Any Advice on Mobile Hotspots?????? I need Help!!!!

As we are starting to travel again, I am wanting to be able to take my laptop along and get online while we travel. Of course, if we would just upgrade to an I-Phone on our cell plan I could do it, but I hate to get into a 2 yr contract and add another $50 or so to my cell phone bill every single month.
Sooo, I have been looking into mobile hotspots that I could take along. It would involve buying the gadget that is the hotspot but then I could only activate it when we are traveling but I am wondering how well they work. Does anyone out there use one???? Can you give me any insight into which is best.
I am looking at a Verizon or Internet on the Go or another brand that lets you pay only for the amount of data you use, but it charges you $4.99 a month and then 20 cents per megabyte.
Any thoughts?????
I tried using the data card back in early 2003 and it was just in it's infancy at the time and I could not get reception most places then so returned it and got my money back. Now I am wondering how far things have advanced and what kind of reception I would get as we will be staying in campgrounds that are not always right on the beaten path and in large metro areas.
Any information anyone can give me is appreciated. Maybe a new phone is the answer and not the hotspot but I need to make a decision pretty quickly as we leave on our trip in under 3 weeks!
Thanks Spark family.