Total Wireless subscribers will soon officially be able to use their phones as a mobile hotspot. Mobile hotspot has technically not been allowed on the provider, however, some users in the past had been able to get it working. I had working mobile hotspot when I first reviewed Total Wireless nearly 2 years ago. Subscribers who used it risked being kicked off the network and having their service terminated at a moment's notice since hotspot usage had been against their terms of service.
According to a tweet and graphic from Tracfone brand expert @KingOfTechDeals, mobile hotspot usage will officially be allowed on all Total Wireless plans containing data starting on November 4, 2019. (Update 11/4/19 - The launch date for mobile hotspot has been delayed for Total Wireless. No time table has been given for how long a delay. ) Unfortunately, the mobile hotspot feature will still have some limitations and they will vary a bit depending on the plan.
Update 12/8/19 - Mobile hotspot should be available now with Total Wireless. It's still no being advertised on their website, but it is being advertised as available on the $35 plan through TracFone's official eBay store.
Total Wireless Phone Plans And Mobile Hotspot Usage Limitations
Total Wireless sells several data containing phone plans, and they are as follows:
*AP denotes autopay, data allotments shown are at 4G LTE data speeds
Single Line Plans
- $35/month ($33.20 with AP) - 5GB of hard capped data
- $50/month ($47.5 with AP) - unlimited data with the first 25GB at high speeds
- $90 - 90-day plan, 5GB of hard capped data every 30 days
Multi-Line Plans
- $60/month ($57 with AP) - unlimited shared data with the first 30GB at high speeds for up to 2 lines
- $85/month ($80.70 with AP) - unlimited shared data with the first 60GB at high speeds for up to 3 lines
- $100/month ($95 with AP) - unlimited shared data with the first 100GB at high speeds for up to 4 lines
All plans shown include unlimited talk and text, taxes and fees are extra.
The hotspot feature will be limited such that customers will only be able to use 10GB of data each month for mobile hotspot before Total Wireless shuts it off. Customers on the $35 plan or 90-day plan will be able to use all of their plan's data for mobile hotspot if they so choose.
There may also be one other limitation. @KingOfTechDeals has been tipped that as of 10/22/2019 Straight Talk Wireless is rumored to be quietly allowing mobile hotspot usage. I say quietly because the feature has not been officially announced by Straight Talk Wireless and is not yet shown on the Straight Talk Wireless website. Mobile hotspot usage is said to be only allowed with Straight Talk branded devices, and not yet fully supported for bring your own device customers. Straight Talk Wireless and Total Wireless are sister brands both owned by Tracfone, so it's possible Total Wireless will have the same device limitation put in place for hotspot usage.
Update 10/24/19 - Straight Talk Wireless has officially unveiled the availability of mobile hotspot but only on it's $55 unlimited data plan. Customers can only use 10GB of their plan's data for mobile hotspot.
Editor's Take
Officially allowing mobile hotspot usage is a good start for both brands. However, having a limit put in place for how much hotspot data you can use with a plan that doesn't even offer unlimited high-speed data is still a disappointment. Hopefully, this and the other limitations get removed shortly after launch. It's possible that they only exist now to allow the brands to gauge how the new feature will impact the customer experience and network as well as their bottom lines.
Total Wireless And Tracfone Brand Promotions
Total Wireless is currently promoting an offer on their company homepage. The offer is that customers who buy two phones with Total Wireless's $60 plan will save $50 on their order. The offer is scheduled to run until 11/7/2019, however, it doesn't appear to be the best way to save on two phones with the purchase of the $60 plan.
Total Wireless and several other Tracfone brands including Tracfone, Simple Mobile and NET10 Wireless but not Straight Talk, are currently allowing the use of the promo code OCTOBER20 for 20% off of a customer's order. Unfortunately, this code is not stackable with Total Wireless's save $50 on two phones with the purchase of a $60 plan offer. When I added two Samsung Galaxy A20's for $229 each to my shopping cart along with the $60 plan I was immediately awarded the $50 discount. This brought the cost of the order down to $469.99 from $519.99. When I added the promo code to the order, the $50 discount was removed and instead of getting $50 off the order, I got $58 off the order. Now I didn't actually buy anything for myself, I just wanted to see if the promo code would be stackable, and was disappointed to see it wasn't. So the bottom line here is that if you see a special sale or offer that you may be interested in with any of the previously mentioned Tracfone brands you may want to try using the promo code OCTOBER20 to see if you can get a better deal. The promo code will be available for use until October 31.
Total Wireless has no control of the service they provide.The customer service reps are from anywhere they can get cheap non trained rude people that know nothing about Tele communications.
My tw hotspot works great I love it!!!
I called and they turned it on no problems at all.
If I am paying for the extra data I should be able to use it how ever I want. I live out and can not get internet and I use the firewall game to help control pdst that I have. They have now blocked my hotspot until I buy another plan. They did not block it until after I bought 10 gigs of extra data then blocked it and said to bad. Like I said I pay for it and I should use it the way I see fit.
We just switched to Total Wireless a few days ago. My hotspot works but my husband’s doesn’t. Their CSR has hung up on me 4 times. I give up.
I got text message Today from totalwireless saying I can use 10GB hotspot. But can not turn on it on my iPhone 8.
I have Total Wireless, Just called them, they DO NOT offer wireless hot spot service, whatever information exists above is incorrect, bogus.
Total Wireless did announce via eBay and through other channels the availability of mobile hotspot, but has since pulled it. Some customers have still reported that it works for them, however an official and widespread rollout has been delayed.
I have had total wireless for q couple years. It always worked for me. I was spending hundreds a month on the extra data to keep my hot spot going. They offered me a little better plan when it came to data , more expensive but more data for my buck but would save me a little. That’s when they shut down my hotspot. Now they are missing out on hundreds of dollars from me . They gave me my hot spot for a period of time , and now it is gone after I just paid for add on data.