On the Catalyit Open Q&A call last week, a question was asked about Wi-Fi from unsecured sources like Starbucks, Panera, or your favorite remote work coffee shop.
Access to the Internet is vital in today’s hyper-connected world, and finding a secure Wi-Fi hotspot is not always possible. Because of my extensive travel, I used a Wi-Fi hotspot for many years to make sure I could securely connect to the Internet anywhere I had a cellular signal. It worked great but cost $50 a month for 50 GB of download data.
When Apple released the iPhone 12, it included the ability to use your iPhone as a data hotspot. I quickly realized that I could use my phone to connect to the cellular data network and replace my separate hotspot. Similar capabilities are available on the Android platform.
The availability of Wi-Fi has increased significantly over the last few years, however, I always worry about security when using an unknown Wi-Fi signal. So, I often use my iPhone Personal Hotspot instead of an available Wi-Fi signal. This is especially true if I want to do sensitive transactions, such as accessing my bank account. In your case, it may be a more secure alternative when you’re working remotely from a coffee shop and need to access your agency management system. Accessing your cellular data network is more secure than any open or unknown Wi-Fi signal.
I also have an iPad and elected not to get the cellular capability. Instead, I use my iPhone to connect to the Internet. This saves me a little bit of money on the cost of the iPad and the additional monthly cellular data fee.
Using your iPhone as a data hotspot is simple:
I suspect many of you are already using this capability of your iPhone. I am writing about it this week 1) as a reminder and 2) to help those that didn’t know their phones could function as a data hotspot.
What other tools do you use to securely access the Internet on the go?