There are a lot of times that you might want to turn your laptop into a WiFi hotspot, a lot of places will charge you per device that is using the internet at once. If you set up a WiFi hotspot on your laptop, then you’d obviously only need to pay for one device saving you some money. Connectify is a program that allows you to do this for computers running Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (if anybody knows a solution for Mac or Linux let me know in the comments), they do have a premium version but most people won’t deal or want the extra features it offers.
Is It Ethical/Legal?
Most companies that require you to pay per device have something that states that this type of sharing is not permitted in their Terms of Service. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t comment on the legalities of this. That being said, some companies do not prohibit this type of sharing. I personally see a charge per device as purely a revenue play by companies, so I don’t have any ethical issues with it (especially when they have bandwidth limits as well).
I don’t very often need to use multiple devices often and when I do my work is usually covering the bill, so I don’t use connectify often but it has come in handy a few times and I thought some readers would find it helpful. It’s also certainly better than paying for and carrying a hardware solution.
