10
Hasn't this been available for at least a decade? It's always been there.
Bit of a strange post, but hey, OP learned a cool thing today. I use my Android when my home internet shits the bed. Super slow, but it works well enough.
"Always" is a long time on the internet, until it isn't.
What matters is to celebrate the now. Today's ten thousand. (@jbk@discuss.tchncs.de already linked it for me).
Longer than that. I used to root phones and this was a major feature people wanted once rooted. It was a free option with no limits when rooted but carriers wanted to charge extra and set data limits.
I was doing this around 2010 on the HTC Evo 4G (WiMax).
Yep, the feature was introduced in Froyo*, but there were third party apps that enabled the functionality even before that. It's how I got through college.
While very useful, it's not exactly the same as connecting straight to your WiFi. Iirc your android device will act as an additional nat and firewall, which can make it more difficult connecting to the device behind it from devices connected to the regular network, and vice versa.
Yup, I've been using this for more than 10 years for gaming. It's weirdly reliable.
There was a nifty feature in one of my older android phones where you could share the wifi as another wifi Hotspot, extremely useful while at a hotel or something so you can connect the chromecast or other devices that can't "sign in"
You can still do that. Idk if it's device specific but I do it all the time on my S24
Last time I tried to find it on my fold I couldn't find it
It has existed on every Pixel I've ever owned under the label "Hotspot." This includes the one I'm using to write this comment.
Ah Samsung hid it in advanced https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Fold-Flip-Phones/Wi-Fi-Sharing-no-longer-under-Hotspot-settings/td-p/3107614
Not seeing how this isn't simply the forever-available stock 'hotspot' ?
Computer/laptops WiFi card is dead. Can't connect to an android hotspot if your WiFi isn't working.
Thus, usb tethering. It's a wire, doesn't need a WiFi card. And the android device can then share ITS WiFi/Data connection through the USB cable
Same settings category as hotspot, available since Android Froyo, 2.2, which was released in 2010.
Yeh, but (to me) a hotspot is WiFi with internet access from a mobile device. Whereas tethering is sharing internet access from a mobile device via a cable (USB).
Kinda like how WiFi doesn't mean internet access, despite so many people conflating the meanings.
And furthermore, you can share your internet from your computer, if running Linux, to other devices via Ethernet or WiFi! There may even be a super hacky way to do it through Bluetooth as well, but I'm gonna assume that wouldn't be worthwhile to pursue...
Windows has (had?) the ability to share internet through Ethernet a couple of decades ago. I think it required a crossover cable? Anyone remember what I'm talking about?
EDIT: ChatGPT found it by inputting the above text. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)! Gods it's been a long time since I did that.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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