This last weekend, my family and I were headed to an event. We were rushing to get everything we needed and had to get out the door as soon as possible. The only bad thing was that there were still some documents we needed to download to our iPads.
Fortunately, we were able to finish doing what we needed to online on the way. Since our tablets are Wi-Fi only, we had to rely on the Personal Hotspot feature on our smartphones. On the Verizon Wireless MORE Everything plan, at no extra cost we can turn our smartphones into personal mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and data just comes off our shared allowance. I could easily utilize Verizon’s 4G LTE connection on my tablet and my daughter’s. Thanks to this, we got to the event on time and were well-prepared for the program.
This feature has really come in handy when on the road or while waiting at places like the airport. I’ll use either the Wi-Fi hotspot or the Bluetooth tethering (depends on which is connecting better at the moment) to access the internet on my laptop, helping me get some much needed work done. There have also been occasions on which conference Wi-Fi is weak or congested. It was great being able to tap into the faster, more stable connection on my phone.
Using Your Smartphone as a Personal Hotspot
Each smartphone has a different setup but it’s a pretty similar process. If you have access through your carrier (depends on your plan if it’s included or you have to pay extra to enable it), go to your phone’s settings, search for personal / mobile hotspot or Bluetooth tethering. Turn that on. An icon should appear alerting you that the connection is open and will give you a network name and password. Go to your Wi-Fi device and search for that. Connect. When you’re done, just turn the hotspot / tethering option off.
Making your smartphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot is great for those times you’re really in need of online access and you have plenty of data left on your plan. If you want connection through another carrier, need to conserve battery, or would like to share the connection with several other people in your group or team, then a separate mobile hotspot devices might be a more long-term solution.
This post is part of my participation in the #VZWBuzz Lifestyle Ambassador program.
4 comments
Thanks for the great info on setting up this Hotspot. I’ll have to look into using my smartphone as a Hotspot.
I have AT&T and they charge an arm & a leg for tethering.
I never knew you could use your phone as a hotspot, I should definitely try setting it up sometime!
I’m surprised that my non-contract unlimited plan allows this…but it does! We’ve only needed it once or twice when we couldn’t connect to a Wi-Fi signal, but it’s nice to know it’s available in an emergency.
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