Q. Why does the hotspot I checked out from the library have a bad connection?

There are a number of things that could be contributing to a poor or inconsistent connection for the hotspot you have checked out from the TCC Library.

Things like the weather, foliage, and proximity to the nearest cellular tower all affect the hotspot's signal strength and connection speed. Sometimes it may be necessary to place the hotspot near a window, especially if you live in a building with very thick walls. In some areas with poor coverage, you may only be able to get a signal outdoors.

Local cellular tower outages or other problems with the cellular network can affect hotspot connection speeds, or lead to an inconsistent or repeatedly dropped signal. You can check to see if there have been T-Mobile outages reported in your area here: https://downdetector.com/status/t-mobile/

Sometimes location is a factor. T-Mobile coverage can be spotty in rural areas. To see what coverage looks like in your area, you can check this coverage map: https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

The data plans we have through Mobile Beacon, our service provider, do have what is called a Fair Use Threshold, which may affect the hotspot's connection speed temporarily. If you use over 100GB of data in a month, you may experience temporary slowdowns for a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours, or not at all. This slowdown will cease as soon as network resources are freed up (which is re-evaluated every nanosecond). The data meter resets on a monthly basis, and should not cause the hotspot to disconnect completely.