4G hotspot tethering - dedicated device or spare old phone?

[Hades]

My current MiFi only supports 3G. I use it for several of my own devices while travelling and also give it to the kids when they do too. I'm tempted to upgrade to 4G and considering buying another dedicated device. But it just occurred to me that I still have a very old, battered, Samsung S4 phone which supports 4G. It's no longer used because I bought a new phone when I cracked the screen. But despite this, it's still usable.

I can upgrade the battery cheaply to an extended one with anything between 6400ma to 9000ma for less than £20 instead of buying a new dedicated 4G MiFi.

Is there any disadvantage to doing this? This would be a completely spare phone so I wouldn't be running my main phone's battery down while using it. The only two downsides I can see are:

1) It looks rubbish with a battered old phone and cracked screen.
2) The Android version is now out of date so I assume no security patches. But the phone would be reset to factory setting so wouldn't have anything worth compromising on.

The obvious advantages seem to be:

1) It's cheap (free phone but I'd need a bigger battery - £15 to £20).
2) I'd always have a spare phone and camera with me when traveling.



Am I missing something obvious here or is it a no-brainer?

 

[Rroff]

I use an old phone for that purpose works fine* - security shouldn't be too much of an issue as its only acting as a relay/gateway with minimal exposure of the device itself. An extended battery is definitely worth it though mine more often than not is used plugged in.

* Unless you need to extend the wifi over a significant area as dedicated 4g modem/router devices usually have better range.

 

[Hades]

Thanks.