining that you can tether your phone through bluetooth to Sync and then Sync will make a hotspot that will automatically connect a laptop.... which is basically what I'm trying to achieve. Granted I know I can just use the hotspot from my phone, but when I connect a laptop, I have to open the wifi settings and manually select it instead of it just connecting like it seemingly would through Sync.
 
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