Isn't it great that smartphones can act as a WiFi hotspot? It really is, and it also means you can easily connect to the internet while you have a smartphone in your pocket. And when you need to connect multiple devices to the internet, such as at home, the technology comes in very handy.
But, how far does a personal hotspot reach? Can you still access the hotspot from the living room if your smartphone is within your bedroom? Or if you’re in the basement, can it reach up upstairs? And what about outside?
What is a personal hotspot?
A personal hotspot is a wireless network that allows you to connect to the internet using your smartphone as a WiFi router. But, it doesn't mean that you can literally connect your phone to any router. In fact, it means that the hotspot allows you to connect to the internet through your smartphone.
But can't you just get an external router and plug it into your router? Yes, but then what will be the point of having a hotspot? Why not just use an external router?
Well, with a personal hotspot, you are basically letting your smartphone act as a WiFi router for your home or office. You can easily access the internet from anywhere in the house or office and even outside. With this in mind, what kind of speed does one expect from a personal hotspot? The speed depends on several factors, such as how many devices are connected at once and how far they are from each other.
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What Is the Range of a Personal Hotspot?
The range of a personal hotspot depends on several factors, such as the type of device being used, how far away it is from the router, and even where you are located.
For example, a smartphone can only reach 30-40 meters away from the router. But, a laptop is usually able to reach up to 100 meters away from the router. And if you're in an open space like an airport or at a park, your hotspot can reach up to 300 meters away from the router.
But, what if you are in your home or office? Can you still access the internet? Yes. The range of a personal hotspot is not limited by how far it is from its router but by how far it can go through radio waves.
So even if your smartphone is not connected with any other device, it will still be able to communicate through radio waves and thus provide internet access for all other devices connected with it via Bluetooth.
However, some routers come with WiFi range extenders that allow you to extend their range further than regular routers (about 3 times further).
These range extenders work by sending out radio waves that signal any nearby devices to connect with the router. So even if you're in your office or home and don't have any other devices connected to your personal hotspot, you can still access the internet.
If you cannot see the signal of the WiFi network, then it means that there is no Bluetooth connection between your smartphone and the WiFi router. In this case, try restarting both your smartphone and the WiFi router by holding down their respective buttons for a few seconds until they reboot on their own.
If this doesn't work, then try connecting both your smartphone and the WiFi router with a USB cable instead of using Bluetooth.
How Many Devices Can Connect to Your Personal Hotspot?
In general, one can expect about 3-4 Mbps (megabits per second) for every device connected at once. So if there are four devices connected at once, with each device being roughly 2 meters away from each other, we should expect 4 Mbps or about 3 times faster than what we get by using a standard WiFi router.
But, if the devices are further apart, the speed will drop down, and you can expect about 1 Mbps for every device.
Is it possible to extend a smartphone's WiFi hotspot reach?
Yes, it is possible. We can use a range extender to extend the WiFi reach.
Range extenders work by sending out radio waves that signal any nearby devices to connect with the router. So even if you're in your office or home and don't have any other devices connected to your personal hotspot, you can still access the internet.
If you cannot see the signal of the WiFi network, then it means that there is no Bluetooth connection between your smartphone and the WiFi router. In this case, try restarting both your smartphone and the WiFi router by holding down their respective buttons for a few seconds until they reboot on their own.
If this doesn't work, try connecting your smartphone and the WiFi router with a USB cable instead of using Bluetooth.
How Is Tethering Different From Personal Hotspot?
If you are not familiar with the term 'tethering,' it basically means sharing your internet connection with another device. Yes, you can use a smartphone as a mobile hotspot to share its internet connection with other devices.
Tethering is different from personal hotspots in the sense that the former allows you to share your smartphone's WiFi signal and not the internet itself.
You can only tether up to five devices at once (5 Mbps) and not all of them at once. It would help if you chose which device will be allowed to use the hotspot and which will be left out of it.
What Are Some Other Benefits of Using Personal Hotspot?
Personal Hotspot allows you to save money by using data plans rather than buying expensive data packs that are usually bundled with smartphones now and then. This also lets you access more content, apps, websites, games, etc., than you can through regular internet plans.
You can also use your smartphone as a hotspot to share your WiFi connection with other devices that you haven't bought yet. So, you can purchase a phone that comes with a free personal hotspot and then use it to share its WiFi signal with other devices.
It is also possible to buy a smartphone with its hotspot feature built-in and then use it as a hotspot to share another device's internet connection.
Can I Keep Unlimited Data With Personal Hotspot?
You can keep unlimited data with a personal hotspot as long as you have a data plan of at least 2 GB. But make sure that your data plan is always on for at least 2 GB of data. If you don't have enough data, your smartphone will automatically switch to 3G and then to 4G LTE when the data limit is reached.
Using an iPhone will automatically switch to 4G LTE whenever the internet connection is connected but not used by other devices in the same network.
If you are using an Android phone, it will automatically switch to 3G when there is no internet connection on your personal hotspot but a connection on another device in the same network.
So, make sure to keep your data plan on at all times if you want to use a personal hotspot.
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