The vast majority of smartphones can be tethered so that you can share your 3G or 4G LTE mobile broadband connection with your laptop on-the-go. If you’re already paying a monthly fee to unlock this feature on your smartphone, why not get the most out of your tethering capability with Connectify Hotspot. With Connectify Hotspot running on your PC, you can share your USB-tethered 3G or 4G LTE connection with iPads, Kindles, and all of your other Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
Step 1: Tether your smartphone. Refer to your carrier or smartphone’s instructions to tether your phone’s mobile Internet to your computer. Here is a handy guide for tethering on most of the popular mobile broadband networks in the US.
Step 2: Click here to download and install the latest version of Connectify Hotspot. Once installed, click the purple ‘Try It Out’ button to start using Connectify Hotspot.
Step 3: Give your Hotspot a Name (up to 32 characters). Your Hotspot Name or SSID is the network name that other devices will see and connect to. Feel free to use emojis to set your hotspot name apart from others.
Step 4: Protect your Connectify Hotspot by giving it a unique password. Your Hotspot is kept safe-and-secure by the same WPA2 WiFi security standard used by most home routers
Step 5: Make sure that the ‘Internet to Share’ dropdown is set to the tethered 3G or 4G LTE network that you want to broadcast using Connectify Hotspot
Step 6: Since you’re sharing a metered Internet connection, we strongly recommend making sure that ad blocking is enabled for your client devices. This will save a lot of bandwidth, making the Internet faster, easier to read and also more battery-friendly for the mobile devices connected to your hotspot.
One plan, every device
Connectify Hotspot turns one mobile connection into Wi-Fi for everything
A tethered phone or a 4G or 5G dongle gives one machine a connection. Connectify Hotspot takes that connection and rebroadcasts a Wi-Fi network the rest of your devices can join.
Mobile data in Wi-Fi out
Phone hotspots cap how many devices can join, and running a hotspot drains the phone battery. Passing the connection through a Windows PC sidesteps the phone's own device limit, and a phone plugged in by USB charges while the Windows PC does the work of handing out addresses.
Every device joins the same network, so a laptop, a tablet and a console all sit behind one data plan without any of those devices being tethered directly.
FREE A phone plugged in by USB with tethering on works in the free Hotspot Lite, in timed sessions. A 4G or 5G USB modem, or a hotspot that runs all day without restarting, needs PRO.
Some carriers restrict re-sharing a tethered connection, and most plans count tethered data against a hotspot allowance, whichever device does the sharing. Check the terms of your plan before putting a household on one line. Turn on Tell devices to save data in Connectify Hotspot, and phones and tablets on the hotspot hold off on big updates and photo backups.
For 64-bit Windows 10 and 11
Step 7: You’re ready to go, just click ‘Start Hotspot’ to begin sharing your Internet connection. Now, friends and family can connect to your Connectify Hotspot just as they would with any other WiFi Hotspot.
Free, PRO or MAX
Which version of Connectify Hotspot you need
A phone plugged in by USB works in the free Hotspot Lite. A 4G or 5G USB modem, or a hotspot that has to stay up all day without restarting, needs Connectify Hotspot PRO.
Recommended: MAX covers everything PRO does and adds Wi-Fi repeater mode and Bridged mode, so one purchase covers the next setup too.
For 64-bit Windows 10 and 11