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How to distribute Internet from Android to phone. How to distribute the Internet from your phone? Step-by-step instructions for Android, iOS, Windows Phone

There are situations when you urgently need to connect to the Internet via a laptop, but there is no modem or open Wi-Fi point nearby. Or someone from a group of friends urgently needs to check their email or messages in social networks, and only one of all those present has 3G Internet. What to do in this situation?

It turns out that the solution to the problem is always at hand - a smartphone. Few people know how to distribute the Internet from phone to phone. Or how to create an access point for a laptop or tablet. But this function is built into every smartphone.

How to distribute the Internet from phone to phone?

Regardless of what operating system your smartphone is based on - Android, iOS or Windows Mobile - by delving into the gadget’s settings, you can easily create an access point.

One answer to the question: “How to distribute the Internet from phone to phone via Wi-Fi?” No. The creation and activation process varies depending on the version and type of operating system, but once you create an access point, repeating the procedure is quite simple.

Create a hotspot on iPhone

Apple smartphones are not only expensive gadgets with the most modern software, high-quality body and excellent front and rear cameras. They differ fast response touch and excellent application loading speed.

But now, if the smartphone has access to the network, then any user’s gadget will be able to connect to the Internet. To activate a function such as distributing the Internet from phone to phone, you will need to go to “Settings” and click on the “Cellular” tab. In this menu, you must activate the “Enable 3G” switch.

Next, in “Settings” you need to find the “Modem Mode” item and then activate it. The system will offer two options for operation: via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. After selecting the appropriate mode, you will need to set a password for the access point. At this point, the network is activated, all that remains is to connect from another gadget.

Creating an access point on Android

Many users of smartphones based on the Android operating system do not even suspect that their smartphones or tablets have such a function as distributing the Internet from phone to phone. And you can do this without using additional programs and devices.

In order to activate the Wi-Fi point on your smartphone, you need to enter the “Options” menu. In the Wireless and Networks group, you will need to select More, which will open additional settings.

After this, the smartphone owner will have to configure the access point by going to “Modem Mode”. Here you need to check the box next to “Portable Wi-Fi hotspot”. Next, after going to the “Set up Wi-Fi hotspot” menu, the user will be asked to set the network name and password for it.

Please remember that you should only share your password with people you know. After new data has been entered, it must be saved. Then, returning to the “Wireless Tools and Networks” menu, you will need to activate “Wi-Fi Direct”. This will turn on the dispenser. AND last step- connect your smartphone to the mobile Internet.

Creating a hotspot on Windows Mobile

In smartphones running Windows Mobile, in order to understand how to distribute the Internet to MTS from your phone, you must first open the “Quick Actions” panel. Next, you will need to select the “Mobile hotspot” tile. It is worth noting that to call up the settings you need a long tap or long touch; a short click only activates the access point.

In the menu that appears, you need to scroll the list of settings to the very bottom and select the data editing icon. A short click on the “Pencil” icon will allow you to change the name of the access point and password for it. After making changes, you need to click on the “bird” - the confirmation and save icon.

In order to activate such a function as distributing Internet from your phone to Beeline and other mobile networks after changing the settings, you should open the “Quick Actions” panel again and turn on “Mobile Hotspot” with a short tap.

Experts advise setting a combination of numbers and letters as a password for an access point activated on a smartphone. different languages and registry. This precaution will not allow random passers-by to connect to Wi-Fi from someone else's phone.

This is done by creating a mobile hotspot on the phone, which thus provides access to the Internet. In this article we will demonstrate how this is done using an Android phone as an example.

Step No. 1. Open Android settings.

First, you need to open Android settings. To do this, open the list of all applications and find the application called “Settings”. You can also open settings using the top curtain.

Step No. 2. Open the “Other networks” section.

After opening the settings, go to the “Other networks” section. On some phones, this settings section may be called “More” or something else. But he will always be next to you Wi-Fi settings and Bluetooth.

Step No. 3. Open the “Modem and access point” subsection.

Step #4: Turn on the access point.

Now you need to enable the access point. To do this, move the "Portable Hotspot" switch to the on position. On some phones, to enable the access point, you need to check the box next to the corresponding item.

After turning on the Wifi hotspot, a window may appear asking you to confirm the action. Here we simply click on the “Yes” button.

Step No. 5. Look at the password for your access point.

In order to connect to the access point on your phone, you need to know the password. To do this, after turning on the access point, open the “Portable access point” section.

Here you can find out the name of your access point (its SSID), as well as the password.

Step No. 5. Connect to Wifi using a computer.

Once the access point has been created, you can begin connecting the computer. To do this, click on the Wifi icon on the taskbar.

After this, a list of available Wifi networks. Among them will be the hotspot created by your phone. Select it and click on the “Connection” button.

After this, a window will appear asking you to enter a security key. Enter the password for our access point on the phone.

That's all, if the password is correct, the computer will connect to the access point and the Internet should work.

How to distribute the Internet from your phone if your friends really ask?

If the Internet is needed on several devices at once, but is available on only one, you need to know how this is done.

How does shared Internet work on a smartphone?

Absolutely all users can use their smartphone as a remote Internet access point.

The main condition for distribution is the presence of a 2G, 3G or 4G Internet connection on your smartphone.

This traffic will cost the same as your regular traffic Mobile Internet– according to the tariffs of your mobile operator.

A smartphone that distributes the Internet can broadcast the signal to several devices simultaneously. Limits on the number of calls to an access point depend on many factors, including the factory settings of the individual device.

The more devices are connected to one access point, the slower the network connection speed will be.

Instructions for Android

If you are a user of an Android smartphone or tablet, you can distribute the Internet as follows:

  • in the window that opens, find the wireless networks tab and open full list parameters by clicking on the “More” item;
  • go to the device menu and then turn on the settings panel (Fig. 1);
  • now click on “Access Point” and “Settings” (Fig. 2);
  • In a new window you need to configure the connection parameters. First, specify the network name - this is the name that other devices will see when they try to connect to your device. Select the protection level - the degree of security and complexity of encrypting the access point password depends on it. The network can be left open - all users can connect to the access point (if possible, do not use open network, it may not be safe for your device). Next, you need to come up with a password to access the connection (Fig. 3).

Instructions for iOS

If you are an iPhone or iPad user, follow the instructions:

  • go to the device settings;
  • select the cellular connection settings window (Fig. 6);
  • set the “Modem mode” parameter to the “Enabled” state (Fig. 6);
  • now scroll down the settings page until the modem settings section appears (Fig. 7);
  • in the APN field, enter your operator, his name and access password (for example, for the MTS network, all three parameters will have the value “mts"). You can find out the data from your operator;
  • After entering this data, a new modem mode item will appear in the settings window (Fig. 8). Open it.



Rice. 8 – enable Internet distribution

You can now connect to the device from your PC or another smartphone.

The modem mode in modern phones allows you to “distribute” the Internet connection to other mobile devices using both a wireless connection and a USB connection. Thus, having set up general access to the Internet on your phone, you may not have to purchase a separate 3G/4G USB modem in order to access the Internet at your dacha from a laptop or tablet that only supports a Wi-Fi connection.

In this article, we'll look at four different ways to share Internet access or use an Android phone as a modem:

  • Via Wi-Fi, creating a wireless access point on your phone using the built-in operating system tools
  • Via Bluetooth
  • Via a USB cable connection, turning your phone into a modem
  • Using third party programs

I think this material will be useful for many - I know from my own experience that many owners of Android smartphones are not even aware of this feature, despite the fact that it would be very useful for them.

How does it work and what is the price of such Internet

When using an Android phone as a modem to access the Internet for other devices, the phone itself must be connected via 3G, 4G (LTE) or GPRS/EDGE to the cellular network of your telecom operator. Thus, the price for Internet access is calculated in accordance with the tariffs of Beeline, MTS, Megafon or other communication service provider. And it can be expensive. Therefore, if, for example, the cost of one megabyte of traffic is quite high for you, I recommend that you use your phone as a modem or Wi-Fi router, connect to any operator package option for Internet access, which will reduce costs and make such a connection justified.

Let me explain with an example: if you have Beeline, Megafon or MTS and you have just connected to one of the current tariffs for today (summer 2013) mobile communications, which does not provide any “Unlimited” Internet access services, then when using the phone as a modem, listening to one 5-minute musical composition of average quality online will cost you from 28 to 50 rubles. When you connect to Internet access services with a daily fixed fee, you won’t have to worry that all the money will disappear from your account. It should also be noted that downloading games (for PC), using torrents, watching videos and other delights of the Internet are not something that should be done through this type of access.

Setting up modem mode with creating a Wi-Fi access point on Android (using your phone as a router)

On mobile operating system Google Android has a built-in function for creating a wireless access point. To enable this function, go to the settings screen Android phone, under Wireless & Networks, click More, then open Tethering. Then click “Set up Wi-Fi hotspot.”

Here you can set the parameters of the wireless access point created on the phone - SSID (Wireless Network Name) and password. It is better to leave the “Security” item at WPA2 PSK.

Once you have finished setting up your wireless access point, check the “Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot” checkbox. Now you can connect to the created access point from a laptop or any Wi-Fi tablet.

Internet access via Bluetooth

On the same Android settings page, you can enable the “Internet sharing via Bluetooth” option. Once this has been done, you can connect to the network via Bluetooth, for example, from a laptop.

To do this, make sure that the appropriate adapter is turned on and the phone itself is visible for detection. Go to the control panel - “Devices and Printers” - “Add a new device” and wait until your Android device is detected. After the computer and phone are paired, right-click on the device in the list and select “Connect using” - “Access Point”. For technical reasons, I was not able to implement this myself, so I am not attaching a screenshot.

Using an Android phone as a USB modem

If you connect your phone to your laptop using a USB cable, the USB modem option will become active in the modem mode settings on it. After you turn it on, a new device will be installed in Windows and a new one will appear in the list of connections.

Provided that your computer is not connected to the Internet by other means, it will be used to access the network.

Programs for using your phone as a modem

In addition to the already described Android system capabilities for implementing Internet distribution from mobile device different ways, there are also many applications for the same purpose that you can download from the application store Google Play. For example, FoxFi and PdaNet+. Some of these apps require your phone to be rooted, some don't. At the same time, the use of third-party applications allows you to remove some of the restrictions that are present in “Modem Mode” in the Google Android OS itself.

The need to distribute the Internet from a smartphone to other devices arises quite often, especially in those regions where there is 3G, 4G (LTE) coverage, but there is no wired connection. For example, you went to a dacha where providers will not lay out cables any time soon, but you need to connect to the network today. In this case, you can connect your laptop to the Internet via a smartphone, especially if your tariff plan allows you not to worry too much about the volume of traffic.

There are several ways to connect a smartphone and laptop to access the network: using a USB cable, via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The last method is suitable for any combination of connected devices, and we will analyze the first two using the example of connecting to a computer running Windows.

How to distribute the Internet via Wi-Fi

This is one of the easiest to set up options for distributing the Internet from an Android device. It involves using your smartphone as a wireless router, which can be useful if you need to connect several devices to the Internet at once, such as a computer and a tablet.

To switch your smartphone to Wi-Fi modem mode, open Android settings and in the wireless networks section, tap on the “More” item. Then go to the “Tethering Mode” window and tap “Wi-Fi Hotspot”.

A new Wi-Fi Hotspot window will open. First of all, activate the Wi-Fi tethering using the switch at the top. After that, in the access point settings, set the security method (WPA2 PSK recommended) and password.

This way you can connect not only a computer, but also any device that has a Wi-Fi module. The main thing is to make sure that your wireless interface is turned on. It should appear in the list of available networks new network with the name you specified. Click on it, enter the password and click the “Next” button.

How to connect a smartphone as a USB modem

To implement this method, you need to connect your smartphone with a cable to one of the USB ports on a computer running Windows. In most cases, the system will detect and install the necessary drivers on its own, but if this does not happen, you will have to download them from the gadget manufacturer’s website and install them manually. Please note that it is best to use the supplied cable, as its quality may indirectly affect the connection speed.

After connecting your smartphone, open its settings and in the “ Wireless network» select “More”. A section of additional settings will open in front of you, where we are interested in the “Modem mode” item.

Here you need to check the box next to the “USB modem” item. As a result, a new connection will appear on your computer. To activate it, open a window network connections, right-click on the “Connect via local network" and in the context menu that appears, select "Enable".

How to connect a smartphone as a Bluetooth modem

To create this connection you need to do exactly the same as described in previous section, open the smartphone settings and go to selecting the modem mode, which is located at “Settings” - “More ...” - “Modem mode”. Only this time you need to check the “Bluetooth modem” box. Please note that your gadget must be visible to other devices. Be sure to check this option in your smartphone's Bluetooth settings.

Don't forget to make sure that Bluetooth is active in Windows. Open the “Devices and Printers” window in the “Control Panel”, in which we click on the “Add a device” link. The search for devices available in this moment to connect via Bluetooth. When your phone is detected, its icon will appear in this window. Click on it and a window with an 8-digit code will appear. After this, your phone will ask you to pair the devices, and then ask you to give permission to use your smartphone as a Bluetooth modem.

After completing these operations, right-click on the smartphone icon in the “Devices and Printers” window and select “Connect via” - “Access Point” from the context menu.

In the process of writing this article, we tested the data transfer speed for each connection method using the Speedtest service. As a result, it is the connection with using Wi-Fi showed the most better speed, USB came in second, with Bluetooth falling behind by a wide margin. Therefore, if you have an outlet in close proximity, then you need to use the Wi-Fi modem method. But if you are in field conditions, where there is not even electricity, then you should choose a USB connection as the most energy efficient.

Have you ever used a smartphone running Android to distribute the Internet to a computer or laptop? Which of the available options is the most preferable, in your opinion?