How to set up a personal hotspot

We’ve all been there. When we’ve been out somewhere and needed to connect to the internet. And that’s where a personal hotspot comes into play.

What is a personal hotspot?

A personal hotspot or mobile hotspot is a smartphone feature that allows you to establish your own Wi-Fi connection using your mobile phone’s data allowance. It’s an excellent option when you need to access the internet on other devices while on the move.

You can share this Wi-Fi connection with friends and family members nearby using a personalised password that is set up on your phone.

This process is also known as tethering.

And because you’re no longer dependent on public Wi-Fi, a personal hotspot is often a much better way to keep your data safe.

But why is that?

Why use a personal hotspot?

There are several reasons to use a personal hotspot.

Data security

If you need to log into sensitive sites such as your email inbox or bank account, it’s better to avoid using public Wi-Fi. 

The free Wi-Fi which you find around places like stations, coffee shops or airports can be helpful, but it’s also much more likely to be targeted by hackers to access information. Some hackers can even send you malicious software over public Wi-Fi, which looks like an upgrade pop-up - if you accept them, they could infect your device.

With your own personal hotspot (that’s protected with a password and our built-in network security), you can always go online and feel safe.

Freedom of use

You may well have noticed that accessing free public Wi-Fi can often come with a range of restrictions on how you can use it.

For example, when using train Wi-Fi, there are often restrictions on accessing many of the most popular music, TV and film streaming services as they want to direct you to their own entertainment.

So, if you want to be able to log in to watch your new favourite TV series while on a long train journey, using a personal hotspot is your best option.

Speed of connection

You’ll find that a personal hotspot will give you a faster connection than public wireless networks. Public Wi-Fi might be free, but it’s often quite slow because the bandwidth available for each user is limited. But by using your Three device as a personal hotspot, you benefit from the same superfast 5G connection that comes with your mobile device.

How to use a personal hotspot

Any of our new Pay Monthly or SIM Only plans will let you create a personal hotspot, as long as your phone has that functionality enabled. Even better, if you’ve got an Unlimited Data package, then you can use it as much you want without worrying about cost. 

Our support page on how to create a personal hotspot on your phone describes in detail how to set up your very own personal hotspot on an Android phone or iPhone.

To add another layer of security, we’d also recommend:

• Turning your personal hotspot off after you’ve finished with it
• Using a password which is difficult to guess.
• Changing your password each time if you’ve shared it.

Does a personal hotspot use more data?

This will depend somewhat on how your personal hotspot is used. 

If there’s only a single person accessing the mobile hotspot, the amount of data should be very similar to doing the same thing on your mobile. But if you have multiple users all using the same hotspot, the data usage can quickly add up.

If you’re concerned about how much data is being used, just fire up the hotspot for a short time initially and check how much mobile data has been consumed. 

Alternatively, there are other options. If you’re away from home for a while and want to use your personal hotspot extensively, it’s a great motivation to consider one of our Unlimited Data packages so that you can hotspot as much as you want.