Use Your iOS Device as a Wired Modem

Use Your iOS Device as a Wired Modem.

Most people probably know that their smartphone or tablet can act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Thus, all of your other devices can exchange the same data through your mobile operator’s SIM card in a process often referred to as a “modem”.

Many iOS users may not know that they can use a wired connection to get the same result when connected to a laptop or desktop computer.

Why not just use the Wi-Fi hotspot function? Great question! There are actually quite a few reasons why you might want to share your mobile internet connection over a wire. These are the most relevant ones:

It’s faster than Wi-Fi
A wired connection is more reliable
Your iOS device will use less power
You can keep the device charged.
It is not possible to remotely hack a wired connection, unlike Wi-Fi.

Before we get into the exact steps for using your iOS device as a wired modem, let’s take a look at a checklist of what you need:

iPhone or iPad (cellular enabled)
iTunes is installed on the target computer.
Data cable for your iOS device (MFi certified preferred).
An activated SIM card from a provider that supports the modem.

The last point is especially important. Depending on where you live, you may have a mobile data subscription that prevents you from using a modem.

It may not work at all, or you may be billed for linked data at a much higher rate than if you were using it directly on your iOS device. Be sure to get complete clarity on the terms and conditions set by your data provider when it comes to the modem. We are now ready to start cooking with wired mobile communications.

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Connect to the Internet by Sharing a Wired Hotspot

Connect to the Internet by sharing a wired hotspot

For this demo, we are using an iPad Pro running iOS 12. In older versions of iOS, the steps may differ slightly. In this scenario, the target computer is running Windows 10 with the latest updates.

The first thing you need to do on your iOS device is activate Personal Hotspot. To do this, swipe down from the middle of the home screen. This is what you see when no app is open and the device is unlocked. A search bar should appear.

Just enter “personal hotspot” and the desired setting should appear.

Tap it and you’ll be taken directly to the Personal Hotspot settings page.

Now tap the switch in the upper right corner of the screen to turn on the hotspot. When the switch turns green, you just need to connect the cable to both devices. You should see a small blue icon in the notification area on your iOS device that looks like this.

A network connection named “iPad” must be available on the Windows computer. It will have the same icon as the wired Ethernet connection.

This is it! Your computer now uses the Internet connection of the iOS device directly through a wired connection. You can turn off Wi-Fi on both or both devices if you like. This will save energy while eliminating one potential security vulnerability.

Conclusion

Anyone will probably agree that this is a pretty simple way to set up an internet connection between your iOS device and your computer. If it were easier, they would have to make a cable that plugs into the outlet itself! Now you should know everything you need to quickly and easily connect our laptop or desktop computer to the network using an iOS device!

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