macbook pro wifi hotspot?

[huggyb]

Hey Folks,

I have a friend traveling/living in New Zealand and is using a pay-as-you-go sim with her iPhone. Apparently the wifi logins are unique to devices and she said she gets 1 wifi "voucher" to use, she'd rather use it for her laptop.

She was wondering is it possible to connect her phone to use the wifi on her mac? I've read up on the internet sharing option if you have an ethernet cable connected to your mac, but I was wondering if you paired your phone to your mac with bluetooth, could the phone then get to the internet using the laptops wifi? So basically, the mac is on wifi, phone connects to mac with bluetooth, phone can now browse the web using mac laptops wifi?

thanks if anybody knows this answer.

 

[simonsi]

That may work however I'd question the logic, would be more intuitive to have the phone on wifi (or 3G), and share its internet via BT with the laptop when required???

Personal hotspot on iPhone's is supported via BT but I'm not sure if it will share the WiFi connection or only the 3G.

 

[huggyb]

the issue here is that my friend can't get more than 500mb data pay-as-you-go service, which is why she needs to connect the phone to the laptop. She also says connecting via ethernet cable has been basically not available at any of these places.

 

[heisenberg123]

I'm confused an iphone can connect to a WiFi even without a SIM or carrier plan how is her carrier preventing this?

 

[simonsi]

Ok, I suspect we are confusing terms, her voucher is likely a mobile data voucher on the mobile network, WiFi is open unless she has bought some kind of WiFi voucher which will be hotspot-related (albeit provided by the same carrier but not as part of the mobile network).

I'm NZ-based, can you confirm which carrier we are talking about (and/or WiFi voucher provider)??

Edit - Telecom with Free 1GB Wifi??

Still can't see the logic, why would you want to surf on the phone when the mac must be connected to do it?

Options:

1. Use voucher on MBP, browse data on the phone via BT? (Reverse Tethering)

See here: http://kiskeyix.org/articles/552

2. Use voucher on phone, will MBP share the phone wifi?

From this Apple article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517

It seems not, the phone will only share out its cellular data connection, nots its wifi one.

HTH

 

[raptor402]

You can do that. Go to System Preferences > Sharing. In Internet Sharing, you can select the source and the destination, with Bluetooth PAN a viable option. However, I have read about instances in which sharing a Wi-Fi connection on to a Bluetooth PAN didn't work; Ethernet was required. This thread might help you further.

Regards
Raptor

EDIT: As for the logic involved, I'm guessing that the OP means that the friend wants to use the Wi-Fi voucher he/she has in order to avoid exceeding the 500MB limit on her pay-as-you-go phone service. The assumption here is that the Wi-Fi voucher provides unlimited internet.

EDIT 2: Removed misquote.

 

[simonsi]

If she is on the Telecom plan then good news:

"You can access Telecom WiFi from up to two devices per qualifying mobile number"

http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/overview/wifi/#what-do-i-need

 

[huggyb]

If she is on the Telecom plan then good news:

"You can access Telecom WiFi from up to two devices per qualifying mobile number"

http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/overview/wifi/#what-do-i-need

Thanks for much for your help, for some reason MacRumors wasn't emailling alerting me to your replies, so I assumed people lost interest in my issue.

I guess I was confused at how WiFi works in NZ. She is on Telecom pay as you go, and she's able to use the WiFi at their specific hotspots (she says are mostly only in cities). but she says

"otherwise, no wifi is open, you have to get a login that is limited and either comes with purchase or you buy and those I can't get to work on laptop AND phone"

so in america and most of europe, you can just jump on wifi with however many devices you want in a starbucks or pub or hotel or whatever. The way she's describing it, it doesn't work that way in New Zealand.

Since you're from NZ, can you help me understand how that works? Also, thanks for the link to the bluetooth PAN option, hopefully that works for her in other situations.

 

[simonsi]

Thanks for much for your help, for some reason MacRumors wasn't emailling alerting me to your replies, so I assumed people lost interest in my issue.

I guess I was confused at how WiFi works in NZ. She is on Telecom pay as you go, and she's able to use the WiFi at their specific hotspots (she says are mostly only in cities). but she says

"otherwise, no wifi is open, you have to get a login that is limited and either comes with purchase or you buy and those I can't get to work on laptop AND phone"

so in america and most of europe, you can just jump on wifi with however many devices you want in a starbucks or pub or hotel or whatever. The way she's describing it, it doesn't work that way in New Zealand.

Since you're from NZ, can you help me understand how that works? Also, thanks for the link to the bluetooth PAN option, hopefully that works for her in other situations.

Well as per my quote Telecom state it should work on 2 devices and they include a process for authorizing a device without cellular access, utilizing a phone or device that has. She needs to follow the Telecom instructions, if it doesn't work she will need to go into a Telecom store where they should sort it out easily I would have thought.

Internet generally isn't open/unlimited/free in NZ as we have a very finite international fibre pipe to Australia and the USA with a very limited population to fund it, hence access is restricted to enable revenue collection to be maximized in return.