Tethering Kindle Fire to a cell phone

[Hawaiian Princess]

To WiFi legally , yes mobile hotspot for extra $20 + . If not like many droid users, root & tether. Not encouraged to void warranty but it helps cost

[Skydog]

Just a word of caution. Carriers will now automatically charge, or notify you of the addition of a tethering plan being added to your account, if you make a habit of tethering to your phone's data. Big brother watches and no way around it as it violates the TOA. Just a heads-up.

[cmcalpine55]

Just a word of caution. Carriers will now automatically charge, or notify you of the addition of a tethering plan being added to your account, if you make a habit of tethering to your phone's data. Big brother watches and no way around it as it violates the TOA. Just a heads-up.

I've been using Easy Tether on my Verizon Android phone for months now and Verizon hasn't charged me anything. I will have to try tethering my KFire to it. I'll have to look for a dual micro usb line to connect.

[geekymamaw]

I am actually looking to tether Fire directly to the phone using apps like PDA net. I am also looking for the right micro usb adapter to connect them physically not wireless. Is all this possible? I have HTC EVO

[geekymamaw]

I've been using Easy Tether on my Verizon Android phone for months now and Verizon hasn't charged me anything. I will have to try tethering my KFire to it. I'll have to look for a dual micro usb line to connect.

Sounds like you and I are trying to do the same thing. Please let me know if you are successful!

[jsh1120]

Let me see if I can clarify a bit. First, what's a "mobile hotspot?" Simply put it is a phone without the voice capability but with a built-in wifi router. It connects via 3G or 4G to a cell carrier's network (even has a phone number) and provides a wifi signal (like any router) to devices that can connect to it and provides data access to the internet. Typically, a mobile hotspot can connect up to five devices simultaneously so you can connect both a KF and a laptop and other devices when you need it. In short, it provides a personal wifi network wherever you can get a cell phone signal.

You can purchase a mobile hotspot through a cell carrier (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc) usually at a subsidized price with a contract and data plan. Or you can purchase the hotspot separately (it's usually a device about the size of a half a deck of playing cards) and pay for internet access with a specific carrier. Costs vary. I have a 4G/LTE mobile hotspot for which I paid $50 and a contract with Verizon for two years at $50 per month for up to 5gigs of downloads per month. Other plans are cheaper and/or have more expensive up front purchases.

Many smartphones include the same capabilities as a mobile hotspot built into the phone's "radios." Sometimes, the wifi capabilities are as good as a dedicated mobile modem, sometimes not. "Tethering" a phone and a wifi device (e.g. the KF) typically means exactly the same thing as "tethering" to a mobile hotspot, i.e. connecting to a broadcast wifi signal from the phone which is in turn connected to the a cell carrier's data network.

Most carriers (in the US) now charge an additional monthly fee for tethering your smartphone to other devices. Typically, this is $20. You use the same data plan you have for your phone but some carriers (e.g. Verizon) gives you an additional 2 gigs per month on your data plan when you pay for tethering. This may or may not make any difference to you depending on whether you have an unlimited data plan on your phone.

As others have noted, you may also tether your phone with your KF (or any other wifi device) without informing your carrier and without paying the tethering charge. This is fairly common on Android phones, especially those where "rooting" is widespread. You simply "turn on" the phone's wifi broadcast functionality via an app or by changing the phone's settings.

If you do this, you are probably breaking the TOS (Terms of Service) contract with your carrier. If the carrier determines you have done so, they can charge you for tethering or even cancel your contract (very rare.) How would they find out, you ask? Mainly by looking at your data usage. Since tablets are far more likely to be used for downloading video content, for example, you may find you're watching streaming movies on your KF that you didn't watch on your phone. If your data usage increases dramatically from tethering, you may be contacted by your cell phone carrier.

Note. No moral judgements implied here. I view cellphone carriers as blood sucking leeches but I also take seriously the fact that I've signed a contract that includes specific obligations on my part. Make up your own mind.

That's pretty much it. If you want truly fast internet access on your KF, get a 4G/LTE mobile hotspot or one of the new Android phones that support 4G connectivity. Be aware that the battery on a 4G phone will be depleted in a few hours of 4G downloads. A mobile hotspot will generally last about 4-6 hours if it's not connected to a wall socket. In return for all that bit sucking from satellites your 4G connection will be about 10 times faster than 3G. That 10x difference won't be reflected in your user experience, however. You'll generally get less "caching" and less hesitation with 4G, but 3G is typically satisfactory for most purposes including video.

However, one last bit of advice. Not all 4G networks are created equal. There is no "standard" for what constitutes "4G." Verizon's and AT&T's 4G/LTE networks are far faster than other carriers' (e.g. Sprint.) And Verizon has MUCH wider coverage than AT&T. That will change over the next couple of years, but that's the story at the moment.

P.S. I use my mobile hotspot with my wifi only iPad regularly. Very reliable. I've found that using it with the KF is a bit more of PITA, requiring that I turn the hotspot on and off in a particular sequence along with wifi on the KF to get a connection. But once established, it works very well.

P.P.S. To "geekymamaw": I hope this helps you. I'm not sure why you want to connect your phone to the KF with a cable. I may not be understanding precisely what you're trying to do but your phone should be able to connect via wifi with your KF. If you can explain your issue in more detail, I'll see if I can help.

[Jazzmin]

... Just checked with KINDLE FIRE, and to date, Kindle Fire does NOT have "Bluetooth" capabilities. I also talked to my cell phone carrier, and Kindle Fire is not available on their "device list". As a matter of fact, the woman I spoke of never heard of a "Kindle Fire" ... ~ lol ~
So she was of virtual no help. Right now, as it is, I've got a brand new Kindle Fire and no way to connect short of purchasing a wireless router that I'm told you can get for $10 bucks at Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

[strollin]

...
P.P.S. To "geekymamaw": I hope this helps you. I'm not sure why you want to connect your phone to the KF with a cable. I may not be understanding precisely what you're trying to do but your phone should be able to connect via wifi with your KF. If you can explain your issue in more detail, I'll see if I can help.

I understand why she would want to tether via cable, because it can be done without paying the extra $20/month for the wifi hotspot. There are many of us that have Verizon plans with unlimited data. I've use an app called PDANet on my phone to be able to tether my laptop to my phone when I travel for several years now. It works great and Verizon has never charged me extra or said a word about it.

The problem is that you can install the server part of PDAnet on your phone but there are only clients for Windows and MAC. The author of PDAnet would need to create a second android app that would act as a client for the KF. I don't know if this is possible to do for the KF or not.

One way to have access to the net for the KF thru your phone would be to use PDAnet to tether a Windows 7 laptop to the phone then install a program called Connectify which will use the laptop to create a hotspot that the KF can connect to. It's a roundabout way of doing things and is redundant since, if you're gonna need a laptop (or netbook) to do this, you might as well use it to access the web instead of the KF. However, if multiple people want to use the connection then it makes sense.

[Backroad]

Wife and I are currently renting a house in Naples, FL that has no Wi-Fi. Before we left the Chicago area, she visited Verizon and had the Mobile Hotspot feature added to her Motorola droid phone for $20/month. She turns that feature on briefly in the morning, we download the Chicago Tribune to our Fires, and we're all set to read the paper during breakfast.

Al

[grvthang]

Wife and I are currently renting a house in Naples, FL that has no Wi-Fi. Before we left the Chicago area, she visited Verizon and had the Mobile Hotspot feature added to her Motorola droid phone for $20/month. She turns that feature on briefly in the morning, we download the Chicago Tribune to our Fires, and we're all set to read the paper during breakfast.

Al

I've been doing the same thing with my Incredible 2 since mid-December. Verizon Wireless charges $20/mo for 2gb of usage (totally apart from my phone's plan). The good part is that it's not on contract, it's month-to-month, so I can stop it at any time.

As someone else noted, you can root your phone and do the hotspot feature for free, but I understand that VZW often catches up with users who do it.

As far as wired tethering goes, I actually wrote to the developer of pdaNet to see if it could be accomplished; he told me that drivers cannot be developed for the Fire (he gave me some technical reason that I didn't understand).