dumb question: what is wifi tethering?

[jaydee]

I know what "tethering" is, and I do on my Droid with pdanet, but that's with the 3G over the air. What is "wifi tether"? Connecting your phone to a wifi network, then tethering to a laptop? What good is that, why not just connect directly to the wifi network with the laptop? What am I missing?

 

[Dave12308]

It's very simple, really. It makes your phone show up as an "access point" (actually, an ad-hoc wifi network) - you then connect your laptop/netbook/etc. to the wifi network and are able to use your phones 3G connection via your connected device.

Basically, it does what PDAnet does; but sans USB cable. It uses a wifi network as a cable, for lack of a better way to explain it.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

you use your phone as a bridge between 3g/4g and wifi.

 

[corkyg]

It has application with smartphones and older laptops that do not have Wi-Fi. But, a better solution for that would be a Wi-Fi PCMCIA card. Tethering sucks.

 

[yh125d]

What about areas where you have cell service but no wi-fi? It's great then, if you're ever in that situation (I am often, for work). It's always good to have that as a back up if your internet conks out or something

 

[corkyg]

That is a different kettle of fish - normal cell phone tethering for Internet access - that is not Wi-Fi.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Computer <==(wifi)==> Phone <==(2G/3G/4G)==> Internet

There's also USB tethering or Bluetooth tethering also.

My gripe with this is that this is mainly a phone issue, but AT&T is turning the iPhone 4's tethering into a carrier thing. But I suppose they have to clamp down as this becomes more prevalent.

In the early days when phones JUST got WiFi like Nokia's N-Series and SE featurephones, people barely knew how to tether or even wifi tether. Now it's like the new madness. I guess the more dumbed down it becomes, the more carriers will be worried.

 

[vshah]

tethering is super useful if more than one person needs internet access. my parents were moving back into a house, so it was a few days before internet was set up. my N1 provided net access for 4 computers.

edit: although one could actually do the same thing with usb tethering + internet connection sharing over a laptop's wifi..haha