Have you ever wanted to share your wired-only connection and turn it into a Wi-Fi hotspot? How about turn your wireless EVDO, 3G, or 4G wireless Internet connection into a Wi-Fi hotspot? Well, with Windows 8 you can! Actually, 4g lte wireless routerWindows 7 supports this too, though not many people know about it. You can follow my how-to tutorial below for Windows 8 and it will work for Windows 7 as well.
It’s a good thing I can share my 4G connection, since Hurricane Sandy took out 5 trees in my yard, ripped the power line AND the phone line (my DSL Internet) from the pole leaving me with just Verizon 4G (via a 4G USB stick) for access to the Internet. Before we get to the step-by-step Windows 8 mobile broadband to Wi-Fi hotspot tutorial, here’s some pictures of Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath in my yard – starting first with me standing under a tree in my driveway:
Sure my 4G Verizon USB stick gives my laptop Internet, but after lending my laptop to my wife for the umpteenth time so she could check Facebook and her Labs4Rescue dog adoption site she volunteers for, it was time to find a4g lte mifi router way to share my mobile broadband Verizon 4G connection!
I should mention Verizon sells their 4G MiFi hotspot device which allows you to share up to only 5 devices. The tutorial I explained above lets me use a standard 4G mobile broadband USB stick and share it with virtually unlimited users. Though you should be aware of any bandwidth overage charges of course. Enjoy!