I am shopping the es300H against a Toyota Crown. The Crown comes with wifi and hotspot (for a fee) and I believe 300H also but just want to confirm that from an owner. Also - how much is the wifi and from what provider? I was paying about 400 for a 3 year agreement through AT&T on my wifes Q5 so I am somewhat familiar with price ranges. As for the ES vs Crown - I can say seats in crown are more comfortable, technology in crown top notch as it is new. I drove the platinum, so it was very fast and not a good comparison but will drive the std hybrid soon.

 

Have you confirmed your phone plan doesn't already include a mobile hotspot option? My Verizon plan does so I'm not sure how I would use a car-based plan. I can confirm the ESh does include the capability but I haven't used it so I cannot comment on the carrier or price. I will let someone that actually uses (or researched) it reply with that information. I believe you will be hard pressed to find a new car today, even including most economy models, that don't have WiFi hotspot capability.

For example, here is the option listed for the specs for a base Toyota Corolla - taken directly from Toyota's web site:

 

Thank you for the comprehensive response. My business covers my phone and my hotspot so I tend to agree with you may not be needed. Sometimes I’m on a laptop and wanting to be on my phone.

 

My 2022 300h has the wifi hotspot, but never needed it. Hotspot from phone if it's ever needed. Think it only pulled LTE speeds too.