I am impressed with the performance! I never used the old Verizon units, but I recently tried one of the new T-Mobile powered Alcatel hotspots. I tried it outside the city (Fall City) and was getting 35-40mbps download speeds - quite impressive and just as fast as the Comcast wifi if not better! But where this is most useful is at a house in Queen Anne that doesn't have cable internet yet. Works great! If your in a place with weak tmo coverage it will be worse, but I've actually found T-Mobile to have a better signal then Verizon around the city.

1. Hotpsot was checked out without Library checking that PASSWORD inside box was READABLE.
It was blurred out due to moisture.

Before placing items on shelf Library needs to confirm all parterre in HOTSPOT box and password is READABLE.

2. T-Mobile service is poor quality in Eastern part of Washington state.
Cheap modems, limited frequency bands and cell towers hinder T-Mobile performance.

New Alcatel/T-Mobile wifi hotspots work better for me then the Verizon hotspots at home and I still get good coverage where ever I go on the West Coast.

Used to be great when it had Verizon service. Now it is useless. Too many places without T-Mobile service makes this unusable for many occasions. Bring back Verizon, please!

Alca Tel is a definite downgrade.
But I guess we shouldn't complain about having free internet now and then should we?

The library changed from Verizon that has great statewide coverage to T-Mobile where there is little to no use of this hot spot unless you are in Seattle. This was a cost-saving measure but what's the point of saving money if it doesn't work for the patrons of the library? I hope they will reconsider and go back to Verizon.

Hey I'm new to SPL what do I need to use a hotspot ?

I've checked these out many times. Some work better than others.

These hotspots are great. Does not work across international borders (Canada, Mexico, etc)