How to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on an Android phone

Imagine you’re out with your friends. You have an urgent message to send via WhatsApp, you need to check Facebook, or check a route with Google Maps. But you can’t do it. You’ve exceeded your monthly data limit or you simply do not have a data subscription on your mobile device. What do you do?

The answer is that you ask one of your friends to share their connection with you from their Android phone. They can do this by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot – i.e. an access point on the device with a web link. Here’s exactly how to do it.

This demonstration is on Android devices with firmware 4.x, but if you use a 2.x version of the OS the procedure is almost identical.

How to create a wireless hotspot

1. Open the Settings menu. Under Wireless & Networks, go to More > Tethering & portable hotspot > Configure Wi-Fi hotspot.

2. At this point you should set the login details for your hotspot. Assign a name to the network (SSID), define a password and press Save.

3. Now that you’ve correctly configured the hotspot, you need to enable it. Back on the Tethering & portable hotspot menu tap the Portable Wi-Fi hotspot option to check the box.

4. Now the hotspot is operational and you’ll be able to find the WiFi network from any WiFi-enabled mobile device (doesn’t have to be an Android), and access it by entering the password that was set in step two.

[Via OnSoftware Italy]