Use the Hotspot Feature to Work Wherever You’d Like

Working from home can be a dream come true and it can also be a nightmare. Whether you have rambunctious children, loud roommates, nosy neighbors, or are just bored of the same old scenery; attempting to be productive at home can be difficult.

Finding a serene spot to work can relieve your stress, but serene areas rarely have Wi-Fi. Luckily, the wonderful world of technology has graced us with personal Wi-Fi Hotspots. A hotspot allows you to use your iPhone or iPad’s cellular connection to access the internet on your laptop nearly anywhere.

Using your iPhone or iPad as a Hotspot is easy, but first you must learn if you have the capability. Some carriers, like AT&T, will block you from accessing the hotspot option if you have a grandfathered unlimited data plan. AT&T will require you to upgrade to a new plan with a limited 1 gigabyte of internet access. This plan will cost around $65 a month and higher tiers of data will cost more. The Verizon More Everything Plan also includes unlimited talk, text, and 1 GB of data for around $70 a month. T-Mobile reigns as the low-cost leader with the same plan for around $50 a month.

T-Mobile is a great option for people on a budget and also for people who monitor their data usage. Not only is the plan reasonably priced, the best part is that T-Mobile never charges overage fees. If you happen to go over your 1 GB of LTE data, your bill will not increase; T-Mobile will simply lower your connection speed.

Once you have learned your hotspot capabilities, you can finally connect. Simply go to the settings menu on your iPhone or iPad and click personal hotspot. Turn the hotspot on by sliding the switch. You can change the Wi-Fi password on your device to something you can easily remember by clicking Wi-Fi password below.  Your device will give you three options for connection; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB. Wi-Fi is most likely the easiest route.

On your laptop you will see the name of your device in the wireless connection drop-down menu. Simply click on your device’s name, type in the password you created, and you’re all set to work remotely!

If you’re using a Mac from 2012 or newer and running OS X Yosemite, connecting to your hotspot is even easier. Make sure your iPhone or iPad is connected to the same iCloud account as your Mac, Bluetooth is enabled on your Mac and iPhone, and Wi-Fi is enabled on both. Go to the Wi-Fi menu on the menu bar of your Mac. Click Personal Hotspot. If you see the Wi-Fi icon replaced with two linked chains, you are successfully connected!

Most likely you will have a limit to how much data you can send and receive while using the hotspot feature. To monitor your usage while connected; go to the settings menu, click cellular, scroll down to the bottom of the menu, click reset statistics. The amount of data you have used on your device will be reset. After you start using your hotspot feature, return back to the cellular menu, and scroll down to cellular data usage. “Current period” will display how much data you’ve used since the last reset of your statistics.

Apple has made the personal hotspot feature easy to use and easy to manage. If getting out of the house and working in a tranquil environment sounds like productivity heaven for you, check with your wireless provider about your data capabilities, get out of the house, connect to your personal hotspot, and get back to work in peace.