WebUser 01 May 2019

Weekend Project

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NEXT ISSUE How To...MakeyourownDropboxstor ageservice

On sale

Wednesday

15 May

offeredby mobile network

providers,you canstill find

various modelsto buy on

Amazon, including the

Buzzard 2 from EE, whichwas

an excellent device when it

launched back in 2014.

Install arouter

If you want permanent and

ultra-reliableWi-Fi inyour car

and you don’t care how much

it costs, then installinga

wireless modem androuter

is an optionyou maywant to

consider.The cellular radio

and Wi-Fi signals are much

stronger, and some devices

come with USB and Ethernet

ports, which is handy ifyou

want to wirelesslyconnect

a laptop orstorage drive and

do somework or giveyour

passengers some big-screen

entertainment.

In-Car PC (www.in-carpc

.co. uk) sells three in-vehicle

routers.The GX450 4G

Router has an internalLTE

4G module and supports two

external 4G antennas.You can

connect upto eightWi-Fi

devicesto it, and it powers

on and off with thevehicle

ignition. However, it will set

you back around £630.

The LX40 4G is cheaper,

at £408, and allows up to 10

devicesto co nnectto it. Lik e

the GX450, it has anLTE 4G

module and supportfor tw o

external 4G antennas.For the

gold standard, there’s the

IBR900 4GWi-Fi Vehicle

Router, which offers dual SIM

and dual-band (2.4/5 GHz

802.11 a/b/g/n/acWave 2)

functionality and allows up to

128 devicesto co nnectto the

network. Expectto pay an

eye-watering £930.

Buy a newcar

Okay, so this is anextreme

option, but ifyou’re thinking

of buying a new car,you

mightwant to co nsider

a model thatcomes with

a built-incellular data

connection thatyou can use

to crea te a localWi-Fi

network.Tesla, Audi, BMW

and Lexus all offer cars with

Wi-Fi (it’s an optionalextra

in some cases), but ifyour

budgetwon’t stretch to one

of those,you’ll find the

feature is alsoavailable in the

new Ford Focus. The way the

Wi-Fi works depends on the

make of car: somerequireyou

to add a SIM card with data,

while others useyour phone

(and thereforeyour phone’s

data plan).The number of

devicesyou canconnect

wirelessly depends on the car,

but it ’s usually between 5 and

10. Because theWi-Fi feature
    is built-in,you should enjoy
    betterconnectivity thanyou’d
    get from separate devices.

The Ford Focus’s optionalFordPass Connect modem letsyou
create a Wi-Fi Hotspot.You’ll need aVodafone subscription

1

In iOS, open Settings,

tap Personal Hotspot

and flickPersonal

Hotspotto On.^1 The

Wi-Fi password needed

to co nnect is shown

below.^2 Tap it and

you’ll be ableto co py

the password or change

it to something

different. It needsto

be at least 8 characters

long.

2

The processfor

sharingyour

Android’scellular

connection mayvary

slightly depending on

your device. Open

Settings and in the

Wireless & Networks

section, tap More. Open

‘Tethering & portable

hotspot’ and enable

‘PortableWi-Fi hotspot’.

(^1) Tap ‘Set upWi-Fi
hotspot’^2 to co nfigure
the details.
3
You can change
the network name^1
and also enable or
disable the security.^2
Enter a password for
the connection.^3 As in
iOS, it needsto be at
least 8 characters.Tick
‘Show password’^4
to see what it is. Choose
which bandto use.^5
The hotspot will turn off
after five minutes ifa
connection isn’t made.
MINI WORKSHOP
Turn your smartphone into
a wireless hotspot
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