Last night my internet went down. Have time warner road runner cable in nyc. The only way to get online was with my smartphone which uses virgin mobile 3g. Of course the speed is not that fast compared to cable high speed internet and the screen is very small.
I heard there is a way where you can use the internet on your phone and connect it to the computer. Thus using internet on the computer. Can someone tell me how you can do this? Thus my cell phone internet would be a backup internet if my primary internet goes down. I read its something called tethering?
I also read that it cost money to set it up for a one time fee but after that, its basically free? Or is there a way where there is no charge? Besides that, is there any equipment i need? Can you do this on desktop and laptop or just one of them? I heard about aircards but i know thats another thing where you have to pay a monthly fee for it and thats not the same as the cell phone.
When I was between ISPs last year I used PDANet to tether my Droid to my computer. It’s fairly simple to use, and is free notwithstanding any fees your cell phone provider may charge you for data usage. It’s not very fast (basically on the level of where DSL/cable was about 10-12 years ago), but it worked just fine for me until I got my cable back up and running.
There are a couple different ways to do this. If your computer has wi-fi, then setting the smartphone to wi-fi sharing or wi-fi personal hotspot is probably the easiest way, as it doesn’t involve installing new USB internet drivers to your computer.
For more specific details, we probably need to know the model and version of the phone.
I’ve used PDAnet as well, and it works pretty well. Your cell provider may or may not charge you, depending on their policies and if they catch you at it. Sporadic use will probably remain under their radar, but long term use will certainly activate their spidey senses.
Regarding using your cell phone as a WiFi hotspot, that works too, but is a huge battery killer, because you are basically using your phone as a transmitter. Make sure your phone is on the charger while you use it that way.