Location: US, mostly California. I travel constantly. Never had a problem with coverage anywhere in the continental US. Carrier: I've used Sprint, MetroPCS and

Location: US, mostly California. I travel constantly. Never had a problem with coverage anywhere in the continental US. Carrier: I've used Sprint, MetroPCS and Tmobile for phones. I've used Verizon and Tmobile for hotspots. Plan and Cost: For phones I get unlimited-everything plans which cost between $65 and $100 a month, depending on the carrier and the phone. For hotspots it's hard to find anything like an unlimited plan, so I usually pay per GB. Costs range from $5 to $10 per GB. But obviously if you can figure out a way to tether your laptop to your phone (the difficulty of which will depend on the your carrier and phone) then you don't need a hotspot.