Prixpics Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Hi all, I wondered what photographers here are using to upload pictures in the field. I need to upgrade my Phone and wondered how good phones are for photographers as wifi hotspot or should I get e.g. EE Osprey Mobile Wi-Fi for uploading ? I will use a 4G device and I know some areas don't get this speed. I want to send photos to Alamy from my laptop in my car or someplace without wifi so need to decide if using the phone as a hot spot device is just as effective as a dongle or this e.g. EE mobile hot spot Osprey device. I am not keen on paying much so thought the phone would suffice. Most of the time I find venues have free wifi for photographers. Best wishes, Adrian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrioticAlien Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Using a phone, is far more practice. I'm on three network, on the old one plan: i get 4G and truly unlimited data: download, upload and tethering. (i believe on new contracts, tethering is now limited to how much i'm not sure) Unlike other companies, e.g. E.E. O2, etc, who limit your data to some tiny amount. Then expect you to pay, substantially more for just the LTE branding. If you go over on your data, be prepared to sell: some kidneys, other important body parts and maybe even your first born son. 4G is still slowly being rolled out, is the price increase worth it? Considering you already get HSPA+ which is pretty much almost the same speed as for 4G (LTE) on the "old" 3G network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanGibson Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I've only uploaded to Alamy from home, but I've often encountered problems uploading to other sites from public wi-fi hotspots, the exception being from hotels. As for mobile tethering or dongles, upload speeds on 4G are good in London but you are dependent on your device holding onto the connection for the time of the upload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Edwards Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 4G is fantastic. I upload news tethered to either an iPhone, iPad or s3 Samsung. All 3 work really well.... Is 4g worth it? Yes if you send a lot from the field... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin McAbee Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 I use the Verizon Jetpak and it works just fine, but have AT&T Internet at home. I have noticed that at times the Jetpak will upload faster than DSL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I too have routinely used my Samsung 4S 4G phone (EE) to upload news pics etc. But a warning - a colleague used his all day for online access to the cloud (he is a software developer) and the battery overheated and failed. I noticed the phone does get pretty warm when handling data so I only use mine for occasional short bursts (upload batch, sync data files) rather than constant access to the cloud or whatever with frequent data exchange. BTW he went to a 4G router (not a dongle) on his shared data contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpics Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I use my iPhone 5C with EE as a 4G device. You can create your personal hotspot and link to your Mac. Don't know if it works with a PC. Works great in London for news pics. I only synch my diary via the Cloud. Almost all images I upload to my website are via wifi only, not 4G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prixpics Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Thanks Patriotic, Ian, Julie, Marvin, Martin and VPics, Sorry about the wait. I was still deciding on what to do. Carphone Warehouse had offered a set up with 2g of data, 1000 mins and unlimited texts at £24.99 with my existing EE for a Samsung S5 but as 8pm shut down had passed I had to go back the following day - the price had jumped to £26.99. Not happy. Finally last week CPW offered an i-phone 5C (no upfront cost) for 2g of data, 1000 mins and unlimited texts at £24.99. It is supposed to be double speed. I have a Macbook Pro so easy to tether. However, I was told that EE no longer allow tethering. I explained what I intended and guy in shop thought short tethers to upload would be Ok and I might not be pestered by EE. I hope not. Anyway, thanks again. Best wishes, Adrian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I am in the U.S. - our system (how our vendors charge us and allocate bandwidth) is a little bit different from my understanding. I have both an iPhone 6 that I can tether as well as a portable wifi hotspot. Here are my observations: The portable hotspot will upload images faster if speed is of the essence. It has to do with bandwidth - you're uploading while your phone is trying to check email, weather, stocks, etc., etc. that it normally does in the background. Both will work, the hotspot for me cost all of 1 cent with a two year commitment so I got it. The hotspot is its own "telephone number" so no reason to download the things that phones download when strictly logged into your computer. If you are in a remote location, especially one that has less than 4G it can be very, very slow. This is especially true if you are trying to FTP multiple images. Here in the U.S., we are allocated amounts of data to use on a monthly basis (this is becoming more liberal with time). Currently, I had to adjust my plan to allow 10gb per month in order to allow for image transfer. At minimum, I recommend 5gb per month. That will give you enough data usage to do a couple of editorial uploads from location per month. You may want to watch this closeley for the first few months you do this if it's a factor (I believe in your area it's not a factor but I'm not 100% sure). I currently have three devices (phone, ipad, and portable hot spot) associated with one plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanGibson Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I'm sure you will find that EE allow tethering - unless CW have an agreement with EE that CW plans do not allow it. Either way, if it comes up in the Settings screen, it is allowed. I used to have PAYGO with O2, and they don't allow tethering on PAYGO plans and the option wasn't available on the setting screen. I've changed to 3 - £17 per month SIM only with unlimited data (including 4GB Personal Hotspot) and up to 25GB per month (with no tethering) in their 'Feel at Home' countries. As Ed says, you will need to keep an eye on your usage to make sure you have enough data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prixpics Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Thanks Ian and Ed. Adrian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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