One of the best new features that I have found and used on the new iPhone iOS 4.3 release is a feature called Personal Hotspot. Basically, what this is, is it turns your iPhone into a wireless hotspot using your 3G connection. So for example, if you out at a coffee shop, or somewhere where there is no internet connectivity, you simply turn your Personal Hotspot on and you can use any other device, like your PC or Mac, or iPad or even another WiFi enabled phone to connect to the net. Previously you needed to purchase whole other device, like a MiFi, to be able to connect to the net. Now it is built right into your phone. Brilliant !!
To get started using Personal Hotspot you can follow these steps :
- On your iPhone go to Settings -> Personal Hotspot
- Turn your Personal Hotspot to ON. You will see a Blue bar at the op of your screen which shows you that Personal Hotspot is now active.
- On you computer or iPad, choose iPhone from the list of network services in your WiFi menu.
- Enter the password that is shown in the Personal Hotspot
- You can now browse the net using your iPhone’s 3G connection. Try and make sure your 3G is on, otherwise things will really be slow.
- Remember to turn it off once you are done.
You can also use Personal hotspot using Bluetooth or using the USB cable, to create an internet connection. You can have up to 5 devices connecting at any time (3 WiFi, 1 Bluetooth & 1 USB). Currentley there is no extra charge associated with this, but in the US, AT&T does charge an extra fee every month. Let’s trust & hope the SA Network providers don’t follow suite, as I think it makes absolutely no sense !
Have you used Personal Hotspot ? What do you think ? Leave a comment below with your findings.
Related articles
- iOS 4.3 spotlight: Personal Hotspot (tuaw.com)
- Apple releases iOS 4.3 with WiFi hotspot, improved AirPlay (venturebeat.com)
- Should You Buy a 3G iPad or Use Personal Hotspot? (macstories.net)
14 replies on “Personal Hotspot on iPhone iOS 4.3”
Does the same apply to the iPad – I have upgraded my iPad to the latest iOS
It works a treat and about time, I had this on my Nokia E71 and E72 3 or 4 years ago ..
Is it possible for an iPad 3G running the new software to share it’s Internet connection this way? Ie can an iPad BE a hotspot?
Michael
i have iPhone 3G, so I won’t get this new functionality. Pity, as I have a WiFi only iPad!
Any idea which method is better for connecting? Wifi or bluetooth. I’m thinking ito least battery power used and most speed.
Same question as Michael, no one seems to know. Guru Marc, speak to us? :)
Hi Marc,
I upgraded the firmware on my iPhone 4, but not seeing any hotspot options under any settings. Have done some reading online and mostly it points to network settings. I am however not able tog get new network settings from vodacom (settings unavailable when using ussd (*111#) and nothing comes through when phoning them :(). Do you have any wisdom to share on this, maybe some of your other readers have experienced the same issue?
R
@Michael & Bee. Not 100% sure about the personal hotspot on the iPad 3G, but from my research, it looks like it is available on the iPhone 4 only.
@Rudolf Have you turned the phone off & on ? Very strange, as I have a vodacom phone, and it is appearing in the settings menu ? Maybe do a sync again, and if that doesn’t work, restore the 4.3 firmware
It is not enabled on the iPad… only iPhone 4
Hi Marc
You can achieve something similar using the iPhone 3GS: i use the Bluetooth connection between my Mac and iPhone, and then set up “tethering” on the phone. Works really well.
Hi Marc, Rudolf…
I’ve got the same problem. iPhone4 with iOS 4.3, and no hotspot settings to be found anywhere :-(
I’m however on MTN, not Vodacom (not that it should make a difference).
Incidentally, I’ve also got a problem with my Tethering option missing from my settings (could be related?).
Please let me know if you find any solution.
Thanks, Adrian.
…P.S. I see that iOS 4.3.1 patch is out, but I’ve heard from at least one or two people in my office that it’s basically bricked their phone when they tried to update to it (non-jailbreak, btw).
Anyone else had a similar problem, or alternatively, upgraded to 4.3.1 successfully?
Thanks again.
UPDATE: I got my Personal Hotspot working on my iPhone4 with MTN account – works like an absolute charm. I’m note sure what was wrong, I think it was an old ‘fake’ profile to get tethering working way back that was causing problems. I pretty much had to reset all my network credentials. Another thing it may have been, is a tip I came across, that it only works under certain APN credentials, i.e. you CAN’T use “internet”, but using “myMTN” for example, would work…
Cheers, Adrian.
I’ve been using my hotspot to provide Internet to my wifi iPad and I’ve noticed a significantly more data being used. Do you think this is because the iPad uses more data than the iPhone to similar functions ie: twitter, Facebook and general browsing or, does vodacom count the data used twice? Meaning, they count the data coming to your phone, and then again for uploading from your phone broadcasting through wifi hotspot? Any comments much appreciated.
Hi
I can connect with my PC tethered to the iphone with a usb cable. I have tried to do quite a large download and there seems to be a limit. It is always greater than 20mb so the istore limit is not the problem. Any ideas?