Creating a Hotspot

Mobile hotspot access is an add-on service for some tablets and phones. If you pay for such access (and sometimes even if you don’t pay for it), then you can share your data connection between your tablet and your laptop or other devices. You can also tether devices together using a USB cable or your Bluetooth connection.

If you’ve got an Android phone, you can do the same in reverse and share your phone’s data signal with your tablet, which creates a portable hotspot. The act of doing so is called tethering.

To turn on tethering, go to Settings: Wireless & networks and tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot (see Figure 6–4). You’ll immediately see a notice that tethering is on, and you can tap the notice to configure your hotspot. It’s a good idea to do so.

Figure 6–4. Creating a hotspot

By default, your access point will be called AndroidAP, and the security will be open. If you feel like sharing your hotspot and data access with anyone and everyone who happens to be in range, have at it! However, in most cases, you’ll want to make your access point a closed network.

Your best bet is to select WPA2-PSK and then specify a password, as shown in Figure 6–4. If you’re having trouble typing a password out on the keyboard, check the box labeled Show password. This only makes the password visible on your tablet, and you can uncheck the option when you’re done to avoid inadvertently revealing it to anyone else (see Figure 6–5).

Figure 6–5. Giving your hotspot a password

You can connect your laptop or other device to this hotspot just as you would to any other Wi-Fi network. You can even connect more than one device, such as sharing your connection with a friend. However, the more devices you connect, the slower the speed.