Can my phone be a hotspot for my laptop

Want to connect your laptop to Wi-Fi while you're on the go? Or maybe you're working from home and your internet connection is less than stellar. If so, no need to rely on public networks—use your smartphone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to share internet with other devices using your mobile data. 

Asurion Experts help millions of customers fix their tech fast and find solutions to their everyday tech care needs. In this article, they'll be sharing how a hotspot works, how to use your iPhone® or Android™ phone as a hotspot, and how to block others from using your hotspot network. 

A friendly reminder: Verizon®, AT&T®, and Sprint®, among other carriers, offer hotspot plans, so check with your wireless provider to find out whether additional data charges apply. 

What is a mobile hotspot? 

Using your phone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot lets you share your smartphone's mobile network connection with your other devices, letting them connect to the internet anywhere that you have mobile service. Most smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy® and iPhone, have built-in features that allow you to quickly turn on a Wi-Fi hotspot from the Settings or App menu. 

Sure, free Wi-Fi can be found everywhere from coffee shops to national parks, but using public Wi-Fi always carries certain security risks and often requires you to give out personal information, like your email address, in order to use the service. Using your smartphone's mobile hotspot allows you to put extra security measures in place to help protect you and your private information. 

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How to turn your iPhone into a mobile hotspot 

1. Tap Settings, then Personal Hotspot. 
2. Tap Allow Others to Join, and then tap Wi-Fi Password to change the password for your shared network. 
3. Connect your computer to your phone's internet—you can choose to connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, or USB. 

Note: Your iCloud® devices will be able to use it automatically. 

How to use your Samsung Galaxy as a mobile hotspot 

1. Tap Settings, then Connections. 
2. Tap Mobile Hotspot and Tethering. 
3. Tap Mobile Hotspot to turn it on. 
4. Once it’s on, tap Mobile Hotspot again, then tap Configure, where you can change the password to something difficult enough to help keep unwelcome guests from joining. 

How to use your Google Pixel as a hotspot

1. Tap Settings > Network & internet > Hotspot & tethering. 
2. Tap Wi-Fi hotspot, and tap the switch to turn it on.  
3. Once you’ve turned it on, you can tap Hotspot password to change it to something difficult enough to help keep unwelcome guests from joining. 

How to block others from using your mobile hotspot 

The easiest way to block others from using your personal mobile hotspot is to protect it with a strong, complex password. Combine uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers and special characters like, $, @, and #, to create a password that's at least 8 characters long. Don't use personal information, like your anniversary or your pet's name, and avoid using repetitive characters. 

If you suspect someone is using your mobile hotspot without your permission, you can check to see who is on it by going to the Hotspot section in your phone's Settings and looking at Connected Devices. If someone is on your network that you don't want to be on it, disconnect your mobile hotspot and reactivate it using a completely different password. Some devices also offer you the option to select the user under Connected Devices and tap Block to prevent them from using your hotspot. 

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If your internet connection drops in and out or your service provider is down for the day, don’t worry. It’s easy to connect your laptop to a mobile hotspot and restore the internet so you can get back to work.

Here’s how you can connect your Windows laptop to a mobile hotspot via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB.

Table of Contents

What Is a Mobile Hotspot?

A mobile hotspot lets your phone act like a router, sharing your data connection (either your mobile data plan or whatever Wi-Fi network it’s connected to) to other devices. With this functionality, you can always connect to the internet on your laptop even if your primary internet is down for some reason.

Keep in mind that using a wireless hotspot will drain your phone’s battery, use your cellular data much faster, and expose you to malicious actors if you aren’t careful.

Start the Hotspot

The first step is to start the mobile hotspot connection so your laptop can discover it.

To share your mobile hotspot on Android:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select Connections.

1. Scroll down and tap Mobile Hotspot and Tethering.

1. Toggle on the Mobile Hotspot setting.

1. Tap Mobile Hotspot to see and change your password.

Note: This process may differ slightly depending on your Android device’s brand and version. If your Android hotspot isn’t working, try these ten fixes.

To share your mobile hotspot on an Apple iPhone:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Personal Hotspot.

1. Toggle on Allow Others to Join.

Note: This process may differ slightly depending on your iPhone model or iOS version. If your iPhone hotspot isn’t working for Windows, try troubleshooting the issue.

Connect Your Windows Laptop to the Wi-Fi Hotspot

Once you’ve shared the hotspot using your mobile device, you can create a network connection with your Microsoft laptop like any other wireless network.

To connect to your mobile hotspot on Windows 11:

1. Click the Wi-Fi symbol at the bottom-right corner of the taskbar.

1. Click the arrow next to the Wi-Fi symbol to enter your Wi-Fi settings.

1. Scroll down until you find your mobile hotspot and select it. It should be the name and model of your phone.

1. When prompted, enter the hotspot Wi-Fi password and click Connect.

To connect to your mobile hotspot using Windows 10:

1. Press the network settings symbol in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar. This will appear as a Wi-Fi symbol if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, a computer, and a cable if you’re connected via ethernet, or a globe with a disconnected symbol if you are connected to no network.

1. Select your hotspot name.

1. When prompted, enter the network security key and click Next.

How to Connect Your Laptop to the Mobile Hotspot via USB

It’s possible to tether your Android phone to your Windows laptop via a USB cable. To configure USB tethering:

1. Connect your USB cable to both the phone and your laptop.
2. Open Settings on your Android.
3. Tap Connections.

1. Tap Mobile Hotspot and Tethering.

1. Toggle on USB Tethering.

How to Connect Your Laptop to the Mobile Hotspot via Bluetooth

The final way to connect your laptop to a mobile hotspot is to enable Bluetooth tethering. This is possible on both iOS and Android phones.

To enable Bluetooth tethering on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Connections.
3. Tap Mobile Hotspot and Tethering.
4. Tap Bluetooth tethering.

1. Toggle it on.

To enable Bluetooth tethering on an iPhone:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Bluetooth.

1. Turn Bluetooth on and select your laptop from the list of devices to connect to.

To then connect your Windows PC to the Bluetooth hotspot:

1. Click the upwards arrow at the bottom-right of your taskbar to see the icon tray.
2. Right-click the Bluetooth symbol and click Show Bluetooth Devices.

1. Click Add Bluetooth or other device.

1. Select Bluetooth.

1. Select your phone from the list.

1. When you click your phone, you should receive a pairing request. Confirm that the passkey is identical on your phone and laptop, and then click Pair on your phone.

1. Click Connect on your laptop.

Happy Days

Maintaining internet access at all times is becoming more and more necessary with so many people working from home or needing the internet to stay in touch with their families. Luckily, with the mobile hotspot feature, you can create a Wi-Fi connection using your cellular data, meaning you never lose touch.

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