Not necessarily. Mobile carrier Freedompop offers a limited amount of free data for tablet users, with no strings attached (but a few caveats). What happened to T-Mobile's Free Data for Life option?

Most have heard of using a phone as a mobile hotspot to get laptops online. Tablets can also do that, and here’s how to do it right.

A mobile hotspot, for those not familiar, is a feature on your phone that allows you to share its data connection with other devices, like a computer or tablet or TV or other WiFi-equipped device.

13. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to having a tablet or laptop with a data card built in? 14. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to using a dedicated mobile hotspot?

T-Mobile CEO John Legere. Reuters T-Mobile announced today a new data plan for tablets that gives you 1 GB of data for free on top of the 200 MB it already gives for free to tablet customers.

How do those different usage patterns end up affecting mobile data consumption? One recent report claims some pretty big differences between how much data we use on tablets versus smartphones.

If your internet connection drops off for hours, your phone's data plan can keep your laptop afloat. Here's what you need to know.