Hi Dave! Yep, you sure can. Indeed, it only takes a few taps to turn your iPhone—or your Android phone, for that matter—into (essentially) a portable (or “personal”) Wi-Fi hotspot that piggybacks onto your cellular 3G or 4G data connection.

Now, most of the big carriers will let you turn your iPhone or Android phone into a mobile hotspot without paying anything extra.

If, for example, you have a “capped” mobile data plan, the mobile hotspot data you use will (typically, anyway) be deducted from your usual monthly data allowance.

But if you’re lucky enough to have an unlimited 3G or 4G data plan, your carrier probably will demand an extra fee—or, at the very least, put a limit on any mobile hotspot use.

In either case, make sure to call your carrier for their mobile hotspot policy and fees, if any.

Oh, and another thing: Be very careful when connecting (or “tethering”) your MacBook or Windows laptop to your iPhone’s or Android phone’s mobile hotspot.

Why? Because laptops will often try to download big system update files to their hard drives without asking you first—and before you know it, you’ll have burned through your monthly mobile data allowance.

You should also be mindful of other data hogs such as streaming-video sites (like Netflix and YouTube), programs that sync files and folders automatically (like Dropbox and Google Drive), and desktop email clients (like Outlook and the Mac’s Mail app) that download large file attachments.

OK then … ready to connect? Here’s how.

Tap “Set up Wi-Fi hotspot” to check the name and password for your Android phone’s mobile hotspot.

For Android:

• Tap Settings, then tap “More…” under Data Usage. (Note: The following steps may vary depending on the make and model of your Android phone. I tested this tip with a Motorola G running on Android version 4.4.3.)
• Tap “Tethering & portable Wi-Fi hotspot,” then tap “Set up Wi-Fi hotspot.”
• You’ll see the default name of your portable hotspot in the “Network SSID” field. Want to change it? Go right ahead, and feel free to name it anything you want.
• Next, tap the “Show password” checkbox to see the default hotspot password—and yes, you can change it, but try to pick a strong password.
• Once you’ve made note of the hotspot name and password, tap the “Save” button.
• Tap the “Portable Wi-Fi hotspot” checkbox to turn it on.
• Now, go to your laptop or other Wi-Fi-enabled device, and check its Wi-Fi settings; you should see your Android phone’s hotspot name in the list of available networks. Go ahead and connect. That’s it!

Your iPhone’s hotspot name is the same as the overall “name” of your phone.

For iPhone:

• Tap Settings, Personal Hotspot. Don’t see the Personal Hotspot setting? Then try tapping Cellular instead, and look for the Personal Hotspot setting there. Still don’t see it? Then contact your wireless carrier for help.
• Next, make note of the password listed in the “Wi-Fi Password” field. Want to change the password? Just tap it to pick a new one; again, though, make sure to pick a strong password.
• Your iPhone’s hotspot name is the same as the overall “name” of your phone. Tap Settings, General, About to check (or change) your iPhone’s name.
• Tap the switch next to Personal Hotspot near the top of the screen to turn it on.
• Go to your laptop or other Wi-Fi-enabled device, open its Wi-Fi settings, then select your iPhone’s hotspot name in the list of available networks.

Bonus tip

Can’t find your mobile hotspot name in the list of available Wi-Fi networks? One possibility is that its signal is being crowded out by other nearby Wi-Fi networks (which happens to me all the time in New York). Try turning your mobile hotspot setting off and on again; sometimes, that’ll do the trick.

If all else fails, you can also try tethering your laptop to your iPhone or Android phone using your handset’s USB sync cable.

Click here for more mobile hotspot tips!

The post Mobile hotspot tip: How to turn your Android phone or iPhone into a personal hotspot appeared first on here's the thing.

The culprits, of course, can be many—anything from system updates quietly downloading in the background to giant file attachments fetched by your email client.

But while there are plenty of ways to prevent your laptop from going nuts with your mobile hotspot, there’s nothing like a real-time bandwidth gauge to tell you whether you’re burning through mobile data at a too-furious rate.

You can set Bandwidth+ to track your monthly data usage, handy for checking whether you’re approaching your cellular data limit for the month.

Now, the Mac’s own Activity Monitor (just do a Spotlight search for “Activity Monitor”) has a “Network” tab that’ll give you a detailed breakdown of how much data your various apps have used since the last time you booted your system.

All well and good, but I prefer something a little more simple: namely, a bandwidth gauge that sits right at the top of my MacBook Air’s desktop, perfect for warning me of any data hogs on my system.

The app I’m currently using is Bandwidth+, and it’s free for download from the Mac App Store.

Once you launch it, Bandwidth+ puts a bandwidth meter in the top-right corner of your desktop, right next to the system clock and your other Mac notification icons.

The meter itself simply tells you how much bandwidth you’ve used on a given day and for a given hotspot—meaning, for example, that Bandwidth+ can keep track of your data usage for your home network, your mobile hotspot, and any other connected Wi-Fi networks.

You can also set Bandwidth+ to track your monthly mobile usage, handy for checking whether you’re approaching your cellular data limit for the month. (Of course, Bandwidth+’s monthly tally doesn’t account for the mobile data your other mobile devices have used, such as your smartphone and tablets.)

But while Bandwidth+’s monthly data-tracking features are certainly interesting, I mainly use it to keep an eye on my mobile data use for a single sitting.

In other words, if Bandwidth+ tells me I’ve used a gigabyte of data before I’ve finished a cup of tea, I know something’s amiss—and I can shut down my Wi-Fi hotspot to look for data hogs before wasthing any more mobile data.

Download: Bandwidth+

Click here for more Mac tips!

Note: The makers of Bandwidth+ haven’t compensated me in any way for this article.

The post Mac app: Keep an eye on your mobile data usage (Bandwidth+) appeared first on here's the thing.

Now, you may already know that watching Netflix or YouTube videos in your browser is an easy way to drain your wireless data allowance in no time flat.

What you may not know, though, is that some of the most innocuous-looking apps on your laptop could be siphoning off dozens or even hundreds of precious megabytes in a single shot—and if your monthly wireless plan only includes a handful of mobile gigabytes, you might be getting a data usage alert from your carrier sooner than you’d think.

Read on for five things on your laptop that’ll take a bite out of your monthly data plan, starting with…

1. Streaming video

Sure, it’s well known that streaming the “Godfather” trilogy on Netflix will quickly drain your monthly wireless data allowance, but it’s worth repeating for newcomers to the heady world of personal Wi-Fi hotspots.

Indeed, watching just an hour of an HD movie on Netflix can tear through more than 2 GB of data—nothing to sneeze at, especially if your monthly data plan only calls for 5 GB or so.

My advice: Keep the streaming video to a bare minimum when you’re using your laptop with a personal Wi-Fi hotspot.

If watching movies or TV shows on Netflix is a must, downshift your “video quality” settings from “Best” to “Good”; here’s how.

2. iTunes downloads

Apple’s ever-popular music application gets its own special mention here. Why, you ask? Because iTunes is one of the stealthiest bandwidth bandits on your desktop.

Careful! iTunes has a nasty habit of downloading previous purchases quietly in the background.

In particular, iTunes has a nasty habit of quietly downloading purchases you made on other Apple devices; for example, iTunes on my MacBook Air is continually trying to download a pair of big HD movies I bought on my Apple TV last year.

Now, there is a setting that’s supposed to prevent iTunes from checking for available downloads from the iTunes Store (Preferences, Store tab, uncheck the “Always check for available downloads” option, then disable Automatic Downloads), but in my experience, iTunes keeps looking for movie downloads even when I’ve told it not to.

You can tell is iTunes is trying to download something if there’s a little blue progress bar under the Downloads button in the top-right corner of the main iTunes interface—and if you click the button, there’s a Pause All button sitting in the bottom corner of the Downloads pop-up window.

Oh, and another thing. Are you a podcast subscriber? If, so beware of podcasts that are scheduled to be downloaded automatically. You can check your download settings by selecting a podcast in iTunes and clicking the little gear icon to the right of its name.

My advice? Save yourself the trouble and quit iTunes whenever you’re using a personal Wi-Fi hotspot with your laptop. Need your music while you’re working? Consider playing your tracks on your phone instead.

3. Your email client

Sending and receiving a few email messages here and there over your portable hotspot won’t put much of a dent in your monthly data allowance.

Over time, though, all those little messages will add up, and if you’re downloading a large batch of email at once—or if some of those messages are saddled with big attachments—you could eat though a big chunk of mobile bandwidth in a hurry.

Now, desktop email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Apple’s Mail program can be set to leave attachments sitting on the mail server, ready for on-demand downloading whenever you’re ready.

The procedure is pretty simply for Apple’s Mail app. Just click the mail Mail menu, select Preferences, Accounts, click on an email account, click the Advanced tab, then uncheck “Automatically download all attachments.”

For Outlook, the steps are a bit more involved; here are some instructions from Microsoft.

An easier solution, though, is to quit your mail client when you’re on the road with your personal Wi-Fi hotspot and check email in your browser instead.

Not only will you save bandwidth by stopping your email program from continually checking for new messages, you’ll also extend your laptop’s battery life in the process.

4. Large system updates

By default, most new Windows PCs and Macs will regularly check to see if critical system updates are available—and if so, they’ll start downloading them silently in the background.

You can prevent Windows form silently download system updates by digging into the Windows Update settings in Control Panel.

That’s a great feature if you’re using your desktop or laptop PC primarily at home, particularly if you’re concerned about installing the latest Windows security patches (as you should be).

But those automatic update downloads can also be incredible bandwidth hogs—and if you’re out and about with your personal Wi-Fi hotspot, those downloads could burn through your monthly data allowance in a hot minute.

So, what to do?

On a Windows 8 PC, you can designate a specific Wi-Fi access point as a “metered” hotspot—and once you do, Windows will block all but the most critical system updates. Your PC will then notify you that updates are ready for download once you get back home.

Using Windows 7, or are you on a Mac? If so, you can still disable automatic update downloads—either from the Windows Control Panel, or via the Mac’s System Preferences window. Here’s how…

5. Dropbox, Google Drive, and other file-syncing programs

Wish you could have exact copies of important files and folders sitting on both your work and home PCs? Well, you can, thanks to file-syncing apps like Dropbox and Google Drive.

But the same feature that makes programs such as Dropbox and Google Drive so irresistable—namely, the ability to seamlessly and silently sync files big and small between two or more computers—can be murder on your monthly mobile data allowance, especially if (say) a colleague at work happens to drops a giant file in one of your shared sync folders.

Luckily, most file-sharing apps can be put on “pause,” perfect for preserving your bandwidth when you’re using a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot.

For Dropbox:

• Click (or right-click) the Dropbox icon—either at the top of your screen (on a Mac), or in the notification area (on a Windows PC).
• Click the Settings button (the one stamped with a little gear icon), then select Pause Syncing.
• Ready to sync again? Go back to the Settings menu, then select Resume Syncing.

For Google Drive:

• Click (or right-click) the Google Drive icon—again, either at the top of your Mac’s screen on in the Windows notification area—and select Pause.
• To start syncing again, click the Google Drive icon once more and select Resume.

Bonus tip

Want to keep tabs on your bandwidth usage? On a Windows 8 PC, you can do so right from the Start screen; here’s how.

Got a Mac? Launch the Activity Monitor app (you can find it using the Spotlight search box), then click the Network tab to see which programs are using the most bandwidth.

I’d also recommend a simple data-monitoring app like Bandwidth+, which puts a small bandwidth meter at the very top of your Mac’s screen.

Looking for more mobile hotspot tips? Click here!

The post Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot tip: 5 mobile data hogs to avoid appeared first on here's the thing.

Well, both Mac and Windows PCs come with a handy feature that may unwittingly gobble up a big chunk of your monthly mobile data: the ability to automatically download needed—and sometimes massive—updates for your system, all quietly in the background.

Now, don’t get me wrong; automatic downloads for critical system and security updates (particularly on the Windows side) are a smart idea when you’re using your Mac or PC on your home Wi-Fi network.

But if you’re out and about with your MacBook or notebook PC and you’re getting Internet access via a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot (either one that’s built into your smartphone or a standalone model), a hefty system update could easily drain a substantial portion of your monthly data allowance.

Indeed, it’s not unusual for Windows or Mac OS X software updates to weigh in at 1 gigabyte or more—and if you only have a 2 GB monthly data plan, that’s half your allowance right there.

So, want to keep your well-meaning laptop from blowing through your pricey mobile data with silent system updates?

Let’s get started…

For a Mac:

• Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen, select System Preferences from the drop-down menu, then click the Software Update icon.
• Uncheck the box labeled “Download newly available updates in the background,” but keep the “Automatically check for updates” box checked.

From now on, the App Store icon in your MacBook’s desktop dock will spawn a little red badge whenever a system update is available.

To download and install the update(s), open the App Store and click the Update tab—but remember, don’t do it over a hotspot connection unless you’re sure the download won’t make too much of a dent in your monthly data allowance.

Note: It’s probably also a good idea to uncheck the option labeled “Automatically download apps purchased on other Macs.” Remember, you can always go back to the App Store and re-download any apps you’ve previously purchased.

You can prevent Windows form silently download system updates by digging into the Windows Update settings in Control Panel.

For Windows 7:

• Open the Control Panel, then click “Turn automatic updating on or off” under the “Windows Update” heading.
• Click the pull-down menu under “Important updates” and select “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
• Click the OK button.

Moving ahead, make sure to keep an eye on the notifications area in the bottom-right corner of the desktop—and if you see a telltale Windows Update icon sitting there, right-click it and follow the instructions once you’re back on your home Wi-Fi network.

For Windows 8:

A welcome improvement in Windows 8 is the ability to designate a specific wireless hotspot—including your own mobile hotspot—as a “metered” network. Once you flag a network as “metered,” Windows will only download and install “priority” system updates.

You can also set Windows 8 to never download system updates without your approval.

Click here for more details…

Have more questions? Post ’em below, or send me an email.

The post Mobile hotspot tip: Keep your laptop from auto-downloading big system updates appeared first on here's the thing.

Streaming videos on Netflix or Hulu is an obvious culprit, but there are also plenty of other ways for your laptop to quietly tear through your monthly allotment of wireless data—anything from fetching large email attachments to syncing files with Dropbox or automatic downloads of massive Windows system updates.

Luckily, you can check your data usage on a Windows 8 laptop or tablet in just a few clicks, and there’s even a way to let your system know that you’re using a “metered” hotspot—and to cool it with the data usage.

Here’s how…

• First, open the Settings panel. Using a mouse, just move the cursor to the top-right or bottom-right corner of the screen, then click the Settings icon (or “charm,” as Microsoft calls it). On a tablet, swipe “in” from the right side of the screen, then tap Settings.
• Near the bottom of the Settings panel, you should see a network icon (the one with the signal-strength bars) labeled with the name of the hotspot your PC or tablet is connected to. Go ahead and tap or click it.
• You should now be seeing a list of available Wi-Fi networks, with the one you’re connected to at the very top. Click or tap the name of your connected hotspot to see how much data you’ve been using, or right-click (on a PC) or tap and hold (on a tablet) the hotspot name and select “Show estimated data usage.”

You can designate a mobile hotspot as a “metered connection” in Windows 8.

Now, want to keep your Windows 8 PC or tablet from gobbling up an excessive amount of mobile data? You can do so by setting a given hotspot as a “metered connection.”

Just go back to the Networks panel (click the Settings icon, then Networks), right-click or tap and hold the hotspot you’re connected to, then select “Set as metered connection” from the pop-up menu.

With the “metered connection” setting enabled, your system will pause Windows 8 app downloads from the Windows Store, cut down on “live” tile activity on the Start screen, and—most importantly—stop downloading all but “priority” Windows update files.

Nice, but keep in mind that the metered connection setting won’t do anything to curb data usage on programs in the classic “desktop” environment—meaning that Dropbox, for example, will keep on syncing files, while Outlook will continue to download hefty email attachments.

In other words, you’ll still be on the hook for disabling bandwidth-munching features in your desktop apps, so make sure to tweak, disable, or quit any applications that are using more than their fair share of data. For example, you can pause Dropbox syncing by right-clicking the Dropbox desktop icon, and you can keep Outlook from downloading attachments in the Preferences menu.

Bonus tip

Don’t want your Windows PC to download any system update without your OK? Here’s how…

• Open the Control Panel (just type “Control Panel” from the Start menu, then click the Control Panel search result), click “System and Security, Windows Update, then click the “Change settings” link in the left column.
• In the “Important updates” section, click the pull-down menu and select “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.”

Still have questions? Post ’em below, or send me an email.

Click here for more Windows tips!

The post Windows 8 tip: Keep an eye on your mobile data usage appeared first on here's the thing.

Hi Irene! Yep, you’re right—if your mobile Wi-Fi hotspot is powered on but no laptops, tablets, or other gadgets are connected to it, then it’s not using any data (or if it is, it’s probably only using a miniscule amount).

Related: Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots: Your questions, answered

Once you do start connecting devices to your hotspot, though, the data spigot is open, and it can be tough to anticipate how much data you’re using.

Consider this: say your mobile hotspot is on and your laptop’s connected to it, and you’ve got Facebook and your email client sitting idle on your desktop.

So, in that case, you’re not probably not using any hotspot data, right?

Well, that depends.

Is your email client (like Outlook, or Apple’s Mail application) set to check for new messages every few minutes? If so, it’s using data each time it goes to fetch new e-mail—and if any of those messages have large attachments, you’ll end up using even more data.

And what if you have iTunes open? If you have iTunes set to automatically download new podcasts every once in awhile, that can eat into your hotspot data allowance too—and since iTunes will check for new podcasts silently in the background, you might not even know it’s happening.

Automatic desktop syncing tools like Dropbox can eat into your monthly hotspot data allowance if you’re not careful.

Even Facebook, which regularly refreshes itself to show new stories and photos in your news feed, will chew through a (very) small amount of data, even when it appears to just be sitting there in your browser.

My advice: try to be aware of all the things your PC or Mac may be up to while you’re using a hotspot, and pause or shut down any apps or utilities that might be consuming a lot of data.

For example…

• If you’ve set iTunes to check for podcasts automatically, change its settings so that it’ll only download new episodes manually—or, better yet, quit iTunes altogether.
• Got Dropbox, or another file syncing utility? Most of them will let you “pause” file transfers temporarily. With Dropbox, for example, click its icon at the top of your Mac’s screen or in the Windows taskbar, then select “Pause Syncing.”
• You may want to close your email client if you haven’t checked your messages recently, or if you’re expecting large attachments. If you can check your email over the web (say, with a Gmail account), you might want to try that instead. You’ll still consume hotspot data by checking your email in a web browser, but only a tiny amount—and you won’t run the risk of downloading massive email attachments.

Still have hotspot questions? Let me know!

The post When am I using mobile Wi-Fi hotspot data, and when am I not? (reader mail) appeared first on here's the thing.

Hi Sue! You’re not the only one who’s asked me whether the iPhone 5 would finally let you talk and surf—or talk and perform mobile hotspot duties—on Verizon Wireless.

Related: What’s a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot?

After all, iPhone users on AT&T have been able to simultaneously talk and surf over the carrier’s cellular network for years. Indeed, AT&T often uses that very selling point to keep its customers from switching to Verizon.

So, did Verizon get its talk-and-surf act together now that the iPhone 5 is on the way?

Well, bad news: the new iPhone still won’t let you make calls and use cellular data at the same time on Verizon Wireless—nor on Sprint, for that matter.

And since mobile hotspots depend on cellular data, the same limitation applies to the iPhone 5’s built-in mobile Wi-Fi hotspot feature.

(The iPhone’s hotspot will essentially go on “pause” until you hang up on a voice call.)

Now, what gives? Doesn’t the new iPhone support those speedy, new-fangled 4G LTE networks, and wouldn’t that make a difference?

First, a little background—and yes, get ready for a little jargon.

There are two main types of cellular voice networks in operation around the world: CDMA (short for “code division multiple access”) and GSM (“Global System for Mobile Communications”).

Among their many differences, GSM networks let you talk and surf at the same time, while garden-variety CDMA networks will shut off cellular data whenever a voice call comes in.

The type of voice network your iPhone uses depends on your carrier. Here in the U.S., for example, AT&T is a GSM carrier, while Sprint and Verizon Wireless both use CDMA networks.

Of course, there’s a new wrinkle this year. The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone to support LTE—short for “Long Term Evolution,” a super-fast 4G (or “fourth-generation”) data network that rivals cable modems in terms of speed.

Despite their CDMA and GSM differences, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon all have their own 4G LTE networks.

But here’s the thing: shy of a special network upgrade (and no, none of the big three U.S. carriers has deployed the upgrade yet), LTE networks only handle data, not voice calls.

That means (according to the New York Times) if you’re surfing over 4G LTE when a call comes in, your iPhone will need to switch to an older 3G (or even 2G) network to take the call.

Since older GSM networks can handle both voice and data at the same time, you’ll still be able to surf while you talk on the AT&T iPhone.

On Verizon and Sprint iPhones, however, downshifting to an older 3G CDMA network means voice only, no data—and that includes cellular data for the iPhone’s built-in mobile Wi-Fi hotspot.

OK, but why couldn’t the Verizon (or Sprint) iPhone 5 just keep using the LTE data network for data while you’re on a call, just like some Android phones can?

As the Times reports, the new iPhone would need an additional antenna to use LTE data while you’re talking over Verizon’s or Sprint’s respective CDMA networks, and it appears Apple decided to skip the extra antenna in order to streamline the iPhone 5’s internal design.

Hope that helps, Sue, and sorry to disappoint.

Bonus tip

While neither the Verizon nor Sprint versions of the iPhone 5 will let you talk and surf over cellular networks, you will be able to talk and surf if your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. That’s a moot point when it comes to the iPhone’s mobile hotspot feature, however.

Have more iPhone 5 or mobile hotspot questions? Let me know!

The post Will the Verizon iPhone 5 make and receive calls while you’re using it as a hotspot? appeared first on here's the thing.

The reason I ask is because most mobile Wi-Fi hotspot plans are “capped” at about two to five GB (short for “gigabyte“) a month, and if you start watching HD-quality videos on Netflix or another video service, you could easily burn through your monthly data limit in a matter of hours.

Luckily for Netflix users, there’s a key account setting that’ll put data-hungry “instant” movies and TV shows on a diet.

What’s the catch? You’ll see—literally.

You’ll find the setting under the Your Account link in the top-right corner of the Netflix website. Just log in, click the link, find the “Instant Watching” section, then click “Manage video quality” under the “Settings” heading.

On the following page, you’ll get the choice of three video-quality settings: “Good,” “Better,” and “Best.”

The “Best” setting is the only one that’ll deliver HD-quality streaming video, but it’ll also chew through data at an alarming rate—think up to 2.3 GB an hour for HD movies and TV shows.

That means if you have a monthly data limit of 5 GB and start watching one of Netflix’s HD streaming videos, you could conceivably blow through your monthly data limit in under two-and-a-half hours. Yikes!

You can save bandwidth by choosing between three difference video quality settings: “Best,” “Better,” and “Good.”

The next setting, “Better,” tops out at about 0.7 GB an hour, thus extending your Netflix instant-video viewing by a few more hours.

The price you’ll pay for downshifting to “Better” video quality, though, is no more HD-quality video; instead, expect roughly the same video quality you’d get from a DVD.

Personally, I thought the “Better” video setting looked just fine on my big-screen HDTV, although I immediately noticed the difference once I switched back to the “Best” setting.

The lowest setting, “Good,” looks even softer than DVD, if not quite as muddy as VHS. That said, it has the virtue of using the least amount of bandwidth: just 0.3 GB an hour, or at least three hours of streaming video per gigabyte.

Once you choose a setting, click the “Save” button, and that’s it—and yes, the video quality setting will apply to other gadgets that stream Netflix videos, including TV set-top boxes like Apple TV and Roku and portable devices like the iPad.

Bonus tip

If you’re watching Netflix videos in a web browser, you can save bandwidth while using the “Best” setting by turning off HD-quality streaming. Just start playing a video, hover your mouse over the HD icon near the bottom of the screen, then uncheck the “Allow HD” box.

Click here for more Netflix tips, or here for more about mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.

The post How Do I Keep Netflix From Chewing Through My Monthly Data Limit? appeared first on here's the thing.

Jessica asks: Would it be a bad idea to use a hotspot as my Internet source for my apartment? It would only be used for one laptop and is much cheaper than going through an Internet provider.

You certainly could—indeed, it’s something I’ve considered doing myself. Keep in mind, though, that most mobile hotspot plans involve a data “cap” of some kind, similar to the data limits on your smartphone plan.

Not sure that a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot is? Click here!

If you exceed your monthly data limit—easily done if you’re a fan of instant videos on Netflix, or the free TV shows on Hulu.com—your mobile hotspot bill will start to creep up, and up … and up.

Consider this: If you have a 4 gigabyte-a-month mobile hotspot plan and you decide to rent an HD movie from iTunes, that one movie could easily weigh in at 2 GB or more. Rent a second HD movie, and there goes your monthly data allowance. Rent a third, and you’ll end up paying overage charges. (Think $10 or so for every gigabyte over your monthly data cap.) Pretty soon, your old cable Internet bill might not look like such a bad bargain.

Click here for more on how much data you might end up using on your personal hotspot.

Yaya ask: Are these used only to connect to the Internet or will they also allow you to make phone calls in an area where there is little to no signal? I am sick of my phone getting cruddy service. Will this help?

Well, possibly. Here’s a scenario for you: say you’re out and about with your iPhone on AT&T, and you can’t get a signal. If you had a 3G iPad with Verizon data service that was getting a signal, you could connect your iPhone to your iPad’s mobile Wi-Fi hotspot and make an Internet voice call—say, using Skype.

If, on the other hand, you only have your AT&T iPhone on your and there’s no AT&T signal, your iPhone’s built-in mobile hotspot (which relies on a cellular data connection) won’t do you any good.

And just to clear up any confusion, remember that mobile hotspots (including both stand-alone models and ones that are built into smartphones) are designed only for sharing cellular data with nearby Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets; they don’t enhance standard celluler voice calls.

Ashley asks: I bought an iPad 2 with only Wi-Fi, and not 3G. If I were to buy a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, like a Mifi or another portable device from Verizon or AT&T, would I be able to access it from my iPad 2 although it doesn’t have a SIM card to access the 3G network? I thought that because the hotspot was sending a 3G signal, that for some reason the iPad wouldn’t accept the signal since it doesn’t have 3G.

A stand-alone, portable hotspot (like this one from Verizon) is typically small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Good question, and the short answer is yes—you canuse a 3G or even 4G mobile hotspot with a Wi-Fi-only iPad.

How is that possible? Because a portable hotspot transmits a standard Wi-Fi signal that’s compatible with any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget, including the Wi-Fi-only iPad.

For a (much) longer answer, click here.

Monica asks: If I don’t have service on my phone can I still use my mobile hotspot and be able to send texts and stuff through that hotspot?

If you have a stand-alone mobile hotspot, then yes, you could use it for surfing the web, making Internet voice calls, or sending text messages (again, via the Internet) over a phone that doesn’t have cellular service—assuming, of course, your phone has Wi-Fi.

Example? I happen to have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone without any cellular service, but I can connect it to my stand-alone Verizon 4G hotspot for checking email, sending text messages via Google Voice, or making phone calls over Skype.

Again, though, remember that mobile hotspots rely on cellular service to do their thing—and without cellular service, the mobile hotspot that’s built into my Galaxy Nexus is useless.

DarthStrawberry asks: If I turn off 3G cellular data on my phone and am only using my house’s Wi-Fi will I still be charged for hotspot-ing?

Whether we’re talking about regular smartphone data or mobile hotspot plans, you’re only charged for the cellular data you use (well, including your monthly minimum charge, typically about $25 and up).

If you’re at home and you switch from using cellular 3G or 4G data to your home Wi-Fi network (which, I’m assuming, is connected to your cable Internet modem), then no—that won’t count against your cellular data use.

6FigureSassy asks: Am I able to charge my iPhone while using as hotspot?

Yes, you sure can, but keep in mind that your iPhone (or any smartphone, for that matter) will start to run hot when you’re using it as a mobile hotspot, and charging it at the same time will ramp up the heat.

You probably won’t damage your handset, but it may become too hot to handle for more than a few seconds.

So … careful.

Christine asks: I’m using my iPhone for hotspot to run Apple TV. My movies are already downloaded in my iTunes on my desktop. Will I use a lot of data just streaming the already downloaded movies to my TV? Help!! Thanks!!

Good question! When you stream videos from iTunes on your Mac or PC to your Apple TV, you’re doing so over a “local” Wi-Fi network—meaning you’re not using any outside Internet data for streaming.

Theoretically, that means if you connect both your computer and your Apple TV to your iPhone’s mobile hotspot, you should be able to stream movies from iTunes on your PC (or Mac) to your Apple TV without using any mobile data. But to be sure, I conducted a little test using my stand-alone Verizon 4G hotspot.

First, I tried streaming a movie from iTunes on my iMac to my Apple TV, and after 10 minutes I’d only used about 15 megabytes of data—hardly anything, and even that small amount of data use was probably just my iMac checking for e-mail in the background.

When I tried streaming an iTunes movie directly over the Internet, though, my mobile hotspot chewed through 325 MB of data—in just 8 minutes. Whoa.

So yes, you should be fine using your iPhone’s mobile hotspot for local iTunes streaming. Good luck!

Have more mobile hotspot questions? Post ’em below!

The post Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots: 7 (more) of your questions, answered appeared first on here's the thing.

Hello Ashley! Good question, and the short answer is yes—you can use a 3G or even 4G mobile hotspot with a Wi-Fi-only iPad. (Not sure what a mobile hotspot is? Click here for the scoop.)

How could a 3G/4G hotspot work with an iPad that doesn’t support 3G or 4G, you ask? Easy: because a mobile hotspot doesn’t actually send a 3G or 4G signal to your nearby gadgets.

Instead, it’s transmitting a garden-variety Wi-Fi signal—one that any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget (anything from an iPad to a laptop) can access.

Related: What’s the difference between 3G and 4G?

Let’s consider your home Wi-Fi network for a minute. Your Wi-Fi router probably gets its Internet connection from a wired cable modem, which in turn is connected to the cable sticking out of a living room or bedroom wall.

Your router then transmits that data over its built-in Wi-Fi antenna, and presto—you’ve got a home Wi-Fi network.

A mobile hotspot, on the other hand, grabs its Internet connection wirelessly, by tapping into cellular 3G or 4G data networks.

And instead of a cable modem, a mobile hotspot uses its own, built-in 3G/4G receiver, similar to those found in smartphones and 3G- or 4G-enabled tablets.

Once it locks onto a cellular 3G or 4G signal and starts receiving Internet data, the hotspot takes that data and sends it over a tiny, built-in Wi-Fi antenna—yes, pretty much like a home Wi-Fi router does.

At that point, you essentially have a personal Wi-Fi network—one that follows you wherever you go (as long as your mobile hotspot is up and running, of course) and one that works with any Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, desktop, portable game console, or tablet, including the Wi-Fi-only iPad.

Hope that clears things up, Ashley. Still have questions? Post ’em in the comments below, or click here for more articles about Wi-Fi and mobile hotspots.

The post Will my Wi-Fi-only iPad work with a mobile 3G (or 4G) hotspot? (reader mail) appeared first on here's the thing.