iPhone as hotspot for a laptop?

Can't you do all that from your phone? I too have found the hotspot to be hit and miss with a laptop and usually have better luck with my iPad but it is often just an exercise in frustration. We were just commuting between Newmarket and Toronto last week and I was surprised the buses and trains don't have Wi-fi. Even in my tiny little community our buses have wi-fi. 

I bought a iPad to use at work so I could go on our suppliers' websites to do the ordering.  I thought the bigger screen would be easier than using my phone and I used the hotspot because we don't have an internet connection in the shop.   I didn't stream or download anything nor access email.  

I found it more frustrating than trying to view items on my phone so now I stick with the phone.  I hope it's better than that for you.

Why not ask your new colleagues if they do it? Get some first hand information; you might be in a good area.

I use mine with my iPad. It has always worked great.

If you do decide to go the tablet route, they make cases with Bluetooth keyboards. My husband uses one with his samsung tablet. I have the same tablet as him, just the smaller version and I do not find it difficult to type on the touchscreen at all. His larger version is much more cumbersome to type on without the Bluetooth keyboard. My smaller sized version was also less than $200.00.

I use it and it works great. However, I would not recommend using it to stream video on your laptop. Websites will serve up HD video to a desktop browser, and you will end up using far more data than you expect. If you watch video on your phone, the site will show mobile-optimized video and it won't use nearly as much data.

I've used it a few times, and have never had a problem with it. The first time connecting took a little longer just to get it set up (especially from my client's laptop, but it was the laptop that was the problem, not my phone). The data usage, I think, is the same as what it would be if you did the same work just on your phone. Pictures/videos use more than just text. I didn't see much of a bump, honestly, but most of what I was doing was just email.

DH and I both use our iPhones as wifi hot spots for our laptops when other wifi is unavailable. It can sometimes be a bit of a pain to connect sometimes and the first few minutes of the connection are slower than we'd like. After the first few minutes, though, it settles down and the speed is quite acceptable. Overall, it's not out first choice for wifi but when needed - nothing else available or what's available is not secure enough for the purpose at hand - it is quite useful.

(To add a bit more context, we're using it for work in these situations, so our needs and expectations are quite high.)

ETA - We have iPads, too, but we buy those with the cellular service option.  Since they are also work devices, for us the bit of extra cost is made up for by the ease with which they access the internet and how much that speeds up our work.  You might want to consider your needs and how often you will utilize the hotspot when deciding whether or not to add cellular service directly to the iPad.