WIFI SHARING ­ INTERNET SERVICE OFFLINE, AGAIN?By Mike Trumbature

It’s bad enough when your personal Internet service repeatedly goes offline                   for whatever reason. It’s worse having a business that relies heavily on the                       Internet and have it repeatedly go out. There are a lot more connections                       between an office computer than a home computer that can fail and you                       have to wait for in­house IT people to repair it. Contract people take longer                         to respond if the problem can not be resolved remotely.

The first thing you do at home is get on the phone, call the 1­800 tech                             support number, press 1 for English and then it all goes downhill from there. Multiple menus to                               access for this and that, sometimes recycling you back to the operator menu ­ no live person to                                 talk with to get you directly to the tech support department. If your phones are through your                               Internet provider and it’s a signal problem, then you’re on your cellphone on hold forever, finally                             getting a recording “ALL OUR TECHNICIANS ARE CURRENTLY BUSY HELPING OTHER                   PEOPLE WITH THE SAME PROBLEM, PLEASE TRY YOUR CALL LATER.” Having had that                       experience with Comcast, I learned the best way is to use their online chat service. It usually                               only takes a few seconds for someone to respond and set up a service call and you have a                                   transcript of the conversation that can be printed to PDF and saved.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, you need an Internet connection to use the chat                               service. Cell phones for some time have had the ability to connect to another device’s WiFi                             radio through a process called WiFi Sharing. Older Windows Mobile uses a third party app by                             XDA Developers. Androids and others have various ways, built in and third party apps                         depending on the age of the phone and service contracts. Earlier services required a monthly                           fee. Most are standard now. In addition, tablet PCs that have Internet connections can be used                             as a wireless router also. The really slick trick is having your portable devices enabled to                             connect to your cell phone when at locations without WiFi or whose service is down. Most                             portable devices today have built in WiFi radios and several most phones have unlimited data                           plans.

For a desktop for emergencies at home, or work, you can get a                       small inexpensive USB WiFi Dongle like the one in the photo from                     Radio Shack (requires software installation). Here are other             plug­and­play EXAMPLES. My Comcast Internet service went           offline Sunday morning ­ no extra programs running or Internet                 settings changed. The main cable box in the back yard is over on                       its side and full of bees. A quick “direct­connect” modem test                   (bypassing the router) shows low and missing power signals to                 and from the modem. I could not directly connect to the Internet                     with two other working laptops. I plugged in the WiFi USB dongle I                       

bought awhile back and set up for emergencies, logged onto Comcast’s service chat room and                           reported the problem. Comcast was unable to access the modem remotely. The earliest they                         can get to it is Wednesday. In the meantime, it’s business as usual around here. Web page                               loading is almost as fast as cable, large file transfers take slightly longer depending on the cell                               phone’s service and connection. Verify your cell phone’s data plan limits first. I recommend                         starting out with the battery fully­charged. This increases surfing time and helps prevent excess                         heat from battery charging while operating. Note my phone position during operation below is for                           demo purposes only. When operating, the phone is face down and the back cover removed to                             allow the phone and battery heat to escape easier if low on battery charge. These units are                               small and take up little room and power, their range is limited for full time wireless use compared                                 to other larger wireless USB radios.

WiFi sharing can be done with tablet PCs capable of “ad­hoc” detection. Some tablets may                           require “rooting” to detect the phones service.

Desktop computer on the Internet through cell phone’s  WiFi to wireless Netgear dongle

10” notebook computer, built­in WiFi, on the Internet through cell phone’s  Internet service

Activate the phone’s WiFi Sharing and set the computer connection to Automatic.  To deactivate,turn the phone OFF or STOP the service.