One of the things I love about working with technology, is that every so often you are fortunate enough to have a "hey wow" moment. The software I am writing about is just so useful, and so incredibly easy to set up, that it certainly was the cause of such a moment.
Over the last few days, I have been playing with a piece of software that allows me to take advantage of the data connection on my phone to the benefit of my Lenovo Thinkpad.
The software is called Walking Hotspot, and is available for free from http://www.walkinghotspot.com.
This software is for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. To use it, the phone must support both WiFi, and some sort of data over cellular option. It allows you to set up your phone so that it is your very own walking hotspot. The idea here is that you can use your laptop or any other WiFi capable device to connect to the phone running the hotspot software, so that you can use your phone's Internet connection from another device. The connection can be encrypted using WEP for additional security.
Now it's true that many phones can use Bluetooth to do a similar thing, but there are a few points to note. Firstly, certainly on GSM networks, when you do this you are only connecting with GPRS, and not the faster forms of Internet connectivity such as 3G or HSDPA. Secondly, not all phones offer the modem service. And thirdly, it can be complex for a user to set up.
With Walking Hotspot, you just set up your access point complete with WEP security if you want, bring up the wireless manager on the device from which you want to connect, and establish an ad hoc connection.
Over the last few days, I have been playing with a piece of software that allows me to take advantage of the data connection on my phone to the benefit of my Lenovo Thinkpad.
The software is called Walking Hotspot, and is available for free from http://www.walkinghotspot.com.
This software is for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. To use it, the phone must support both WiFi, and some sort of data over cellular option. It allows you to set up your phone so that it is your very own walking hotspot. The idea here is that you can use your laptop or any other WiFi capable device to connect to the phone running the hotspot software, so that you can use your phone's Internet connection from another device. The connection can be encrypted using WEP for additional security.
Now it's true that many phones can use Bluetooth to do a similar thing, but there are a few points to note. Firstly, certainly on GSM networks, when you do this you are only connecting with GPRS, and not the faster forms of Internet connectivity such as 3G or HSDPA. Secondly, not all phones offer the modem service. And thirdly, it can be complex for a user to set up.
With Walking Hotspot, you just set up your access point complete with WEP security if you want, bring up the wireless manager on the device from which you want to connect, and establish an ad hoc connection.
The free version is limited in that you can only establish one concurrent connection. The paid version, being distributed through carriers, permits five concurrent connections. But for personal use, the free version is fine.
Obviously, because you will be using the WiFi and data over cellular capabilities of your phone, you're going to use a lot of battery power, and this may be an issue on units that offer poor battery performance.
This software is pure genius and is working brilliantly on my Nokia N82.
Obviously, because you will be using the WiFi and data over cellular capabilities of your phone, you're going to use a lot of battery power, and this may be an issue on units that offer poor battery performance.
This software is pure genius and is working brilliantly on my Nokia N82.
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