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?

In this Ask Maggie, CNET's Marguerite Reardon advises a reader looking to use a SIM card from a tablet to get data-only wireless service on his smartphone.

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.

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.

Going over your plan's data allocation can be costly. Here's how to check your data usage on an Android device.

However, all those tablets use Wi-Fi to transfer data which is ancient technology, relatively speaking. At CES 2022, we got a glimpse of a new device that uses light for data transfer.