Use Your Android Phone as a Wireless Hub for FREE!

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You know that you can browse the internet with your android phone but did you know that you can actually convert it into a hub, so you can browse the internet through it on your PC? You may not be aware that you can actually turn your Android phone into a wireless hub.

You can use your Android-powered mobile smartphone as a wireless hotspot for multiple devices while continuing to use standard phone features, such as making and receiving calls or sending and receiving text messages. Most mobile phone providers require an additional data plan to use your phone as a mobile hub/hotspot/router.

Agreed; that you might be put off even starting this process because you think that Android phones are still considerably expensive, well they have been on the market for long enough now that you can find some great deals. If you visit a price comparison site like uSwitch, then you can search for great android phone deals. Once you have bought yourself a cool new Android smartphone, turning it into a wireless hub wouldn’t be much of a hassle. Read on…

How to Turn Your Android Smartphone Into a Wireless Hotspot?

The steps to enable the mobile hotspot on your phone will vary depending on the device.  Here is how you set up your phone as a wireless hub…

First You Need to Tether

There are many ways you can tether your phone to your personal PC, laptop or Mac. However they may require adapting advanced settings on your Android device; we won’t be advising that. The advice we will give means downloading some Android apps (programs) directly on to your phone and changing a few basic settings.

Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Use PDAnet App to Turn Android Phone Into a Wireless Router

You need to start by opening up the Android Market and looking for an application called PDANet. This is free of charge, so download it straight on to your phone. The latest version of PDAnet turns your Android  (any version) into a true WiFi HotSpot so that you can connect from your computer (MAC or PC) or iPads. This allows your laptop to go online wirelessly through the 2G/3G/4G network on the Android Phone.

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And the best part? PDAnet supports USB/Bluetooth DUN and it does not require a tether plan or rooting. At just one click, PdaNet instantly shares the Internet access of your Android phone with your computer. It does NOT require root access or hacking your phone’s firmware. It works on all Android phones.

When you have it installed, you need to get the accompanying program to your personal computer. Make sure you select the right one for your PC, which should be clearly labelled. The program will be in several versions , so best to get the most recent, if your computer supports this.

Then you just need to change one setting on your phone. Start at the home screen, then hit the Menu key and go to settings. Then go to Applications, then to Development. The next step is to hit USB debugging. Then finally hit OK on the confirmation dialog box.

Now the PdaNet app should stream information straight from your android to your computer. To protect yourself, you should disallow that USB debugging setting whenever it is not in use.

Then you need to start the connection. To do this, make sure you phone is plugged into the USB plug on your computer. Start the PdaNet app on your android and hit the Enable USB Tether setting. The app will check for the PC equivalent, that you have already installed.

It will then let you know that it is operating in the background. Then you need to look on your computer, and look for the PdaNet setting, right click on this and hit Connect from the menu.

You should now have confirmation that you are connected and your PC should be running through your phone. That’s it! You can now use your Android phone’s data plan to connect your PC or Mac to the internet — FREE of cost. And yes, the PdaNet app also has another option ‘Enable Bluetooth DUN’. If you have Bluetooth then you could always connect without wireless and use this option instead.