Agreed. I am constantly out and about and much prefer carrying a Wi-Fi hotspot or a secondary phone, for the following reasons:

- I can upgrade the hotspot/phone separately (right now I'm at 150Mbps LTE, which is very nice, and I started doing this in 1998 with the Ericsson SH-888... a few orders of magnitude slower)

- I can place the hotspot/phone away from me (typically near a window), and get excellent mobile signal regardless of where I have to sit

- I can share the bandwidth among multiple devices

Having spent over fifteen years at telcos and mobile operators, I can assure you that this is the sanest option both due to mobile hardware deprecation (you will _never_ be able to upgrade embedded 3G/4G/LTE in the same way), performance (embedded designs are a lot more trouble to get right) and, yes, price gouging from telcos.

Even before leaving the sector, I never saw SIM slots as an advantage in laptops -- they're just a way to charge you more for an effectively worse mobile experience.

I have a 4th generation x1 carbon, and having a built in sim card is way nicer. With 2 clicks I can connect to 4g vs getting my phone out, turning tethering on, and then connecting to my hotspot. (Not to mention the extra battery drain from tethering).

Project Fi allows you to add extra data sims for free, so the cost is the same as tethering.

Here is why I don't like mobile data peripherals on laptops: it causes the software to firm incorrect beliefs about the link state. With a mobile modem the OS will decide the link has gone down, and sever all connections. With wifi tethering the laptop has no idea what the link state on the phone might be, so it rides out brief loss of signal events.

Small but important difference in my opinion.

Not saying you're wrong, but I was pleasantly surprised that I only had to plug my iPhone 6S+ in via USB and it just showed up as an additional network connection and "just worked" in Ubuntu 16.10. I've never had an easier tethering experience. FWIW it also did not work at all over Bluetooth (couldn't even see my phone).

Phone tethering tends to eat through the battery, also, there's just a difference in how you use it and how it feels.

On the one hand you've got a laptop that is online the whole time, on the other hand you've got a situation where you have to have to fiddle with two devices to get online.

Moving onlineness from a deliberate, modal thing to a continuous thing changes the way you interact with the network.

With Project Fi, they give you free data-only sims with no extra plan charges.

Not the parent, but for me, a reason would be to have a dedicated, company-paid data-only subscription. I work from coffee shops a lot, and my personal T-Mobile subscription doesn't have enough data. Right now I'm considering getting an external Verizon "JetPack" for this, but it's another little device to pack and charge.

Your company can just as well provide you with a Wi-Fi hotspot.

You didn't read my whole comment, then. "But it's another little device to pack and charge."

Read my other comment on this thread. I find that the pros vastly outweigh the cons, and I've been doing phone tethering in earnest since Ericsson shipped their first decent 2G phone with a data modem (the SH-888), back in 1998. :)

I understand that you like those features, but I was offering a reason why, for me, an integrated device is much more convenient. I don't want to think about an external device. When I settle down in a coffee shop, an airport, on a train or bus, etc. I already have to deal with my earbuds (noise-canceling, requires occasional charging) and external MacBook charger. I don't relish the idea of yet another device to unpack.

So I am being downvoted for having experience in the matter?

No, you're being downvoted for trying to stuff your experience into someone else's usecase.

> Why do you find that better than tethering to a phone? The last thing I want is a separate mobile account for my laptop.

Because not having to tether is better. And every mobile-operator under the sun offers twin-SIMs for your laptops and tablets and what not.

Usually free of charge, if it's already a business-subscription.

The laptop can remain connected even when you leave the desk. No need to wire the phone (my iPhone battery does not last too long with active tethering use)

Separate device would be one extra thing to carry and remember.