Mobile hotspot: A mobile hotspot (sometimes called a portable hotspot) is a hotspot that’s just that-mobile! While a “regular” Wi-Fi hotspot is tied to a physical location, you can create a mobile hotspot by using your smartphone’s data connection to connect your laptop to the Internet.

Later in the article you’ll learn how to connect a mobile device to a Wi-Fi hotspot. While many public hotspots offer free wireless access on an open network, others require payment. Most people refer to these locations as “Wi-Fi hotspots” or “Wi-Fi connections.” Simply put, hotspots are the physical places where users can wirelessly connect their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to the Internet.Ī hotspot can be in a private location or a public one, such as in a coffee shop, a hotel, an airport, or even an airplane.

Hotspot: A hotspot is a physical location where people can access the Internet, typically using Wi-Fi, via a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a router connected to an Internet service provider.

While some people use the terms “hotspot” and “mobile hotspot” interchangeably, they have distinct meanings. Thanks to our modern always-on digital lifestyle, people expect to be constantly connected, and public Wi-Fi access points are expanding to a global network of hotspots to meet those needs.īefore we dive in to how to connect to a hotspot and related security issues, let’s define what we mean. By some estimates, there are almost 200 million hotspots around the world, and there will be one hotspot for every 20 people on earth by 2018. Millions of people every day connect to public hotspots for their data needs. Not surprisingly, hotspots are becoming an essential part of public infrastructure-and our Internet experience.

Not only is this connection highly convenient, you also didn’t have to use your smartphone’s data. If you’ve ever tried to answer an email or surf the Internet from your mobile device in public-or even at the office or your house-chances are you connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Hotspots-what are they, where are they, and how can you connect to them while protecting your privacy and security?

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