Backup home internet, or who has the cheapest VZW hotspot?

In the last 3 months we've gone about 36 hours with no internet access at the house due to service problems like downed lines.

I generally feel this is a good thing, it gets the kids off their devices, usually to be annoying towards us because no internet, but hey it's not screen time.

Where this is a problem, especially now in the winter months, , is that we live in a cellular near dead zone, so we rely on internet for calls and texts. This is the only place we have service issues and I'm not tripling my monthly bill to switch to Verizon outright, as they're the only provider with some service here at the house. 

I looked briefly directly at Verizon and they're "pay as you go" hotspots have a monthly bill. Nope, not doing that for something for rare use. Especially not when a friend is paying $25/month for a 5g hotspot at his house he bought directly from Verizon and they want to start plans at $40

SSo my questions are as follows

What "bargain providers" use Verizon service these days?

Are there any Verizon standalone hotspots that really are prepaid or pay as you go with no monthly fees? Something I can just buy a gig or two until I use it all then replenish?

Would I just be better off just buying a prepaid smartphone and using it as an emergency phone or hotspot?

Out of left field, are there any capable antennas that don't rely on line of sight that could pickup the signal from 3/4 mile up the road? Wouldn't help during a power outage, but if, like yesterday, the power comes back on 10 hours before the internet does it could be very helpful. 

RevRico said:

In the last 3 months we've gone about 36 hours with no internet access at the house due to service problems like downed lines.

I generally feel this is a good thing, it gets the kids off their devices, usually to be annoying towards us because no internet, but hey it's not screen time.

Where this is a problem, especially now in the winter months, , is that we live in a cellular near dead zone, so we rely on internet for calls and texts. This is the only place we have service issues and I'm not tripling my monthly bill to switch to Verizon outright, as they're the only provider with some service here at the house. 

I looked briefly directly at Verizon and they're "pay as you go" hotspots have a monthly bill. Nope, not doing that for something for rare use. Especially not when a friend is paying $25/month for a 5g hotspot at his house he bought directly from Verizon and they want to start plans at $40

SSo my questions are as follows

What "bargain providers" use Verizon service these days?

Are there any Verizon standalone hotspots that really are prepaid or pay as you go with no monthly fees? Something I can just buy a gig or two until I use it all then replenish?

Would I just be better off just buying a prepaid smartphone and using it as an emergency phone or hotspot?

Out of left field, are there any capable antennas that don't rely on line of sight that could pickup the signal from 3/4 mile up the road? Wouldn't help during a power outage, but if, like yesterday, the power comes back on 10 hours before the internet does it could be very helpful. 

Straight talk apparently has a new unlimited hotspot for under $50 a month.

We use a prepaid Verizon hotspot for all of our internet, 150gb is more than enough for us and it does work in our crappy service area

Visible is Verizon's bargain arm, and they have a $30/mo unlimited plan. That's phone service, but it has hotspot capability. Might be a decent option if you can't find pure-play hotspot for cheaper.

I would dig into the 5g hotspot idea a little deeper. The two friends I have that use it report when it works, it's amazing, but frequently it just stops working for a few hours at a time...

So visible is who I should look at. 

I have great gigabit internet, most of the time. Just need a backup for when it's down.

I guess I forgot to mention, Straight Talk/ TracFone is owned by Verizon 

Don't know about Verizon, but T Mobile throttles their phone hotspots after a few gig.

I just dumped Spectrum after they started charging eighty bucks for internet and got a T Mobile 5G home internet setup.  Been using it for a week and haven't seen any difference.  Verizon has a $25/month deal, but I'm not in the service area.  Otherwise I'd give that a shot.