We live in an age of technology, but some of our readers can remember the days of typewriters and liquid white-out being their best friend in college, high school, or their first job. So what do you do if you find yourself struggling to cope with 21st-Century technology in a world where it’s changing every day?
First, relax and remember that for the most part you don’t have to use all those extra things if you don’t want to. You might be more in touch with certain people or news if you can hop online and visit Facebook, get texts on your smartphone, stream news videos, and exchange pictures with loved ones via Instagram, but is it really necessary? Well the fact that many people lived for hundreds of years without these things should tell you something. Last we checked, the post office still sends letters, you can still print photos, phone calls from regular landlines were still a feature in most homes, and the TV and radio options are still working. So it’s your choice. You can try some new things or just stick with the basics and enjoy the simplicity.
Many of you, however, want to learn how to interface more with the technology world and just need a few tips to help get started. There are many areas we’ll need to discuss but we’ll start with a simple one:
How To Set Up and Use a Mobile Hotspot
A Hotspot is a mobile Internet connection, made through your smartphone, supplying Internet to other devices when you’re on the go.
Things you’ll need:
iPhone
Before you enable the hotspot option on your iPhone you’ll want to get the wireless SSID (the name of the network) so you know what to connect to. The SSID will be the same name as your device, to find that, tap on “Settings,” then “General,” then “About;” the first entry in the list is “Name.” Now go back to “Settings” and tap “Personal Hotspot.” Tap the slider and your hotspot is now enabled. If your wireless or Bluetooth is turned off you will be asked to enable one or both of them to share the connection. Below the on/off slider for the hotspot is the wifi password, you can change this if you’d like or you can leave the default password, in either case you will need that to connect your other device.
Now go to your other device and you should see your iPhone appear as a wireless network. Simply select it and press connect. Enter your password when asked and you should be all set. When a device is successfully connected you will see a blue ribbon at the top of your iPhone that shows how many devices are connected to the hotspot. The iPhone can host up to five connections at a time.
Android
From your home screen go to “Settings,” in the first section you should see the Hotspot option under WiFi and Bluetooth. Tap on “Mobile Hotspot Settings” to find and change the SSID, you can also view/change the password here. Once you have those settings tap “Activate.” You can now go to your other device and connect to your phone. You will see a notification on your phone’s screen showing that the hotspot is active and the number of connected devices.
Please note that when connecting devices this way you will probably use a lot of data so be careful not to go over your limit! The hotspot function will also drain your phone battery at a faster rate so keep a charger handy!
This topic was suggested by one of our customers because Hotspots are something she wanted to learn how to use. Do you have a technology related question you want answered? Email us and we may feature it here!
First, relax and remember that for the most part you don’t have to use all those extra things if you don’t want to. You might be more in touch with certain people or news if you can hop online and visit Facebook, get texts on your smartphone, stream news videos, and exchange pictures with loved ones via Instagram, but is it really necessary? Well the fact that many people lived for hundreds of years without these things should tell you something. Last we checked, the post office still sends letters, you can still print photos, phone calls from regular landlines were still a feature in most homes, and the TV and radio options are still working. So it’s your choice. You can try some new things or just stick with the basics and enjoy the simplicity.
Many of you, however, want to learn how to interface more with the technology world and just need a few tips to help get started. There are many areas we’ll need to discuss but we’ll start with a simple one:
How To Set Up and Use a Mobile Hotspot
A Hotspot is a mobile Internet connection, made through your smartphone, supplying Internet to other devices when you’re on the go.
Things you’ll need:
- A smartphone.
- A laptop, tablet or other wireless device.
- A data plan on your smartphone, preferably 10GBs or more.
iPhone
Before you enable the hotspot option on your iPhone you’ll want to get the wireless SSID (the name of the network) so you know what to connect to. The SSID will be the same name as your device, to find that, tap on “Settings,” then “General,” then “About;” the first entry in the list is “Name.” Now go back to “Settings” and tap “Personal Hotspot.” Tap the slider and your hotspot is now enabled. If your wireless or Bluetooth is turned off you will be asked to enable one or both of them to share the connection. Below the on/off slider for the hotspot is the wifi password, you can change this if you’d like or you can leave the default password, in either case you will need that to connect your other device.
Now go to your other device and you should see your iPhone appear as a wireless network. Simply select it and press connect. Enter your password when asked and you should be all set. When a device is successfully connected you will see a blue ribbon at the top of your iPhone that shows how many devices are connected to the hotspot. The iPhone can host up to five connections at a time.
Android
From your home screen go to “Settings,” in the first section you should see the Hotspot option under WiFi and Bluetooth. Tap on “Mobile Hotspot Settings” to find and change the SSID, you can also view/change the password here. Once you have those settings tap “Activate.” You can now go to your other device and connect to your phone. You will see a notification on your phone’s screen showing that the hotspot is active and the number of connected devices.
Please note that when connecting devices this way you will probably use a lot of data so be careful not to go over your limit! The hotspot function will also drain your phone battery at a faster rate so keep a charger handy!
This topic was suggested by one of our customers because Hotspots are something she wanted to learn how to use. Do you have a technology related question you want answered? Email us and we may feature it here!
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