Hi all:
does anybody use a 5g cell phone to connect to a Smart TV via a wireless router ?
Is it reliable enough that Spectrum Internet service could be dropped, and the internet services like HULU could be watched thru the phone.
Currently, I pay for Spectrum internet ( going up to $85/month, my cell phone: $60/month, and HULU: going up to $75/month, I think ). I’d like to eliminate Spectrum, if possible.
Do you have a 5G cell phone? How many bars do you get? Have you tried a speedtest on your Cell phone if you have one? How fast was it? (Just google speedtest and run it)
Andy
Be aware that many “unlimited” data plans impose “throttling” of your data above certain GB based on your unlimited plan.
You could burn through your entire “unlimited” data in a long weekend of streaming. If you go this route, you may want to download shows vs streaming them.
I do not have a 5g phone yet, but I am due for a new phone.
I currently have a probably 2016 Samsung, it was the cheapest phone that was available when I bought it, lol.
I ran the speedtest from the location I use to access the internet, the results came back with 18.3 mbs download speed, and 0.47 mbs upload speed. The text that the test results showed was: "Your internet connection is fast. Your connection should be able to handle multiple devices streaming HD videos at the same time "
Thanks, I have a text in to some former coworkers to see if they are running this way, I will ask them if they’re getting throttled even on an unlimited service.
I have a 4g iphone and I use Airplay. The apps that I have used on my phone to stream to a smart tv(Samsung, LG) include Hulu, Youtube TV, Fubo, Netflix and Prime. All have been fine without 5G. A lot of times I connect to the wifi in the hotel or other places with the phone. My phone provider is T Mobile and I haven’t experienced throttling as far as I can detect…doc
that is good to know that it can work 4g !
At your home, do you just make your phone a hotspot, then have a wireless router connect to your phone hotspot, and then have your smart tv connect to the wireless router ?
I’m not familiar with Airplay, I use an Android, but a quick google search shows something called LocalCast as being equivalent.
So android and iphones can connect directly to a smart tv without a router as the interface. The term is cast. You cast your phone image onto the tv. The iphone uses airplay and android has something similar to cast. I had a Samsung years ago and switched to iphone for the security and for Facetime which the kids wanted me to have. Depending on the android phone, you probably already have an app already installed since this is common today. Also, if you install the tv app you use (Spectrum), it may have the ability to search for the tv or the tv may have the ability to search for your phone (smart tv!) If you connect to your TV, you don’t have to worry about a wifi connection. It seems like you find the cast app on your brand of phone (they all do it) and then turn it on while trying to find the signal on the tv which will have a setting for doing this > connect to a device setting. You will see your phone on the connect to a device setting on the tv (mine comes up as johns iphone). Connect and then when you open the Spectrum app you can cast the tv guide or show right straight to the tv. Now if you have a router which I do and my internet is 1 gig, i connect my phone to the router for that 1 gig signal and stream video to my tv from my phone but you do that after you connect your phone to the tv. The major brand smart tv’s will all connect pretty easily to your phone for streaming and the phones will connect to the smart tv’s pretty easily. I would come help you with this if you were in the neighborhood…doc
The tv and the phone will walk you thru it when you try to do it. The TV will guide you if you look in settings for connect to a device…doc
You do not even need to cast anymore. I use my phone as a hotspot and can connect directly to it. But like Hawkins said most plans will throttle you after awhile if you use to much, but only if it gets busy. I would just set my phone to hotspot, try hooking everything to it, and see how you like it. If you have unlimited with Verizon or Tmobile and have a 5g phone they will allow you to buy a 5g router from them for 25 dollars a month. That would be the ultimate. Because they give those routers priority in their towers with the 5G service.
Andy
As others have said 4G will work fine. I suggest you look at each of the streaming services you want to use HULU and others. Find out how much band width they say you need. 4K needs more than HD, so include the package definition you use. This will be a minimum. Next find out if your potential cellular provider throttles with the service plan you are looking at. If yes, after how much data and what is the throttled bandwidth.
Additionally I would not try this unless my cell phone was plugged into a charger - it can not be good for a battery to by run down daily for a few hours of TV watching.
T-Mobile is advertising 5G where we live and I believe they have the most extensive 5G coverage in the country. One system in our neighborhood people have a receiver that makes the 5G connection and then sends a WiFi signal all over the house. Since 5G does not do well at penetrating lots of walls, some folks put the receiving in an upstairs window on the side of the house nearest the 5G tower.
Here is something I found on band width considerations:
Netflix recommends at least 5 Mbps for HD quality and 15 Mbps for Ultra HD or 4K quality. While 15 Mbps might be enough for watching Netflix, remember that that’s enough internet speed for only watching Netflix. So you’ll need faster speed to cover any other connected devices or internet users in your home.
Thanks for all of the info, everybody !
Heh, maybe why my recliner has a USB port! 
Would that we had reliable enough cell service to do this. Even on my 16 year old Sharp Aquos (still great LCD but not smart), I plug in a Roku or Chromecast streaming stick and can Airplay to that, works well enough. But internet isn’t reliable enough on cellular that I can ditch the $200+ Comcast bill.
Good to know.
I use Visible, $25/month unlimited everything…
BUT many days between 2:30pm to 7pm it slows down DOWN!
I suspect throttling.
Visible is reportedly a Verizon virtual phone network.
On a Google Pixel 7 Pro. Android, 5G. But, I live on the edge of 5G, and I suspect the service I get is not true 5G.
The phone is my internet provider. I suspect I reach the throttle limit quickly each month.
I can get Visible “Premium” service for $45/month. Supposedly faster.
The 5G router might be an option?
ralph
The Pixel 7 Pro has pros n cons. I give it 3/5.
I think my next phone will be Samsung.
so I ran the speed test on both my phone and on my wired internet connection multiple times yesterday and this morning.
Last evening and afternoon, phone consistently downloaded at >20 mb/s. This morning, it dropped down to 14-15 mb/s.
The wired internet consistently runs at >260 mb/s for all tests.
So looks like phone cell network is much busier in the A.M.
If I do this, will probably have to adjust internet useage, won’t be always fast compared to the wired connection. But the wired connection pretty consistently has issues, too. Many Saturday mornings, it runs very slow,. I’ve communicated with Spectrum about this, they always say that they’re not doing anything or seeing any issues with their network, that it must be my computer. And then after a couple of hours, it magically clears up, and runs fast again.
The nice thing about connecting to your current wifi router with your phone is that you don’t have to worry about throttling down of your speed for watching TV by your phone provider. You also don’t have to spend another $25/month for the T mobile 5g router. 2 of my TV’s are connected to the router by plug in cat 5 cables. 2 of my TV’s connect to the router with Amazon firesticks. I got the firesticks for free when Amazon ran promotions. Its a lot to think about and there is a lot of technical stuff to consider…doc
edit: Connect to Wi-Fi networks on your Android device - Android Help (google.com)