This phone is broken (broken screen) and was given to me, so I figured I’d use it as a WiFi extender, but I guess I can’t.
Do you normally have SIMless service? 🤨
I hate Samsung and their dumb software design choices, and this is one of them. Why do I need a SIM card to enable a hotspot whereas every other phone works without one?
Submitted 4 days ago by ColdWater@lemmy.ca to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/dcaf6d95-fcba-4772-9cea-f65159333cf8.jpeg
Comments
Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 days ago
zurohki@aussie.zone 4 days ago
My phone will hotspot when it’s connected to WiFi. I can even tether it to a desktop PC and use it as a WiFi adapter.
forrgott@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Well, technically that’s not a “hotspot”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a Wi-Fi extender.
NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 4 days ago
Might be someone wanting to share the WiFi on something like a tablet. Or someone using an Android phone as an “iPod Touch”, basically everything the phone has minus cellular capabilities but still wanting to share the WiFi with other devices.
I could see this being very popular on flights and cruises where they charge you per device to pay for this one device and then share with other devices.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
My phone does that just fine. It’s a Samsung limitation. All it does is create an access point and forward traffic via its default route.Image
HubertManne@piefed.social 4 days ago
I find it hard to believe all your other phones could do this as it required dual antennas.
varyingExpertise@feddit.org 3 days ago
If you just want a local network with DHCP and WPA to do whatever, no uplink is necessary.
fluxion@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Totally useless for 99.999% of users (not even exaggerating). Would be nice to have the option though but would mostly just confuse users with was would appear to most to be a totally useless option.
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 days ago
Yeah but he said wifi extender.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 3 days ago
How would a hot spot work without a sim? Isnt it using the sim 5g to rebroadcast locally?
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Some phones essentially function as wifi repeaters if wifi is connected and mobile hotspot is enabled.
Not all phones can do this.
zymagoras777@lemmy.world 2 days ago
It’s a bit overkill to use phone as a repeater, isn’t it?
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 days ago
But if the phone gets wifi… then why doesn’t the other gadget?
Jikiya@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Samsung used to have their WiFi sharing under the Hotspot setting. Then they changed the layout, and now WiFi sharing is buried deep in menus to make sure (for some terrible reason, I’m sure) it’s not found without a web search. They change the exact location of it with every OneUI update also, to further piss me off. They are surely the company that is actively trying hardest to lose customers.
tal@lemmy.today 4 days ago
Does it have to be a SIM card with service on it?
Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Many carriers sell hotspot as a data capped premium feature. They probably want a SIM so you can be monitored and charged for using your own device on your own network and services that you’ve already paid for. Because greed.
scytale@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
I really hate how mobile hotspot is considered separate from regular data. It’s the same especially if your mobile speeds are are capped anyway. It’s like dental not being included in your health insurance as if your teeth aren’t part of your body.
kassiopaea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 days ago
But didn’t you know that teeth are just luxury bones?
Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Both of those are such a scam. Greed has ruined this country.
tal@lemmy.today 3 days ago
On that note, I finally tried Comcast’s xfinitywifi service this month, and was pleasantly surprised. They run a WiFi hotspot service accessable to Comcast users, but non-Comcast subscribers can also get a la carte access for $10/month. It’s not a full drop-in replacement for cellular data — no system of WiFi access points is going to have that degree of coverage — but if you live in an urban area, an awful lot of the place is within range of an access point, and my experience has been that it’s considerably faster than running off cellular data.
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Yeah, I’m definitely blocked from turning on my hotspot with AT&T until it can verify that I’m allowed specifically from the cellular network.
This could very well be a carrier lock-in.
RedC@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
OP, how old is the phone / what version of android is it running?
Just tested this on my s24u, connected to wifi with no physical SIM and my eSIM turned off I can still turn on mobile Hotspot. Seems weird that you can’t especially since iirc Samsung let’s you share your wifi connection through Hotspot as well.
PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 4 days ago
- Because they want to know who you are
- Because what are you going to do about it? They’re going to make money regardless
One or the other
And009@lemmynsfw.com 4 days ago
Unless specifically using the phone as repeater, just connect directly to wifi?
Any laptop can also be converted into repeater.
LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 days ago
I don’t know if it’s android or Samsung doing this. Both are trash.
On the android side it’d be because Google seemingly hires the dumbest project managers possible for the thing.
Samsung side I’d waver itd be because they think their customers would be too stupid to diagnose an issue with hotspot without a sim (such as if WiFi is working)
lefixxx@lemmy.world 3 days ago
What kind of tethering?
tal@lemmy.today 3 days ago
“Hotspot” is always going to be referring to having the phone act as a WiFi wireless access point, rather than USB or Bluetooth tethering.
lefixxx@lemmy.world 3 days ago
That would be cellular to wifi tethering. How can someone expect to have cellular internet without a sim.
Is OP trying to use his phone as an routerless wifi access point? That would be a crazy edge case. And it still wouldn’t be tethering.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Hotspots share your phones mobile data as a local wifi access point. If you don’t have a sim, you don’t have mobile data, and so, no hotspot.
gratux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
you can do “wifi sharing” which shares the phones wifi connection.
fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 days ago
Not all phones can act as a repetitor. I’ve had several where wifi gets disconnected when hotspot is activated.
hitmyspot@aussie.zone 3 days ago
Thats not the same thing, though.
elvis_depresley@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
what if you want to use the wifi hotspot for a LAN party in a plane?
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 3 days ago
There’s Bluetooth and USB (with Ghirehtet over ADB or external wireless/Ethernet card). Also, you can NOT connect to the internet and use LAN-based apps (KDE Connect, network printers) without extra hardware in a pinch, or just broadcast an SSID in a public space for fun.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 3 days ago
Absolutely yes. So many phones have USB 2.0, so the Wi-Fi speed is often going to be faster than cable.