How to use WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth Tethering and USB Tethering on your Android

Android’s offerings have taken the world to a whole new smartphone era and there is something new you find every second to do on your device if you own one. The journey began from cupcake and is going through KitKat right now, during this, a massive number of improvements landed in that helped Android to get more and more popular each and every second and this is the only reason that 90% of the smartphones are powered up with Android today. The very thing that plays an essential role in any Android device is the use of internet that actually adds life to it. Without internet, the device would look like a dark room where you won’t be able to find anything.

Android devices do not allow the users to only use internet on their device, but also let the users to connect other devices to connect to internet using their Android device. Now that’s what we are here for at the moment. There are multiple ways that allow the users to use their Android device to give access over internet to other devices such as any other Android device (smartphone, tablet) or any computer or laptop. This is really helpful actually. Just today when I was done installing new Windows on my laptop, I lost all the drivers that wiped WiFi driver with it too and made my laptop dull and unfortunately I had no way to find the driver over the internet and install it on my laptop. This is where my device helped me, I accessed internet on the same laptop using my Galaxy Note 3 and got the drivers installed. We will be going through all the available methods that can allow this in a few minutes. Before we go any further we will first have to know about what is Tethering..

Tethering:

Tethering helps a device to act as a modem for other devices and connect internet. A very convenient method,  when you’re facing connection issues on your device, it maybe an Android smartphone, tablet or a computer. Specially when you don’t have a WiFi around you or LAN connection and you are unable to go online through any means, in this case your Android device maybe able to save you a life as you can simply use your Mobile data to access internet on the second device. Tethering is also helpful when a device doesn’t have in-built 3G or 4G connection, using USB or Bluetooth tethering will overcome this drawback. Another advantage is when the device’s drivers failed to work or even if there is any other such hardware issue, using tethering will allow accessing the internet on the device with issues.

As said above, there are two methods that allow the use of internet on a device using an Android smartphone / tablet, these include Tethering and Portable WiFi Hotspot. Tethering is further divided into two more parts, Bluetooth Tethering and USB Tethering. We will be going through all these three one by one now. Let’s start with USB Tethering.

USB Tethering:

The simplest and most convenient when the other device doesn’t have a WiFi capability or doesn’t have a relevant driver installed. As mentioned above, I used USB Tethering to access internet on my laptop with newly installed Windows 8. USB Tethering is underlying in Settings > Connections > Tethering & Portable Hotspot > USB Tethering. This option appears only when you have plugged in a USB data cable and connected it to your computer / laptop. To use USB Tethering, simply connect your phone to your PC and then enable it through the same location. Once enabled, it will connect on your PC through the LAN connection and appear in the taskbar. You can access the internet now! Here’s the method explained step by step as well.

1. Install your phone’s USB drivers on your PC first of all.
2. Connect your phone to your PC now.
3. Now  on your phone, go to Settings.
4. In Settings > Connections / Networks > Portable WiFi & Tethering > USB Tethering
5. Check the USB Tethering.
6. It will connect internet on your PC using the LAN connection.
7. Access the internet.
8. That’s All!

Bluetooth Tethering:

Much useful when you don’t have WiFi nor you have a USB cable to use USB Tethering and luckily have a Bluetooth Radio in the other device. Simply and convenient and requires no much hiccups here and there. You simply got to connect your Android device to another device either a PC or another Android device using Bluetooth (Bluetooth Pairing) and then enable Bluetooth tethering on your main device & access the internet. Here’s the method explained in steps.

1. Pair your Android device to your desired device using Bluetooth.
2. Now on your device go to Settings.
3. In Settings > Connections > Portable Wifi & Tethering > Bluetooth Tethering > Enable.
4. Once enabled, open Network Connections on your PC.
5. Connect using the Bluetooth connection now.
6. That’s All!

Portable WiFi Hotspot:

The best method among these as there are hardly any devices that come without WiFi support now. All the high end / mid range or even low end Android powered devices or other OS powered devices come with WiFi capability and for PC’s a WiFi card is a must as well. Use of cables is getting less, so in case you don’t have LAN connection around you to access internet on your PC / Laptop and you have a WiFi card in your device, using Portable WiFi Hotspot will do the job here for you. WiFi Hotspot landed in Android devices from Android 2.0 Froyo + and is there now in all the higher Android versions. This makes your device to act as a portable modem, that allows 10 other devices to connect to the internet through it. The most useful method specially when you don’t have a WiFi router around you, using WiFi Hotspot will allow you to use your phone’s Mobile Data (3G or GPRS) and get internet access. Here are the steps explaining how you can setup WiFi Hotspot and use it.

1. Go to Settings on your phone.
2. In Settings > Connections / Networks > Portable Hotspot & Tethering > WiFi Hotspot > Turn On.
3. Tap the WiFi connection that will appear after enabling Portable Hotspot.
4. Allow Wi-Fi access to All devices.
5. You will get the information about the WiFi router your device will act as (name and password) or you will be asked to set router password and name.
6. Setup the connection and then find the WiFi connection on your other device.
7. Connect to it using the password that you made or you got.
8. Once connected WiFi on second device, use internet now flawlessly!
9. That’s All!

That’s all with this post. We hope that you find this “How To” tutorial helpful. In case you got any queries or suggestions, please feel free to stop by the comment box below. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks all!