How do I use phone wifi connection and share with laptop?

[anon(19759)]

Galaxy S8 on Verizon. I fly frequently and don't want to pay for multiple wifi connections on a flight to have connectivity on phone and laptop. Everything I'm reading around here says tether with USB cable, enable USB tethering in network settings on the phone, and it should work. Problem is, my phone gives me an error message saying USB tethering is not available on wifi. If it's only available on cellular, what's the point of USB tethering when I can just use hotspot (which of course I can't because I have no cell coverage in the skies)?

How do I share my phone wifi connection with a laptop?

Thanks

 

[SpookDroid]

IIRC the S8 has HotSpot capabilities over WiFi as well (sharing WiFi through WiFi), unless Verizon disabled that...

 

[anon(19759)]

if I try to turn on USB tethering, it forces me to turn off wifi.

 

[SpookDroid]

That I don't know for sure since I don't use USB connections on my devices, but if you turn on the mobile Hotspot on your phone (again, unless Verizon removed this option from their ROMs) there is a WiFi sharing toggle; this lets you connect the phone to WiFi, STILL let the phone act as a hotspot, and let other devices share that WiFi connection. That should solve your problem and keep you wire-free.

 

[anon(19759)]

That I don't know for sure since I don't use USB connections on my devices, but if you turn on the mobile Hotspot on your phone (again, unless Verizon removed this option from their ROMs) there is a WiFi sharing toggle; this lets you connect the phone to WiFi, STILL let the phone act as a hotspot, and let other devices share that WiFi connection. That should solve your problem and keep you wire-free.

This option doesn't exist for me. Verizon must have removed it.

 

[Rukbat]

what's the point of USB tethering when I can just use hotspot

Just FYI, "tethering" and "hotspot" mean about the same thing - you tether to a hotspot. Some do wifi-to-wifi, some do wifi-to-USB, some do mobile data-to-wifi, some do mobile data-to-USB, some do some combination. But the thing in the phone is the hotspot and connecting a phone to another computer to use the internet connection that the phone has is tethering, regardless of which internet connection the phone is using, and what connects the computer to the phone. (Your first post sounded a bit confusing until I read it about 3 times, and realized that you were referring to a hotspot as only the phone connecting to the internet via mobile data.)

There are apps in the Play store that do USB tethering (at least 7, the last time I answered a question about it a few days ago) and they use "internet", regardless of where the phone is getting it.

 

[anon(19759)]

Just FYI, "tethering" and "hotspot" mean about the same thing - you tether to a hotspot. Some do wifi-to-wifi, some do wifi-to-USB, some do mobile data-to-wifi, some do mobile data-to-USB, some do some combination. But the thing in the phone is the hotspot and connecting a phone to another computer to use the internet connection that the phone has is tethering, regardless of which internet connection the phone is using, and what connects the computer to the phone. (Your first post sounded a bit confusing until I read it about 3 times, and realized that you were referring to a hotspot as only the phone connecting to the internet via mobile data.)

There are apps in the Play store that do USB tethering (at least 7, the last time I answered a question about it a few days ago) and they use "internet", regardless of where the phone is getting it.

I'll have to look around for one of the apps and give it a go before I get on my next flight. It's so inconvenient logging into the gogo portal on my phone to use the phone, then when I want to use laptop I have to log in again on gogo home page on my laptop, then my phone disconnects. Gogo only allows one device per login using wifi. I wish they just had a multiple device plan.