I see them in offices, homes and airport lounges.
They hang on like little plastic leeches sucking the style and sophistication out of anything they happen to be plugged into. I am of course, referring to USB dongle modems.
Thankfully there is a better way, a sexier more sophisticated way- provided you have a smart phone.
Most smart phones offer wireless hotspots or tethering but for the purposes of this article I am going to assume that you haven’t got an Android phone thus giving your credit card details to the Russian Mafia via some dodgy App downloaded from their wild west show of an App store.
But I digress!
Firstly make sure you have the essential ingredients, namely an iPhone 3GS or better and you have spoken with your mobile phone carrier about using your phone as a modem. Both Telstra and Optus need to change your account (and charge you a little extra- of course). Only Vodafone offer tethering for free and it is turned on by default but considering they have no coverage this really helps no one.
After this is all said and done all you need do is the following:
Open your iPhone….
1. Tap on Settings.
2. Tap on General and then Network.
3. Near the bottom of the page you’ll see Set up Personal Hotspot
If you have already spoken with your provider then you will be prompted to turn the hotspot on. If not, you’ll be prompted to set it up.
Once it’s turn on- depending on the vintage of your phone, you can either use Bluetooth to connect, a USB cable or- my favourite- your iPhone will appear as a wireless network that you simply connect you from your computer or iPad.
Either way it’s simple.
You know you are using your phone as a modem because a blue banner appears at the top of the screen while it’s eating through your data plan.
When you are finished simply turn off the hotspot or disconnect from the wireless network created by your phone.
Simple, elegant and technically awesome. Nothing like sitting with a laptop on your knee with a hideous growth jutting from it USB port.
