Tethering (often labelled Personal Hotspot or just Hotspot) lets your phone act as a Wi-Fi router for other devices. Connect your laptop or tablet to your phone's hotspot and it uses your phone's mobile data to get online.
Three ways to tether
- Wi-Fi: most common — phone broadcasts a Wi-Fi network, devices join it
- Bluetooth: slower, but lower battery drain
- USB: fastest, charges your phone at the same time
Carrier limits
Some carriers cap or block tethering on certain plans, or count tethered data separately. Fuse counts tethered data against your normal monthly allowance — no separate budget, no extra fees.
Battery drain
Hotspot eats battery fast. Plug your phone in if you're tethering for more than 30 minutes.
See also
How Tethering (Hotspot) matters when picking a UK mobile plan
Understanding Tethering (Hotspot) helps you compare mobile providers on a like-for-like basis. Most consumer mobile pricing pages skip the technical detail — knowing the terminology means you can spot when a plan is genuinely better and when it just sounds that way. The Fuse Mobile glossary keeps definitions short and consumer-focused, no jargon-on-jargon.
Fuse Mobile is a UK multi-network data-only eSIM — it gives your phone access to all four UK mobile networks (EE, Three, Vodafone, O2) through a single profile. Where Tethering (Hotspot) is relevant to that setup, it's surfaced explicitly: pricing pages show real numbers, the coverage checker shows live per-network signal, and there's no hidden fee structure. See the plans page for the current pricing or read the multi-network eSIM explainer for the technical detail.