Slow Hotspot? Here’s How You Can Fix That
To make a hotspot faster, first know why it is slow: a phone hotspot does two jobs at once, pulling data over cellular and handing it out over Wi-Fi, so it is usually much slower than the phone itself. A speed test on the connected laptop is the only way to see by how much.
Speedify is an app that combines more than one connection, including several phones’ hotspots at the same time, so the devices using them are not stuck with what one phone can manage. The speed gain needs two or more connections, for example two phones’ hotspots or one hotspot plus a phone shared over USB: on one hotspot alone, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and can be a little slower.
This post covers why a hotspot is slow, how to troubleshoot it, and how to increase its speed.
How to Make Hotspot Faster with Speedify
- Download Speedify on the laptop or computer that connects to the hotspot (Windows or macOS).
- Open Speedify and create a free account (the free tier includes 5 GB per month), or sign in.
- Connect the computer to a second internet connection besides the hotspot: a phone shared over USB (on a Mac, an iPhone or a supported Android phone), Ethernet if a wired connection is nearby, or a second phone’s hotspot through a USB Wi-Fi adapter (on a Mac, USB Wi-Fi adapters work only on Intel models running macOS 11 Big Sur).
- Click Connect. Speedify sends traffic over both connections at once and moves it to the working one when one weakens.
- Run a hotspot speed test again at speedtest.net to compare, then use the computer as usual.
Why Your Hotspot Is So Slow: Cellular Signal, Hardware and Interference
The biggest factor is the phone’s cellular signal: a hotspot can only share what the phone gets over 4G/5G cellular. Many plans also limit hotspot speed, or slow it down after a monthly hotspot allowance, so check your plan. After that it comes down to hardware and Wi-Fi interference: a low-end phone or adapter may not cover the area you need or may simply perform poorly, and other Wi-Fi devices transmitting around you interfere with the hotspot’s signal. Software can slow the hotspot as well.
All of this can lead to poor hotspot performance leaving you unable to complete the task you needed the hotspot for.
How to Increase Hotspot Speed on Android
On an Android phone, open the hotspot settings (Settings > Network & internet > Hotspot & tethering on Pixel phones, Settings > Connections > Mobile Hotspot and Tethering on Samsung) and choose the 5 GHz band if the phone offers it: 5 GHz carries more data at short range, while 2.4 GHz reaches further but is slower. Turn off Battery Saver while sharing, keep the phone where it gets its best 4G/5G cellular signal, such as near a window, and keep it out of direct sun, since phones slow down when they overheat. On a Windows laptop, USB tethering avoids Wi-Fi interference altogether.
How to Troubleshoot a Slow Hotspot
First things first: run a hotspot speed test to find where the issue lies. Go to speedtest.net and test your speed both on the phone hosting the hotspot and on the device connected to it. You shouldn’t see a drastic difference between the two; if you do, here are some steps you can take:
- Eliminate wireless interference: move the phone and the connected device closer together and away from other Wi-Fi equipment. HowToGeek explains wireless interference and how to reduce it in this article.
- Disable firewall: do this as a test to see if the firewall or antivirus software is slowing down your hotspot. If it is, allow your network sharing software in your antivirus or firewall. If you are using Connectify Hotspot, you can follow this article.
- Try a different wireless adapter if you have one handy: the hardware hosting the hotspot may be the weak point, and a spare Wi-Fi adapter is worth a try.
- For Android devices, this article from LifeHacker has more tips.
Perhaps the issue isn’t your hotspot, but the cellular connection you are sharing. Packet loss on that connection slows down everything. A second connection with Speedify adds speed and recovers lost packets.
Make Hotspot Faster with Speedify: Combine Two Phone Hotspots
With Speedify you get the combined speed of both connections, for example two phones’ hotspots on a laptop. A laptop needs two network adapters for two hotspots (its built-in Wi-Fi plus a USB Wi-Fi adapter), or one hotspot over Wi-Fi and an iPhone shared over USB; on a Mac, USB Wi-Fi adapters work only on Intel Macs with macOS 11 or older. Two connections also give you failover: if one connection gives out, Speedify sends the traffic over the other until the first one is back. All of your data is encrypted as well, which keeps your private information secure and keeps your ISP from spying on you.
You can also share the Speedify combined connection as a hotspot with other devices. There are a few ways:
- Android: you can share the Speedify connection with PDANet+.
- On Windows you can use Connectify Hotspot; take a look at the guide here. Its free version shares over Wi-Fi in 60-minute sessions.
- Linux can natively share the Speedify connection (Speedify on Linux needs a paid plan); here’s how.
With two connections combined in Speedify, your hotspot connection gets faster and more reliable.
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