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personal hotspot = wireless network?

B

Boghog

macrumors member
Original poster
May 7, 2007
89
0
Hi, I have a question about using iOS 4.3's new personal hotspot feature. Does this mean my iPhone can now generate its own wifi-network? For instance I thought I could get an :apple:TV to output video, keynote etc. while I'm presenting in front of classes. But that setup requires -correct me if I'm wrong- that the devices be on the same wireless network, which up to now wasn't an option because the classrooms don't have wifi.
Can I now use the phone to generate such a network, subscribe my :apple:TV and/or iPad to it and stream away?
I'd be grateful for any help/pointers.
boghog
 
Yes, basically that is exactly what it does... it turns your iPhone into a wireless modem & router.

However, I'm not sure about your AppleTV question, as I know this only works with certain devices. For example, you can connect a laptop to it, but not a PS3 or Xbox 360. I'm not sure where an AppleTV device falls in this situation.
 
DDustiNN said:
Yes, basically that is exactly what it does... it turns your iPhone into a wireless modem & router.

However, I'm not sure about your AppleTV question, as I know this only works with certain devices. For example, you can connect a laptop to it, but not a PS3 or Xbox 360. I'm not sure where an AppleTV device falls in this situation.
Click to expand...

This is false. The reason this wasn't possible before is because the only options (MyWi, PDANet) turned the phone into a wireless access point in ad-hoc mode.

The Personal Hotspot turns the phone into a wireless access point in infrastructure mode, which means everything will connect to it.
 
ulbador said:
This is false. The reason this wasn't possible before is because the only options (MyWi, PDANet) turned the phone into a wireless access point in ad-hoc mode.

The Personal Hotspot turns the phone into a wireless access point in infrastructure mode, which means everything will connect to it.
Click to expand...

Oh really? Well that's excellent news then... thanks for the clarification!
 
Sick I hope them jb have an untethered app and the Cydia hackers make a work around to enable the hotspot without losing or adding any other data plans.
 
Not to thread jack, but this falls in the same area. Could you create a wireless network with the iPhone and connect to it with the same iPhone and FaceTime over the connection?? Without jailbreaking?
 
DmbShn41 said:
Not to thread jack, but this falls in the same area. Could you create a wireless network with the iPhone and connect to it with the same iPhone and FaceTime over the connection?? Without jailbreaking?
Click to expand...

I believe you cannot connect to a connection that the device itself created.
 
can someone please post a pic of the menu showing the hotspot layout and how to get to it in the settings. I will upgrade to 4.3 later today, but I have a special unlimited plan with my ip4. When tethering came out, at&t had the tether option deleted in my settings. at&t said if i want tethering then I had to change to a new plan without unlimited data. I didnt do that. But it would be nice to know where I should look for the hotspot in my settings to see if they did the same thing.

Also, has anyone used mywi on their phone and then connected an ipad? If at&t does not allow my phone to have the hotspot, I would like to use mywi with my ipad 2 (when i get it).
 
ITS ME DAVID said:
Sick I hope them jb have an untethered app and the Cydia hackers make a work around to enable the hotspot without losing or adding any other data plans.
Click to expand...

They do. It's called TetherMe and it works great. Been using it almost a month to tether my iPad.
 
rtztgue said:
can someone please post a pic of the menu showing the hotspot layout and how to get to it in the settings. I will upgrade to 4.3 later today, but I have a special unlimited plan with my ip4. When tethering came out, at&t had the tether option deleted in my settings. at&t said if i want tethering then I had to change to a new plan without unlimited data. I didnt do that. But it would be nice to know where I should look for the hotspot in my settings to see if they did the same thing.

Also, has anyone used mywi on their phone and then connected an ipad? If at&t does not allow my phone to have the hotspot, I would like to use mywi with my ipad 2 (when i get it).
Click to expand...

You will not be able to use the at&t hotspot with an unlimited data plan. You will be forced to switch to the 2gb data plan and add tethering which adds 2 gb, so 4gb for $45 a month. I'm in the same boat, I just JB and use MyWi.
 
Great... I will wait for the JB and then get mywi. Might as well wait to see how many phones get bricked with the update. Seems like a few ip4 are having problems with 4.3
 
rtztgue said:
Great... I will wait for the JB and then get mywi. Might as well wait to see how many phones get bricked with the update. Seems like a few ip4 are having problems with 4.3
Click to expand...

You don't have to wait, there are untethered JB's for 4.2.1 now, add MyWi and you're all set to go tonight!
 
I really haven't been following the whole hotspot too closely because I currently have an unlimited data plan with my iphone 4 and I don't really need to pay any more to AT&T for tethering, but I'm trying to figure out just what the big deal is with it. If I use this hotspot feature on my wifi, what benefit does it serve? If my iphone can see the wifi, then my Macbook certainly can as well ... and probably even stronger. What's the purpose then?

And if I'm paying extra for 2 gigs a month of tethering/3G hotspot, why would I want others using it. 2 gigs would disappear in a few days if I had a couple others watching Netflix on my hotspot.

I would love to hear what the actual benefits are of this new feature.
 
itsjustmeee said:
I really haven't been following the whole hotspot too closely because I currently have an unlimited data plan with my iphone 4 and I don't really need to pay any more to AT&T for tethering, but I'm trying to figure out just what the big deal is with it. If I use this hotspot feature on my wifi, what benefit does it serve? If my iphone can see the wifi, then my Macbook certainly can as well ... and probably even stronger. What's the purpose then?

And if I'm paying extra for 2 gigs a month of tethering/3G hotspot, why would I want others using it. 2 gigs would disappear in a few days if I had a couple others watching Netflix on my hotspot.

I would love to hear what the actual benefits are of this new feature.
Click to expand...

It's not for use with wifi, it makes the phone a wifi access point. So for example, say you are traveling with your iphone and a macbook, and the hotel you're staying at has no wifi. You really need to access the internet on the macbook, so you turn on the wifi hotspot in the iphone, the macbook connects to it and you surf the internet on the macbook using the iphones 3g connection. Make sense?
 
itsjustmeee said:
I really haven't been following the whole hotspot too closely because I currently have an unlimited data plan with my iphone 4 and I don't really need to pay any more to AT&T for tethering, but I'm trying to figure out just what the big deal is with it. If I use this hotspot feature on my wifi, what benefit does it serve? If my iphone can see the wifi, then my Macbook certainly can as well ... and probably even stronger. What's the purpose then?

And if I'm paying extra for 2 gigs a month of tethering/3G hotspot, why would I want others using it. 2 gigs would disappear in a few days if I had a couple others watching Netflix on my hotspot.

I would love to hear what the actual benefits are of this new feature.
Click to expand...


I don't understand that bit in bold. If I'm not mistaken correctly, the OP is wanting to have the personal hotspot be the wifi network in his/her home, so everything will connect to it. This is something I have considered as well.

Minimalism is one key feature, as your whole modem/router now exists all in your phone. No cable modem, routers, ethernet cables, or additional power supplies taking up space and clutter. Also, the ability to grab your hotspot on the go and bring it wherever you are.

Of course, this is all weighed down considerably by the lack of bandwidth, as you mentioned. I also wish at&t could allow for personal hotspot for free using your existing data pro plan at 2GB/month. Options would be nice.
 
Last edited:
AuroraProject, what confused me was after I updated my iphone to the ios, I saw the personal hotspot option and when I turned it on, I could've sworn it asked me which wifi to join, but I must've been mistaken. I see now that it wants me to call AT&T to set it up. No way am I paying any more to them. I have to say I find it ridiculous that someone would have to pay for an iphone data plan, a tethering data plan and an ipad data plan. How many times we do have to pay AT&T to check our email?!!
 
itsjustmeee said:
AuroraProject, what confused me was after I updated my iphone to the ios, I saw the personal hotspot option and when I turned it on, I could've sworn it asked me which wifi to join, but I must've been mistaken. I see now that it wants me to call AT&T to set it up. No way am I paying any more to them. I have to say I find it ridiculous that someone would have to pay for an iphone data plan, a tethering data plan and an ipad data plan. How many times we do have to pay AT&T to check our email?!!
Click to expand...

Couldn't you now cancel the iPad data plan and just sign up for tethering plan and tether with your iphones data
 
itsjustmeee said:
AuroraProject, what confused me was after I updated my iphone to the ios, I saw the personal hotspot option and when I turned it on, I could've sworn it asked me which wifi to join, but I must've been mistaken. I see now that it wants me to call AT&T to set it up. No way am I paying any more to them. I have to say I find it ridiculous that someone would have to pay for an iphone data plan, a tethering data plan and an ipad data plan. How many times we do have to pay AT&T to check our email?!!
Click to expand...

They want all of your money! It requires a tethering plan, so 2gb data pro plus tethering which adds another 2gb all for $45 a month.

Jordan921's idea isn't a bad one, cancel whatever 3g plan you have on an iPad and add tethering to the iPhone.
 
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