Internet tethering: using your phone as a dongle

If you have a 3G phone, you can use it as a dongle to go online with your laptop, netbook or even an iPad with internet tethering.

What is tethering?

Tethering your phone to a laptop works in the same as connecting it to the internet using a mobile broadband dongle.

3G mobile phones connect to the internet using the cellular network of masts dotted around the country, allowing you to check your emails, update your Facebook status and surf the web.

By connecting one of these phones to your computer, you can use the network to get online with your laptop.

Tethering hotspots

Some phones, including the Apple iPhone 4 and some HTC models, even allow you to turn your phone into a hotspot.

This means that you can tether without wires, share your signal and connect devices that use wireless, like the iPod Touch, iPad or other tablets.

Who offers internet tethering?

O2 (www.o2.co.uk), the UK’s biggest mobile phone provider, announced in March 2011 that new contracts now come with free internet tethering - something that its 22 million customers previously had to pay an extra £7.50 a month for.

Even existing customers can move to one of the new 12-month contracts to take advantage od O2’s free tethering.

Three also allows its customers to use their phones as dongles, though this isn’t something that it actively publicises.

Some mobile operators let you buy an add-on to tether your phone, while some - such as Virgin Media Mobile (www.virginmedia.co.uk) - block the service. Speak to your provider if you're not sure.

Will tethering replace my mobile broadband dongle?

Whether or not tethering will allow you to ditch your dongle altogether depends very much on your internet habits. Mobile internet allowances are usually a maximum of 1GB a month - which is fine for occasional use, but not really suitable if you want to spend a lot of time online.

A spokesperson from O2 said: “We see that internet tethering is generally used for light, occasional use. Whereas heavy users opt for our mobile broadband tariffs.”

However, if you currently use your mobile broadband dongle only for occasional surfing or on a pay-as-you-go basis, you could save by using your mobile phone instead.

Tim Johnson, chief analyst at broadband testing firm Point Topic, said the “writing must be on the wall” for dongles - at least in the long term. He added: “They could soon be as dead as the fax machine. Why bother if you can just use your phone.”

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