Explain to me how to use a cell phone as a wi-fi hotspot, please
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So, as was suggested, I can see that you were right, that downloading movies instead of streaming them is the way to go. But, with a 3G plan, according to the article, I can use my phone for a hotspot and surf the internet to my heart's content.
I also just did a chat session with Amazon, and learned that I can download Amazon instant videos (I'm a prime member) to an iphone, ipad, or Kindle device, and I think Amazon Fire devices - but this option is not available for laptops. And he said I don't have to even have wi-fi to be able to watch them! Wahoo! I love all these great new things you can do with technology.
Thanks for everyone's help. I'll need to buy another device, since my Iphone is too small to watch videos on. But, one of the other devices would work, as far as movies is concerned. Then I could use the Iphone as my hot spot for checking email with my laptop.
Once I figure out how to do it ha ha.
It's easy.
Settings -> Personal Hotspot (2 spots down from bluetooth, 4 spots down from airplane mode) -> Toggle on
On PC: set up new network/search for wireless networks -> click your phone's name -> possibly select encryption type (WEP, WPA, WPA2) -> enter in your phone's WIFI password (your phone should auto generate the password, but you can change it)
Or: plug phone into PC -> select phone from list of networks.
As others have mentioned, some carriers charge more for using this feature, but there are apps that can get around that. However, you carrier will retroactively charge you if they find out you are bypassing their system.
Settings -> Personal Hotspot (2 spots down from bluetooth, 4 spots down from airplane mode) -> Toggle on
On PC: set up new network/search for wireless networks -> click your phone's name -> possibly select encryption type (WEP, WPA, WPA2) -> enter in your phone's WIFI password (your phone should auto generate the password, but you can change it)
Or: plug phone into PC -> select phone from list of networks.
As others have mentioned, some carriers charge more for using this feature, but there are apps that can get around that. However, you carrier will retroactively charge you if they find out you are bypassing their system.
Excellent! Thank you so much! I think this won't be so difficult for me after all. I have set up the wi-fi myself at home, and I did figure out how to get my Iphone on the wi-fi network here. So, I'm familiar with what you're talking about, as far as looking for the correct wi-fi network.
You have made this seem so much simpler than I was imagining. Thanks again to you and everyone :-)
Hi Snow, yes it is quite easy. And you have the choice of connecting your laptop to the iPhone hot spot using bluetooth, wi-fi or with the USB cable that you use to charge your iPhone. I prefer the later when convenient because it seems to runs the iPhone battery down less than bluetooth or wi-fi. I recall having a little trouble getting that set up the first time, but after that it connects automatically.
My iPhone 5 AT&T plan comes with 2048 MB, the most I have ever used was 1,999 MB when I was traveling last month. A lot of this usage was using my phone as a hot spot at my cousin's cabin above Cody, Wyoming where there was no other internet. My AT&T plan also allows any unused data to be rolled over from the previous month into the next month, which gives some additional margin for heavy usage. I rarely stream video other than some occasional YouTube viewing.
If you download your movies when you can find a free wi-fi hot spot somewhere, you can save that data usage.
If you do a google search for "find free wifi in your area" there are numerous websites that can assist you in this while traveling.
Traveling in a van that you can sleep in sounds like a lot of fun. I had a Ford Econoline Van with lots of windows set up for this in 1969-70. Its a great way to travel and camp.
I still don't have a smart phone with data service, but plan to get one soon. I also plan on getting a small minivan that I will convert into a mini-camper, and hope to be doing a lot of camping next year.
I have read just a little about the fact that you can use your cell phone to create a wi-fi hotspot, that you can then use other devices on. I'd like to learn how this would work and how much data I might need to buy as far as data plans.
For instance, let's say I want to camp for the night somewhere where I get a good cell phone signal. Could I get a wi-fi signal with it to then use with my laptop, and stream Amazon Prime movies? Or check my email, etc.?
Would this require a huge amount of data?
I'd appreciate any info and thoughts on how to do this and/or if it's realistic or would be too pricey, etc.
Thanks for your thoughts and advice.
GoPhone allows unlimited 2G speed with hotspot. I use a Lumia 635, and it is built into the settings of the cell phone. No additional software, no apps.
The 2G that GoPhone advertises is usually around 512 kbps. They advertise 128 kbps, but they are inconsistent with that speed.
As far as video quality, I find that the picture looks to be around 240 lines of resolution. For me it is watchable. If you use the connection to do anything else, you have buffering. You can connect up to 8 other computers (legally) with the hotspot feature. You may be able to use apps from the store to get around the 8 device limit. I've never reached it, I don't have 8 devices.
Keep in mind, that with 8 devices, say at the speeds I usually reach, you're looking at 64 kbps if all of those devices are sending and receiving data at the same time. This is to say that you could, in theory, stream to 8 different devices at the same time. Audio works well at that speed, video, not so much.
If you get the advertised speed, which does happen to me when the network is congested "that much", then you're looking at 16 kbps, which is not enough to do anything other than download. Theoretically, the advertised speeds were only designed to allow two devices to stream audio; this is how I look at it.
It is not pricey because GoPhone does not charge for the hotspot ability, and they don't charge for the data. Again, if you are only using 1 device, you'll probably get the full 512 kbps, and you will get standard definition video. Before getting throttled, you can get a 1080 picture. That picture will only last for an hour or two before you get throttled.
It is a poor man's solution. Services like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix work better than services that provide "live" television, like Sling TV. Hulu does not compromise the picture quality at all unless you specifically set it up to do so. So you'll get HD, then nothing while buffering, then HD again. Might take two hours to watch a 30 minute program, but it does work.
Yes, it will require a lot of data. Video has always required a lot of data, and that amount is only going to increase with 4K. But even SD programs require a lot of data.
Another thing, although it is unwieldy and I don't do it anymore. You could create an adhoc network and use WiFi direct to send information from one device to another; like set up a media server using Plex and take downloaded content on one computer and send it to a Roku connected to a TV. You get WiFi direct speeds, not 2G speeds, and this works as long as you have Internet service. It is metered, but the speeds are not regulated. You can get around 250 mbps this way. So you could take a 720 BluRay torrent, or rip a BluRay, whatever, and stream that movie across the private network you create using WiFi direct and the throttling would not affect what you are doing because this is occurring device to device (not device over the Internet). I've done it before, but I don't like doing it because it is a real PITA, particularly on Roku.
The issue I had with it is I wanted to do it directly from the phone to the Roku, and that was problematic. So I had to use other devices, and other software. At the end of the day, I had the phone operating as a hotspot, and a program called Easy Transfer, running on the phone, enabled the WiFi direct. I had an Android tablet's browser set to the ip address created through Easy Transfer.
Through the webpage created by Easy Transfer, I could see the files on the phone, through the tablet's browser. I "played" the file on the tablet, and the Roku, which had the R-Cast channel installed, automatically started playback. But I could not fast forward or rewind using this method; no video scrubbing.
Plex cuts out that middle man and allows me to go directly from a computer to the Roku. It is still done using Wi-Fi direct, no Easy Transfer. No lag, and I can scrub video. So it is possible, but you have to download all of your content first.
I use that feature on my phone to connect my WiFi-only tablet to the Internet (when I carry it away from my home WiFi and I'm not in a hotel or there's not a local coffee shop or such with free-WiFi handy).
It's worth the hassle, as I use the tablet very infrequently away from a WiFi, and the alternative would have been to get a tablet with a cell connection, costing several hundred dollars more, PLUS a cell-plan fee (monthly, regardless of if I use it or not).
Like your home WiFi, you should choose a good security protocol (I use WPA2-PSK) with a really long, LONG password (20-30+ characters).
hen for each device (IE: tablet) you need to 'introduce' each to the other, in a process that's similar to pairing two devices using Bluetooth.
Someone actually hopped onto my network once. I changed the password to around 13 characters. Numbers, letters, upper and lower case, plus special characters. Haven't had that issue since.
So, as was suggested, I can see that you were right, that downloading movies instead of streaming them is the way to go. But, with a 3G plan, according to the article, I can use my phone for a hotspot and surf the internet to my heart's content.
I also just did a chat session with Amazon, and learned that I can download Amazon instant videos (I'm a prime member) to an iphone, ipad, or Kindle device, and I think Amazon Fire devices - but this option is not available for laptops. And he said I don't have to even have wi-fi to be able to watch them! Wahoo! I love all these great new things you can do with technology.
Thanks for everyone's help. I'll need to buy another device, since my Iphone is too small to watch videos on. But, one of the other devices would work, as far as movies is concerned. Then I could use the Iphone as my hot spot for checking email with my laptop.
Once I figure out how to do it ha ha.
Google Play Movies also allows you to do this. Forgot to mention this in my long post.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
