Learn How to Share Your Android Mobile Internet Data Connection

You can convert your mobile in to a Wi-Fi hotspot and share your internet connection with your friends or with your own laptop or desktop. You can use the following three ways to share the data connection:

	USB tethering or hotspot active
	Bluetooth tethering active
	Portable Wi-Fi hotspot active

USB tethering or Bluetooth tethering will enable you to share the data connection to only once device at a time, however, you can also share your data connection with up to 10 devices at once, by turning it into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

While your device is sharing its data connection, a Status icon appears at the top of the screen and a corresponding message appears in the notification list:

The tethering & portable hotspot settings described below allow you to share your data connection. To view these settings:

1. From a Home screen or All Apps screen, touch the Settings icon.
2. Under Wireless & Networks, touch More > Tethering & portable hotspot.

Share your phone’s data connection via USB

Note: USB tethering is not supported on computers running Mac OS.

If your computer is running Windows 7 or a recent distribution of some flavors of Linux (such as Ubuntu), you can follow these instructions without any special preparation.

If you’re running a version of Windows that precedes Windows 7, or some other operating system, you may need to prepare your computer to establish a network connection via USB.

1. Connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable.

A USB icon appears at the top of the screen, and the notification Connected as a media device or Connected as a camera appears briefly at the top of the screen. For the purposes of tethering, the type of connection doesn’t matter.

1. Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
2. Check USB tethering.

Your computer is now sharing your device’s data connection.

1. To stop sharing your data connection, uncheck USB tethering or disconnect the USB cable.

Share your phone’s data connection via Bluetooth

If your computer can obtain an Internet connection via Bluetooth, you can configure your phone to share it’s mobile data connection with your computer.

1. Pair your phone with your computer.
2. Configure your computer to obtain its network connection via Bluetooth.

For more information, see your computer’s documentation.

1. Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
2. Check Bluetooth tethering.

Your computer is now sharing your phone’s data connection.

1. To stop sharing your data connection, uncheck Bluetooth tethering.

Share your phone’s data connection as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot

1. Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
2. Check Portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

After a moment, the phone starts broadcasting its Wi-Fi network name (SSID), so you can connect to it with up to 8 computers or other devices.

To stop sharing your data connection, uncheck Portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

Rename or secure your portable hotspot

You can change the name of your phone’s Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and secure its Wi-Fi network when it’s acting as a portable hotspot.

1. Go to Settings > Wireless & networks > More > Tethering & portable hotspot.
2. Make sure Portable Wi-Fi hotspot is checked.
3. Touch Configure Wi-Fi hotspot.

The Configure Wi-Fi hotspot dialog opens.

1. Set your name and security options as follows:

Change the Network SSID (name) that other computers see when scanning for Wi-Fi networks.

Choose a security option. Choosing WPA2 PSK adds a password field to the Configure Wi-Fi hotspot dialog. If you enter a password, you will need to re-enter that password when you connect to the hotspot with a computer or other device. To remove security from your Wi-Fi network, choose Open.

1. Touch Save.