0 Review | How to Turn your iPhone into a WiFi Hotspot

Knowing that they were missing out on yet another way to nickel and dime their customers, AT&T worked with Apple and added a hotspot feature in iOS 4.3 and above, the result is that iPhone 4 users can turn their phone into a wireless hotspot with yet another hefty monthly fee.  Verizon users can also get the privilege for a similar additional fee of $20 a month.  But for the easy nature of simply flipping a switch, or for those not comfortable with jailbreaking their phone, it’s a convenient, but costly method.   And if you like to play by the rules, well, enabling your iPhone’s hotspot feature couldn’t be easier.  One warning though, if you’re currently grandfathered into AT&Ts  unlimited data plan, once you enable the hotspot feature, you will have forfeited your all your can eat days in favor of their more limited tiered plans.

1. Talk to the right people (legal option)

Contact AT&T or Verizon and have the hot-spot feature enabled on your phone account.

2.Set up your phone

Once AT&T or Verizon has given you official sanction, you can go into your iPhone’s “General Settings”, and under “Network,” you’ll find the Hotspot switch and the ability to password protect it.  Please note, that this is for iPhone 4 customers only.  If you’re using an iPhone 3GS, you won’t have the hotspot feature available.

3. Catch a WiFi signal and a wave

Once you’ve got the phone all set up, all that’s left to do is connect the phone to your laptop or other wireless device by selecting it amidst the available WiFi signal.

That’s it for the official method.   if you’re still using an iPhone 3GS or want to use the hotspot feature “under the radar,” then there’s a simple two step method to jailbreak your phone and add hotspotting under the radar …

1. Jailbreak your phone (illegal option)

Now I know what you’re thinking … it’ll void my warranty!  It’s illegal!  It’ll mess up my phone and I won’t get it back to the way it was!  All not true.  First, it won’t void your warranty, nor will it mess up your phone to the point you can’t get it back in working order.  If you don’t like it, you can easily go into iTunes and restore it to the way it was.  It’s a good idea, though, to backup your iPhone in iTunes before you jailbreak it.  And it’s not illegal either.  According to the US Library of Congress Copyright office, it is perfectly legal to jailbreak your phone.  So fear not.  The only reason to not jailbreak your phone is that when there are updates, you have to reset your phone back to the way it was to update it.  Then you have to wait for the jailbreak tools figure that out before you can free it up again.  But these days, it’s largely a  painless process now.

So, how do you do it?  Easy. 

a) Just navigate to  with your phone’s safari app to this page  

b) tap the “Free” icon for Cydia.  The Free Icon becomes an Install icon

c) tap that as well.  It will then install Cydia, the open source iPhone app store onto your phone. 

d) Then, reboot your device. 

2.  Open Cydia and download MyWi

MyWi is the hotspot utility that will enable you to unofficially turn your phone into a hotspot.  You can try it out for free, but if you plan to use it beyond the free trial, MyWi is about $20. You can set passwords, change your SSID settings, make security settings, etc.  Once you have MyWi installed and enabled, you will notice a blue bar at the top of your screen showing the hotspot connection active and functioning.  You will also not how much data you are using both up and down – a handy feature.

3. Surf to your heart’s content … or until you’re caught

Once you’re all set up, you can acquire your phone’s WiFi hotspot signal and you’re off to the races.  It’s a simple matter of choosing your iPhone from the list of wireless routers your gadget or laptop sees and inputting the password.

A few things though.  First, using your iPhone as a wireless hotspot will drain your phone’s battery as fast as continually using your GPS feature.  But you can get a few hours of hotspot use easy from it.  Or, you can attach your phone to your laptop via USB and not only have the security of a wired connection, but also not drain your phone battery thanks to the USB charge feature.

Additionally, wireless carriers have taken to having the iPhone call home and download usage statistics.  If they see you have been using your phone with another number or with unauthorized hotspotting they’ll simply add the charge to your bill.  The good news is, however, that it isn’t a contract fee, so if you stop using it, they won’t charge you, even if you’re paying by the rules.  But it also means you don’t have that extra bump in your data cap.

In the end, it may just be easier to get a MiFi card which will provide 3G wireless hot-spotting for a minimal fee.  They range from $20-60 a month depending on data usage and doesn’t require jailbreaking or catching the ire of your wireless carrier.

Review | How to Turn your iPhone into a WiFi Hotspot 9out of 10 based on 100 ratings. 9 user reviews.