It’s not always the case, but sometimes a strong cellular data connection can be found more easily than a good Wi-Fi network. In these situations, a newer smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with a data plan can be worth it’s weight in gold. Why? Because you can enable a Wi-Fi network right from your phone to let other nearby devices get Wi-Fi and use your data connection for internet using a feature called Tethering. Here’s how to use tethering on your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge:
Before setting up, please note that tethering is not always available through every cellular carrier, and data used while tethering will count against your mobile data plan (and most computer operating systems like Windows and Mac OS X do not attempt to minimize the amount of data used like Android and iOS do).
- To enable tethering and create a Wi-Fi network for other’s to connect to, open the Settings app and navigate to the Connections page.
- Tap on the Mobile Hotspot and Tethering menu.
- Tap on Mobile Hotspot, then switch the toggle to the ON position.
- Below the toggle, you see the name of the Wi-Fi connection from your Galaxy S6 Edge. Tap this name to switch between two options: Allow all devices, and Allowed devices only.
- When Allowed devices only is enabled, only devices you specifically allow will be able to connect to the S6’s Wi-Fi network.
- To configure an allowed device, tap on MORE at the top left of the Mobile Hotspot menu, then tap Allowed devices.
- Tap ADD at the top right, give the device a name, and enter the MAC address of that device (this can usually be found in the About or Information setting of each device), then tap OK.
- Make sure to enter the MAC address accurately, or the device will not be recognized.
- After configuration, the allowed device will be able to connect to your Galaxy S6 Edge’s Wi-Fi.
- There are additional options to further configure the Wi-Fi network of your Galaxy S6 Edge. To access these options, tap on MORE at the top right of the Mobile Hotspot menu, then tap Configure Mobile Hotspot.
- Network name is the name of the Wi-Fi network and can be changed to whatever you like.
- The Hide my device check box will prevent your Wi-Fi network from being publicly visible.
- The Security dropdown menu lets you choose between requiring a password to connect by selecting WPA2 PSK, or leaving it Open.
- Choosing the WPA2 option in the Security dropdown will show the Password box, where you can set the password of the network.
- “Show password” checkbox will either show or conceal the above password.
- Enabling the “Show advanced options” box will unlock additional settings. Leave this unchecked if you are not familiar with advanced Wi-Fi configuration.
- Under the MORE dropdown in the Mobile Hotspot menu, there is a selection titled “Timeout settings“. Tapping this option will display a popup that lets you choose an amount of time before Mobile Hotspot is disabled when there are no connected devices. This option is useful to minimize battery consumption when using the Mobile Hotspot feature.
