What is a Wi-Fi hotspot and how do I tether to other devices?

Find out everything you need to know about hotspotting or tethering with iD Mobile.

A mobile hotspot is not tied to a physical location, so it allows you to turn your smartphone into an internet router by using your mobile data while you’re on the go. This means you can connect other devices, such as a tablet or a laptop, to your mobile and access the internet on them. Any internet usage on your mobile or the connected devices comes out of your monthly data allowance.

The main difference between hotspotting and tethering is that a hotspot connects one device to another to access the internet via a Wi-Fi connection. Tethering is linking a device to a smartphone through a USB cable, with the mobile then acting as a router to access the internet on the connected device.

All our Pay Monthly handsets and SIM Only plans allow you to create a personal hotspot. If you have a plan with a limited amount of data, your hotspot usage will be taken from your monthly data allowance. However, if you are on an unlimited data plan, you can use your personal hotspot as much as you want without worrying about the cost.

If you do not have an unlimited data plan, you will want to carefully monitor your data consumption when using it as a hotspot, as streaming on other devices like a laptop uses a lot more data than on mobile. You can also set up a bill cap, so if you run out of data and start accumulating out-of-plan charges, you won’t pay more than you want to.

You can create a personal hotspot on Pay as you Go by using your standard top-up credit. This way you won’t need a data package, making the hotspot process for Pay as you Go users the same as Pay Monthly. It is important to remember that it takes a lot more data to stream videos or play games on a laptop or tablet than it does on a mobile phone. If you are using your network connection to tether or hotspot, you will end up using a lot more data than you might expect.

Whether you have a Pay as you Go or a Pay Monthly Plan, you will want to closely monitor your data consumption when you are hotspotting or tethering. You can do this by logging into the iD Mobile app or my.idmobile.co.uk and viewing your remaining allowance.

It is easy to set up a personal hotspot no matter what kind of phone you have.

I’m using an iPhone.

I’m using an Samsung Galaxy.

Most other Android phones.