i dont see how, i would think an active ATT SIM card is necessary for it to be a hotspot but i really dont know. i have confirmed with ATT that if i go with the 5Gig "session-based pricing" then the "tethering" capability of the ipad is automatic. however, i am trying to find the post (not at this forum) that claimed that the ipad could be "forced" to tether even when going with the 1.5G or 3G prepaid session.Would the hotspot device still have the ability to create a wifi network even though it is no longer providing the additional web access? Possibly. All you need to do is provide a wifi network to connect through to print.