Tip: Using Smartphone for Internet Connection

[keocera]

Many of you probably are aware you can use your smartphone to access the internet with your computer.  For those who don't I will describe how to do it.

1.  Go to settings in your phone and you should see an item labeled Personal Hotspot.
2.  Turn Personal Hotspot "ON"
3.  Password Protect your Personal Hotspot
4.  Turn on your computer and click on network connections.  You should see  your personal Hotspot which will be whatever your smartphone's name is:  ie Bill's Phone.
5.  Click on Bill's Phone and you will be asked to enter your password.  The password will be the one you assigned to your personal hotspot.
6.  Your computer will then use your smartphones network thru your cell provider to access the internet.
7.  A word of caution:  Insure that you have sufficient data time available thru your cell provider so that you don't get a huge bill for excess data usage. 
8.  This can be used in situations where you need to check email etc, but don't have internet access or don't know how to access email thru your smartphone.
9.  Typically you are only using data when the timer which is usually a spinning circle of some sort is spinning.  Once the internet page has loaded you should not be using any of your data allowance which is expressed in a monthly allowance of Gigabytes unless you have an unlimited plan.
10. Therefore, if you load a News page, say your local paper, you can read it at your leisure.

 

[Ned]

Some carriers may charge extra for using the hotspot feature and also have a smaller data allowance when doing so.

 

[SeilerBird]

I was tethering my Chromebook to my Samsung Exhibit for a few months when all of the sudden T-Mobile stopped me. Every thing I clicked on took me to Samsung's web site telling me if I wanted to sign up for Tethering it would cost me $15 per month. I tried everything to get around it and the only thing that worked was spoofing the User Agent on every tab I opened. Way too many problems so now I don't tether anymore.

 

[keocera]

Recently the FCC ordered Verizon to quit charging their customers for "Tethering" ie: using their smartphones for WiFi.  They fined Verizon 1.25 Million dollars for the practice.  I don't know what the other cell carriers policy is, but I am a Verizon customer and have not had an issue.

 

[SeilerBird]

Recently the FCC ordered Verizon to quit charging their customers for "Tethering" ie: using their smartphones for WiFi.  They fined Verizon 1.25 Million dollars for the practice.  I don't know what the other cell carriers policy is, but I am a Verizon customer and have not had an issue.

Yes I realize that and it completely blew me away when they started trying to charge me. I keep thinking someone is going to complain and T-mobile will get fined but it hasn't happened yet. I try out my tether about once a month to see if anything has changed.

I have heard that with Ice Cream Sandwich that it is now impossible to tether without the carriers permission.

 

[PJ Stough]

Yes I realize that and it completely blew me away when they started trying to charge me. I keep thinking someone is going to complain and T-mobile will get fined but it hasn't happened yet. I try out my tether about once a month to see if anything has changed.

I have heard that with Ice Cream Sandwich that it is now impossible to tether without the carriers permission.

I have a Droid Bionic with ICS and am currently tethered using PDA Net.  I did have to uncheck a box that wanted to take me to Verizon's Back Up Assistant when I started PDA Net.

Paul

 

[SeilerBird]

I have a Droid Bionic with ICS and am currently tethered using PDA Net.  I did have to uncheck a box that wanted to take me to Verizon's Back Up Assistant when I started PDA Net.

Paul

Thanks for the info Paul. I guess the rumor I heard was wrong.

 

[PJ Stough]

This the first time I have tried PDA Net for quite some time, I usually use FoxFi to connect  wirelessely with my Droid.

Paul

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Am fortunate to still have unlimited access on my smartphone (Samsung Charge) - so tether a lot. I also have the 5gig plan that I use mostly for office stuff plus browsing and email - plus remote desktop help desk stuff with my clients.

I find that streaming movies or watching videos can really eat of the gigs, so try to do this only when tethering. If doing large downloads such as updating the maps on my GPS, I go to MacDonald's or other outlets offering free WiFi. Have never found park WiFi much good for  anything other than email. And in this day and age, am sorry to see some parks still charge for their WiFi.

 

[n7qvu]

I've tried this several times over the years I've had my older Droid and it never worked. Always said something about signup.

I still have unlimited data, so I'll try it again. Hopefully things have changed a bit.

** Just tried it. I went to setting, turned on tethering. Seemed to be working, when connected to my laptop.
  Then I got a webpage from Verizon that I needed to subscribe at $20.99 for 2G of data...but I already have unlimited on my Droid.

Oh well, I tried...

 

[Ned]

The free tethering from Verizon is for those on the new Share Everything plans.  Those of us on the no longer available unlimited data plan are supposed to pay for tethering.

 

[John From Detroit]

Regardign some carriers charging extra..  And a few othe rthings.

Not all phones have the "personal hot spot" for example on my Galaxy I had to download an application and it's called "T-mobile hot spot"

I can teather via USB (As I'm doing) or Wi-Fi (As I havfe done)

There are other applications like PDA-net and Fox-Fi which are supposed to do this  AND get around the 'additional monthly charge" as well (in my case we modified the plan and my monthly cost went DOWN when I paid for the teathering)

However I have yet to get FOx-Fi to work on my phone.

The moral is: Procedure varies from phone to phone and carrier to carrier.

BTW.. So far (I got this thing in Sept) I have parked in one spot where I'm very unhappy with the phone's data coverage... And I get free park Wi-Fi at that spot so it does not matter.. Where I'm at now. NO park wi-fi.. but the phone is "Full Speed"  I can (And have) Watch streaming video (1 hour a week) using this phone.

 

[n7qvu]

I finally converted from Verizon 'unlimited' to 'share everything'.

Now my older Droid allows tethering. There is a 3G tower about 1/2 mile away, so initial testing seems acceptable for speed.

 

[Karsty]

I am able to use my iPhone 4S for tether through the Rogers Network (Canada). I just turn on the HOTSPOT tab and I can tether up to five devices. Up till now I have connected three at a time. My friends two iPhone from Florida when they were visiting and my computer. No problems or issues at all. My data plan includes 6 GIG and I have never gone over 1 GIG. I guess I don't use as much data as I thought.

 

[John From Detroit]

As I recall Verizon got dinged by the FCC for charging for tethering and now offers it for free, I expect other carriers to follow suit shortly (if they are not already doing it).  T-mobile put together a tether package that actually cost less than what the manager at the store sold me so I'm not complainging (At least not very loud).

On T-mobile Android with ISC it says "T-Mobile Hot Spot) with a T-mobile Icon.. On Jelly Bena it's "Hot spot" and the icon is a phone, lying flat on the table, with the radiating signal arcs above it.

Have not tried Jelly Bean Hot spot yet as .. Well, no data coverage worth mentioning where I"m parked now (Great park Wi-Fi though so no problem).. 2 weeks I get to try it as that situtation is reversed,  Great 4-G, no Wi-Fi... This is working very well for me. I seem to have one or the other wherever I go.

Here, even my calls go Wi-Fi.

 

[99WinAdventurer37G]

Recently the FCC ordered Verizon to quit charging their customers for "Tethering" ie: using their smartphones for WiFi.  They fined Verizon 1.25 Million dollars for the practice.  I don't know what the other cell carriers policy is, but I am a Verizon customer and have not had an issue.

My rate is based on that "Tethering" rate.  I get 6 gigs of data, with the plan and pay $137 a month.  Do I need to call them to get my rate reduced?  Or did they just pay the 1.25 million fine to be able to continue to pull in $12.5 million extra in overcharges?

 

[Tom]

I normally use a USB stick and wireless modem for data on the road, although I also have a data plan on both VZW phones. I recently tried connecting my tablet to one of the phones, but was unable to get any of the tethering or hotspot software solutions to work. In some cases the software was incompatible with my phone, and I assumed that VZW had hot spot blocked. I asked about it while in a VZW store a few days ago and was told it would cost an additional $20/month to enable the hotspot feature on the phone.

 

[Karsty]

I normally use a USB stick and wireless modem for data on the road, although I also have a data plan on both VZW phones. I recently tried connecting my tablet to one of the phones, but was unable to get any of the tethering or hotspot software solutions to work. In some cases the software was incompatible with my phone, and I assumed that VZW had hot spot blocked. I asked about it while in a VZW store a few days ago and was told it would cost an additional $20/month to enable the hotspot feature on the phone.

Interesting ... I pay $35.00 a month for my phone service plus an additional $30 a month for the data plan and that includes 6 GIG of data and the Hotspot feature. Same for my daughter who recently purchased the iPhone. Again this is with Rogers in Canada. Only problem is that it doesn't include the US.

I had a two year data plan with Verizon with one of their Connect Five Internet devices with 5 GIG of data. That was costing me $50 per months and I wasn't even using 1 GIG of data. When I tried to renew with a lower monthly data plan they wouldn't offer me anything and still wanted $50.00. I cancelled.

I also have a US cell phone with ATT. Pay-As-You-Go. Cost me $25.00 every three months unless I get into some heavy use ... but generally that is enough.

Not sure what I can do right now ... I understand that Rogers has a US plan that might be worth looking into and that would allow me to get rid of all my ATT and Verizon devices.

The price we pay to stay connected!!!

 

[Tom]

[quote author=Karsty]The price we pay to stay connected!!![/quote]

You're not kidding. I have USB sticks with VZW and T-mobile, and previously also had a rooftop dish on the coach with HughesNet service. All this in addition to cable service here at the house. Dropped the HN service a couple of years ago when I got tired of equipment issues.

When we made a short trip to the Maritimes several years ago, my T-mobile air card was roaming to Rogers towers, and my next bill was approx $2,000.

 

[Karsty]

You're not kidding. I have USB sticks with VZW and T-mobile, and previously also had a rooftop dish on the coach with HughesNet service. All this in addition to cable service here at the house. Dropped the HN service a couple of years ago when I got tired of equipment issues.

When we made a short trip to the Maritimes several years ago, my T-mobile air card was roaming to Rogers towers, and my next bill was approx $2,000.

AND THAT ... is what terrifies the heck out of me!!!! Whenever I cross the river (Niagara River) into Niagara Falls, New York) ... which is only a few minutes from my house my phone immediately kicks into ATT towers. I have deactivated the automatic carrier search but periodically it still picks up ATT. I have no idea why. In any event I would never use or answer the CDN phone when in the US. I do use the iPhone with the Verizon Connect Five device and that allows me to get email, Facebook, Internet etc. I can also use the SKYPE phone anywhere in the world. I pay a yearly fee of $36.00 or something like that. But I need a Internet connection to do that.

I guess the bottom line for me is that I will check with Rogers and see what kind of US phone and Data add-on packages they have and go from there. Even if I can get a data package and keep my ATT US phone which is costing only around $100.00 a year.

The wireless phone industry seem to have the upper hand at the moment.