Last Jan through March we were traveling, used our phones as hotspot.
For 5 weeks my daily forum browsing, email, etc was no problem on our very limited data plan.
Then my wife bought a new computer and downloaded 40 gigs of updates. That cost us 20$ for Data.
Still it does work pretty well.
We use Consumer Cellular as our cell carrier and you do need a phone capable of being a hotspot in order for it to work.
After that it is just a matter of going into settings, turning it on and off.
Connect computer (password) once and it remembers the way.
At home I'm paying for Cable internet. But I'm supporting 2 laptops and 2 amazon fire Tv sets. So its worth it for me to have decent speed. Slows a little on weekends but not that much.
My computer and the Amazon Fire TV in the Living room both have Lan connections. So only 2 devices to share wireless.