By Joe Paonessa – Dec 8, 2019

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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.

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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

/month ($33.20 with AP) - of hard capped data $50 /month ($47.5 with AP) - unlimited data with the first 25GB at high speeds

/month ($47.5 with AP) - unlimited data with the first 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

/month ($57 with AP) - unlimited shared data with the first 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

/month ($80.70 with AP) - unlimited shared data with the first 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.

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