Description: Portable Wi-Fi Router is an app for Android devices that aims to make sharing your phone’s data connection with other device’s over WiFi much easier, and even a little safer. It’s a simple app that gives more information to the user about how many devices are connected, how fast your connection is, how much data you’ve used since you started tethering and more. While it might seem like there’s really no need for such an app, given that it’s built into Android anyway, this is more about information and staying informed. It can also help you can keep on eye on just who – or what – has connected to your portable hotspot, making it much easier to control how much of your precious data allowance you’re using.
How it Works: The app can be downloaded from the Play Store, but you first need to make sure that tethering is allowed in your plan. If you’re in the US, that can normally be solved with a quick Google search, but beware not all plans allow tethering. If your plan does though, you can go ahead and use the app.
The FAQ will take complete novices through what they need to know. As for configuring the WiFi hotspot on your device, the app simply takes you to your device’s settings. This might seem like a cheap way out, but this is one area where there’s no need to change anything.
When you have your WiFi hotspot set up, you can see devices that are connected to your device on the main screen.
The app also tells you just how much data you’re using while on mobile hotspot and you can even perform a speed test to see how fast your network is right from the app.
Opinion: For someone like myself, with a large data plan and pretty good knowledge of just how to use Android, this doesn’t offer me all that much. However, for users that like a simplified and more informative way of doing things, Portable Wi-Fi Router works well. With the common amount of data for users being somewhere in the region of 2GB, keeping an eye on how much your tablet or laptop is using is important. Take me for example, I can use a lot of data when tethered, but if I only had a 2GB data plan, I would need to be frugal, this nifty little app allows me to be just that, frugal with what I’m using. It’s a shame that the app isn’t a little better looking, but it is easy enough to use.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Portable Wi-Fi Router is a speedy app and it’s quick to set-up.
- Features (3.5/5) – It’ll leave some scratching their head however, others should find genuine use for this nifty app.
- Theme (4/5) – The app is still stuck in the Gingerbread ways, but it looks just fine and is easy enough to use.
- Overall (3.5/5) – With perhaps a few more features and an updated theme, Portabl Wi-Fi Router would be a much better app, but as it stands it’s easy to use and works fairly well.
Pros
- Allows you to see just who or what is connected to your mobile hotspot.
- Encourages better security practices.
- You can easily keep an eye on how much data your using when tethering.
- Quick and easy to turn on or off tethering, without needing to dig through the settings.
Cons
- Needs a fresh coat of paint.
- Doesn’t offer much to those tech savvy users who have large data allowances.
Conclusion: Portable Wi-Fi Router is a curious type of app, it works well and for a lot of users will provide a fair amount of use. However, those that are most likely to use WiFi hotspot features on their devices wouldn’t have much use for such an app. Those with smaller data caps however will love this, as it’s easy to keep tabs on how much data you’ve been using while tethered to another device. With a fresh lick of paint an some added features for those tech savvy users, it could offer a lot more.