Wi-Fi or Bluetooth? Which is the Best Way to Use Android Phone as a Wireless Hotspot for Internet

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Asif Ahmed
Asif Ahmedhttp://techtippr.com
Founder and Cheif Editor of Techtippr, Get in touch with me on Twitter or Enjoy my Stories on Instagram. I think they are interesting. :-)

I use my Android phone as a Wireless Hotspot and connect my Macbook Air to get my work done when I am on the go, and I love this freedom of staying connected to the Internet from anywhere.

You don’t always get a Cafe with a Free Wi-Fi, so the Mobile Hotspot comes handy.

There are actually three ways to use your Mobile data on a Laptop. One is the usual USB Tethering, which we won’t cover in this post because connecting via USB cable for Internet is so 2010.

So, we have two options to connect our Android phone to a Laptop/ Desktop to use wirelessly.

  1. Wi-Fi Hotspot
  2. Bluetooth Internet Tethering

So, which is the best method to use Mobile Internet on your PC?

Before answring this question, let’s first talk about these two optiosn individually.

Wi-Fi Hostspot

Bluetooth Tethering02

The Wi-Fi Hotspot is the most common option for connecting Android phone to a PC for Internet.

The option is available on mostly every Android phone that are available in the market.

You can enable it with one tap, you can create a password to secure the connection and allow the only devices that will have the password.

Once the Android phone is connected to the PC, you get a reliable Internet connect which is fast too. Almost every phone’s Wi-Fi has a capability of 54Mbps connection.

But the Internet speed we will get will depend on what type of Mobile Connection you are using. If it’s 3G, the maximum theoratical speed is 7.2Mbps and if it’s 4G, then the maximum theoratical speed is 22Mbps. But in real world, the speed may vary.

Apart from the Speed, Wi-Fi covers a good range, you can keep your phone charged in one room and use it’s Internet on your Laptop in the other room.

But it’s drains the battery faster, because your phone is doing a lot of things at once, i.e, sending and recieving Internet packets from the Cellular Network and then sending and recieving the Internet packets to the device.

More than one devices can be connected to the Wi-Fi hotspot at once, the maximum limit however depends from device to device.

In most Mobile phones, you need to Enable the Wi-Fi hostspot if no device is connected to it.

Bluetooth Internet Tethering

Bluetooth Internet Tethering option is also available in mostly all the Android devices that are available in the Market.

To connect it to a Laptop, you need to Turn on Bluetooth and Pair the device, which you need to do only once. Only paired devices can use the Internet which makes this option secure to use.

Internet via Bluetooth tethering is fast, but not as fast as compaired to the Wi-Fi Hotspot. Bluetooth 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.0 are said to have a similar device to device transfer speed of 25Mbps.

Which means even if it isn;t as fast as Wi-Fi Hotspot, you will still get the maximum theoratical speed of 4G network.

Apart from the speed. The Connectivity is also good. Mostly all the Bluetooth enabled devices are said to have a good 10 Meter range, which is quite sufficient for a normal use unless you keep your phone in your neighbour’s house.

Only one device can be connected to the PC via Bluetooth Tethering.

There is one point in favour of Bluetooth Tethering, which is, you don’t need to Enable it everytime you want to Connect your laptop and use Internet.

Once you have enabled the option, it remains active. All you have to do is, Click on the Bluetooth Icon on your Laptop and connect to the Network of the paired Android device. (The Mobile data needs to be turned on on the device, obviously)

So, if you are planning to have a house party and depending on your Android to provide Internet to the guest to uplaod their phones to Facebook or Instagram, you better use Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Else, if you are someone who uses their Mobile Internet on a PC, and want to conserve some battery juice and required to connect/ disconnect from the Internet several times a day. Bluetooth Tethering is the way to do.

I use Bluetooth Tethering, becuase I use 3G and the speed I get would be same on both Bluetotoh and Wi-Fi. I definately consues less battery than Wi-FI (which is sucker for battery). And the best feaure of Bluetotoh Tethering for me is the ability to connet to the Internet with just one click from the Laptop.

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