If you’re tired of shelling out monthly fees for a traditional home internet box, tethering your smartphone could be a game changer. Instead of relying on a fixed broadband connection, you simply use your phone’s hotspot feature to share its 4G or 5G data with all your devices. With many carriers now offering generous data buckets, this trick can easily replace your home router without sacrificing streaming, browsing, or video calls.
Essentially, you cancel your existing box subscription and lean on your mobile plan alone. Whether you’re streaming Netflix, attending Zoom meetings, or blasting tunes on Spotify, all that traffic is routed through your phone. For solo users especially, this setup often delivers enough speed and stability—all while trimming up to $25 off your monthly bill. Over a year, that adds up to nearly $300 back in your pocket.
What You Need to Know
Before you toss your box in the closet, there are a few key factors to consider. While the savings are real, this approach isn’t magical. You’ll want to be sure your mobile plan and phone are up to the task—and that your usage patterns align with what a cellular network can reliably handle.
Below, we break down three crucial areas: network coverage, your personal consumption habits, and how many people live under your roof. Do your homework on each, and you’ll know if swapping to a mobile-only setup makes sense.
Check Your Mobile Coverage
First thing’s first: test your cell signal at home. Even if your carrier advertises nationwide 4G or 5G, the reality inside your walls can differ. Grab your phone, tether a laptop, and run some speed tests in various rooms. If you consistently see download speeds above 20–30 Mbps, you’re likely in good shape for everyday tasks.
If you’re not thrilled with your current carrier’s coverage, consider shopping around. The French telecom authority’s coverage maps—or a similar tool in your country—show both expected speeds and signal strength by location. Use these resources to pick a provider that delivers the best performance in your neighborhood.
Assess Your Usage
Not all online activities are created equal. Casual browsing, social media, and standard-definition video streaming are lightweights—your phone’s data plan can handle these with ease. But if you’re into 4K Netflix binges, large software downloads, or frequent cloud backups, you need to confirm that your data cap and speed align with those demands.
Latency-sensitive tasks—like remote desktop sessions or competitive gaming—can also reveal the limitations of mobile networks. Cellular connections are shared among users in your area, so ping times may fluctuate more than a wired line. If you depend on rock-solid responsiveness, test your live services (games, video calls, music jamming) under real conditions before cutting the cord.
Household Considerations
Rolling without a home router is easiest if you live alone. With one person tethering, you’re unlikely to hit the peak data usage that would stall your connection. But if you’re in a multi-person household where everyone streams, works from home, or gaming, your single-plan hotspot might struggle under the load.
Say you and a partner both watch 4K Netflix, play online games, and run cloud backups simultaneously: you’ll burn through hundreds of gigabytes in no time, and speeds could dip when the network’s congested. In that scenario, a hybrid setup—combining a modest home box with a mobile backup—might be a smarter choice than going fully untethered.
Final Thoughts
Switching off your traditional home internet box and relying solely on your smartphone’s hotspot is a savvy money-saving move—but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. It works best for solo dwellers or light-to-moderate internet consumers who enjoy flexible, on-the-go connectivity. If you tick those boxes, you can easily save up to $300 a year and still binge-watch, work, and play without a hitch.
Ready to give it a shot? Start by auditing your current data plan, testing your home signal, and mapping out your daily online routine. If everything lines up, you’ll soon be rejoicing over your smaller bills—and maybe even splurging that extra cash on something fun. Happy saving!
