Imagine you have to submit a certain assignment within a given deadline and you’re almost done but minutes before the deadline, your Wi-Fi stops working. Panicking, isn’t it? Well, not really. You have tethering to your rescue. Tethering means to share your mobile phone’s data connection with other devices such as your laptop or tablet. In this guide, we’ll let you know that how to share Android internet connection with other devices such as mobile phones, tablets and PCs etc.
Tethering does cost you extra the web traffic on your phone increases. And it also drains your battery faster.
There are three main types of tethering that you can do:
Wi-Fi Tethering:
All android phones have a built-in feature for Wi-Fi tethering. It provides a reasonably good speed and even allows you to connect more than one device to your phone. But it drains your battery faster. To access this feature:
- Go to ‘Settings’ on your home screen.
- Under the ‘Wireless and Network’ options, click ‘More’.
- Now click on ‘Hotspot and Tethering’.
- Select the ‘Set up Wi-Fi hotspot’ option.
- Now you can configure the Wi-Fi hotspot of your phone. Change its name and password.
- After configuring, select the checkbox ‘Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot’ and you are good to go.
- Connect your laptop, tablet or any device to this Wi-Fi hotspot by entering the password that you set.
Bluetooth Tethering:
You can also tether via a Bluetooth. Bluetooth tethering is comparatively a little slower than Wi-Fi Tethering, but it consumes less battery. Also, it only device at a time to be tethered using Bluetooth. To access this:
- Pair your phone with the PC.
- Go to ‘Settings’ on your home screen.
- Under the ‘Wireless and Network’ options, click ‘More’.
- Now click on ‘Hotspot and Tethering’.
- This time, select the ‘Bluetooth Tethering’ option.
- In the meanwhile, right click on the Bluetooth icon on the lower right corner in your computer.
- Then select ‘Join a Personal Area Network’.
- A window will open in which you will see your phone under ‘Devices’.
- Tap on the ‘Connect Using’ option and select ‘Access Point’.
- You’ll be asked for confirmation and you’re done!
USB Tethering:
USB tethering has the fastest speed. It wouldn’t consume your phone’s battery because it drains power from the USB port of your computer. To access this feature:
- Connect your phone to your laptop using a USB cable.
- A menu will pop up with certain available options.
- Select ‘USB Tethering’ option.
- Your computer will instantly detect it, and it will be made available.
Tethering Apps:
There are also certain tethering apps available on Play Store. Some of the apps require root access and some are paid. But a free and effective one is PdaNet+
It provides Bluetooth and USB tethering on almost all android phones, though its Wi-Fi tethering doesn’t work on all phones.
Reverse Tethering:
You can also tether your Android phone to use the internet connection of your laptop. This is called reverse tethering.
You might come across a situation where you do not have Wi-Fi, but your computer has a wired internet connection. In that case you might want to share the internet connection on your mobile phone. You will need reverse tethering for this case. However you should have a USB cable to be able to connect your phone to the computer. Also, this method requires a rooted Android.
You can create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your computer by using Connectify. It is an easy to use tool, its basic version is free and provides you with numerous options although it has a few limitations.
However, before using it, you need to enable USB debugging on your phone. For this:
- Go to ‘settings’ on your home screen.
- Click on ‘Applications’.
- Click on ‘Development’.
- Select the ‘USB debugging’ checkbox.
Let us know in the comments area below if you have still any issues or queries while sharing your Android phone’s internet with other devices.
