On a recent trip, I learned a new way to turn a frown upside down. How many times have you arrived at a hotel or friend’s home and not been able to get Internet? Many cell phones can help with this.
It never fails, you go somewhere new and need your computer for work and are stuck like Chuck. Most hotels now have Wi-Fi, but not all are free. Some charge upward of $10 a day for connections. This is insane. A quick trick for these hotels before I move on. Most of the time, the lobbies offer free Wi-Fi. Go down there and log in and then go back to your room, and you still should be connected. It is the same router, just a different port. Usually, you have to re-do this each day. Still better than $10 per day.
So, this trick doesn’t work, or your friend’s house is a dead zone. Your cell phone might become your best friend. There is a way to use your phone as a modem, and it is called tethering. All the major carriers now offer this feature. First, do some research into your particular phone and see if it is capable. Blackberries and Droids have this capability. But, double-check.
Find the application in the apps store and load this program. Use the cord that connects your phone to the USB port on your computer. Run the program and giddy-up, you’re surfing.
Not all phones are able to do this for free. Sometimes you need to contact your carrier and get the software from them. Sometimes, they charge an extra fee. The only way it would be free is if you have unlimited Internet on your phone.
One word of caution is to ensure your Internet is “unlimited.” Some carriers advertise unlimited Internet but with fine print. There is often plenty enough space for most cell phones, but are you ready to go from a few hundred MB’s a month to a few GB’s? If your carrier has a fine print limit, you will be charged for every KB over, and this could be expensive.
