Sharing your phone’s mobile data connection

You can share your phone’s mobile data connection with a single computer using a USB cable. This process is called USB tethering. You can also share your phone’s data connection with up to eight devices at once, by turning your phone into a portable Wi-Fi® hotspot.

When your phone is sharing its data connection, the following icons may appear in the status bar or in the Notification panel:

USB tethering is active

Portable Wi-Fi® hotspot is active

Both USB tethering and portable hotspot are active

To share your phone’s data connection using a USB cable

1Use the USB cable that came with your phone to connect your phone to a computer.

2From your Home screen, tap .

3Find and tap Settings > Wireless & networks > Tethering & portable hotspot.

4Mark the USB tethering check box. The phone starts sharing its mobile network data connection with the computer over the USB connection. An ongoing notification appears in the status bar and the Notification panel.

5Unmark the USB tethering checkbox, or disconnect the USB cable to stop sharing your data connection.

You cannot share your phone’s data connection and SD card over a USB cable at the same time. If you are using your USB connection to make your SD card available to your computer, you must first deactivate this connection before you can start sharing your phone's data connection. See Connecting your phone to a computer on page 98.

You may need to prepare your computer to establish a network connection via USB cable. Go to android.com/tether for the most current information about which operating systems support USB tethering and how to configure them.

To share your phone’s data connection as a portable Wi-Fi® hotspot

1From the Home screen, tap .

2Find and tap Settings > Wireless & networks > Tethering & portable hotspot.

3Mark the Portable Wi-Fi hotspot checkbox. The phone starts broadcasting its Wi- Fi® network name (SSID). You can now connect to this network with up to 8 computers or other devices.

4Unmark the Portable Wi-Fi hotspot checkbox when you want to stop sharing your data connection via Wi-Fi®.

To rename or secure your portable hotspot

1From the Home screen, tap .

2Find and tap Settings > Wireless & networks > Tethering & portable hotspot.

3Make sure the Portable Wi-Fi hotspot checkbox is marked.

4Tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings > Configure Wi-Fi hotspot.

5Enter the Network SSID for the network.

6Tap the Security field to select a security type.

7If required, enter a password.

8Tap Save.

Virtual private networks (VPNs)

Use your phone to connect to virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow you to access resources inside a secured local network from outside the actual network. For example, VPN connections are commonly used by corporations and educational institutions for users who need to access intranets and other internal services when they are outside of the internal network, for example, when they are travelling.

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