When we are away from home and we have no connection available for the laptop, we can connect using the data offer of our Android smartphone, so that we can reply to the corporate email or finish the work done on the Office cloud without having to wait to find a connection to Internet fast enough and secure. This type of connection, called Tethering, can be obtained in three different ways: wireless (by activating a real hotspot ), Bluetooth and via USB cable, so that we can choose from time to time the best type of connection for our needs.
In this guide we will then show you how to activate Tethering on Android to share the Internet from our phone to our notebook or MacBook in all possible ways, also explaining some small tricks to avoid crazy expenses.
How to activate tethering on Android
Before going into the guide, we recommend that you carefully check the residual traffic available on the SIM of the Android smartphone : if we have an offer that includes more than 10GB, we can rest easy enough (although we must pay attention to some things, as we will show you more ahead), while if we have less than 10 GB we mend that computers exchange more data than a smartphone (just think of the system updates, which often exceed 3 GB on Windows), so we will have to really minimize the amount of data and downloads to be performed with tethering, under penalty of paying additional (very high) costs for exceeding the traffic threshold granted by the operator .Before continuing, therefore, we recommend you read our guides on Internet offers for rechargeable SIMs on tablets, sticks and modems and on How to check traffic and residual credit thresholds (Android) .
How to activate the Wifi hotspot on Android
The simplest and affordable method for everyone to take advantage of tethering on Android involves the use of a dedicated wireless network, created by the phone itself, to which we can connect any notebook (as if we were in a Wi-Fi Hotspot).To create this network dedicated to tethering on Android, we open the Settings app and open the Personal Hotspot menu (called on some Hotspot, Hotspot and tethering phones or simply Wi-Fi Tethering ).
After opening the indicated menu, select the Hotspot configuration menu (or similar, much depends on the manufacturer of the chosen phone) and choose a name to be assigned to the hotspot network ( SSID ) and a secure password ( WPA2-PSK ). Once everything is configured, we return to the previous screen and activate the hotspot by pressing on the item Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot (or Activate Hotspot ).
A Wi-Fi network with the chosen name will be generated, accessible from any nearby wireless device; now all we have to do is turn on the notebook in our possession, click on the network icon and select the name of the hotspot just created, by typing the password chosen during configuration.
Now we can surf on the laptop using the wireless tethering of our Android smartphone ! To maintain good speed, we recommend leaving the smartphone near the laptop (no more than 3 meters) and finding the point on the table (or on the support surface) where the phone's LTE signal is strongest (at least 4 notches on 5).
If our smartphone allows it, we can also configure a limit to the wireless tethering data exchange, so as to prevent the laptop from downloading data beyond the allowed threshold. To significantly reduce the amount of data exchanged by a laptop with Windows 10 installed, we can also activate consumption mode, by right-clicking on the network icon in the lower right, opening the item Open Network and Internet Settings, selecting the Edit item connection properties and activating the button in the section Set as connection on consumption .
How to activate the Bluetooth hotspot on Android
If we want to prevent someone from seeing our hotspot network while we are in a public place, we can configure tethering on Android via Bluetooth, so as to create a unique connection between the phone and the notebook.First let's make sure that our laptop has a Bluetooth connection: in case it is absent, we can always buy a low-cost Bluetooth USB adapter like the one present here -> TP-Link UB400 (10 €).
Once the Bluetooth connection on our laptop is turned on, we open the Settings app on the Android phone and go to the Bluetooth menu. We activate the entry related to the Bluetooth connection and wait for the computer name to appear in the list.
We tap on the name of the computer and accept the codes provided (they should coincide with those shown by the window on the PC), so as to establish the connection. After carrying out this step, we return to the initial Settings screen, press on the Other menu or on Hotspot and tethering and activate the Bluetooth Tethering item.
After activating the voice, a new modem will be installed on the computer, i.e. the phone connected in Bluetooth mode. We can now navigate smoothly using our mobile Internet offer!
To keep the connection stable and fast, we recommend keeping the phone very close to the computer (less than 1 meter), and placing yourself in a place where the smartphone's LTE signal is very good (at least 4 out of 5 notches).
How to activate tethering on Android via USB cable
If we want to avoid using wireless connections and benefit from the maximum transfer speed (as well as saving battery), we can activate tethering on Android via USB cable . To achieve this type of connection, we must install the USB driver of our Android device on the computer, then use any USB cable to connect the smartphone to a free USB port on the notebook. After successful connection, the correct driver will be loaded and a modem will also be added to the operating system, which can be used for the purpose. Now that everything is ready, let's go to the Settings app on the phone, tap on Other or on Hotspot and tethering and activate the voice USB tethering .
In a few seconds the LTE connection will be shared on the notebook, with which we can immediately navigate. Since the connection is via cable, we can also place the phone where it gets the best, perhaps using a longer cable like the one available here -> Rampow USB Micro USB cable (€ 7).
Conclusions
Now that we have learned all the ways we can tether on Android, we can bring the notebook with us on every occasion, aware that we can continue the work even when we are away from home.
In another article we saw how to Activate the Hotspot on iPhone (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth), in case we owned an iPhone.
If instead we wanted to create a hotspot from a PC, in another guide we have already shown you how to create a WiFi hotspot on a Windows PC, to share the Internet connection of the computer and thus connect a smartphone, tablet or any other wireless device.
