Can You Use The Iphone 4 To Access The Internet On A Computer?

It’s possible to use the iPhone 4 as Internet source of a computer. That’s because of the Personal Hotspot feature made available on Verizon iPhones in February 2011. The same feature was made available on AT&T’s iPhone when Apple released the iOS 4.3 update. In both cases, you will be able to configure your iPhone 4 so that it can work as a portable wireless router. That means you will be able to connect to the Internet and through your iPhone a wide variety of devices (not only computers).

Can You Use The iPhone 4 To Access The Internet On A Computer? (Source: todaysiphone.com)

The Personal Hotspot feature made available on Verizon’s iPhone before the iOS 4.3 update was made available, offered more functionality than the tethering feature that was offered by AT&T for the iPhone 4. In the case of tethering, you can connect a single computer to an iPhone 4 used as modem. The connection can be made over Bluetooth or a USB cable and is a one-to-one type of connection. What Personal Hotspot offers extra is sharing via Wi-Fi.

To start using this feature you will first have to sign up for this service. That means you need to call Verizon Wireless and add to your existing plan Personal Hotspot that comes at an extra cost of $20 per month. For the money you will receive 2GB of data, besides the unlimited data usage provided for apps, e-mail and web surfing. If you need extra gigabytes, you should be prepared to pay for each one $20. After the plan is enabled, you will also need to take care of a few settings. You will have to access “Settings”, “General”, “Network” and finally “Personal Hotspot”. After you enable for the first time this feature, a Personal Hotspot item will be made available in the Settings app. You will also notice that the screen displayed includes many details about how you can connect any device in need of Internet connection to your iPhone via USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Can You Use The iPhone 4 To Access The Internet On A Computer? (Source: wpuploads.appadvice.com)

A concern raised by this method of connecting your computer to the Internet through an iPhone is related to security. You will see that Apple designed this feature to require a password before activation. That’s pretty useful, because you will be able to avoid the accidental enabling of this feature that can lead to expensive bills. Apple provides an automatic password that includes two words and a number, but you are free to change it at any time. You just need to make sure it’s at least 10 characters long. There is also a security restriction that won’t allow devices which can’t provide WPA2 Personal protection connect to the hotspot made available.