Create a mobile hotspot on your PC and phone

By Nik Rawlinson

What you need: Windows; Android phone or iPhone Time required: 20 minutes

W e’ve become so used to jumping online at any time and wherever we are that it can be a shock to the system when we can’t. Perhaps your Wi-Fi has gone down, or you’re in a library that only offers an Ethernet connection, or you’ve already paid for a connection for your laptop and don't want to pay for a second for your tablet.

In each of these scenarios and more, there’s a solution – sharing your computer’s internet connection over a wireless hotspot. This network sharing is a core feature of Windows which, when enabled, makes your computer behave like a wireless router. Here, we explain how to enable this feature and how to connect your two devices.

Set up a Windows hotspot

1 Open Settings by pressing Windows key+I then clicking ‘Network & internet’ ( 1 in our screenshot below). Click the slider beside ‘Mobile hotspot’ so it turns on 2 . This instantly

Turn on ‘Mobile hotspot’ in Windows to share your internet connection activates the hotspot, so you should be able to see it on the Wi-Fi menu of any other computer, tablet or phone within range of your laptop or PC.

On our iPhone we can see the hotspot in the Networks section of the Wi-Fi settings – it’s called ‘CARVER 2994’ (see screenshot below). If you tap the hotspot name to connect, you’ll be asked to enter the password used to secure it.

To find this, return to your PC and click the arrow at the end of the ‘Mobile hotspot’ line. Scroll down to the Properties section where you’ll find the network name and password (see screenshot above). To change either of these, click Edit. Your password needs to be at least eight characters long.