Windows 7 as a Wireless Hotspot

On  a recent trip to France I needed Internet access to stay in touch with business back home. After getting off the ferry, I dropped into the nearest Orange/France Telecom store and purchased a pay-as-you-go 3G key. This cost €59 with two hours access thrown in. You also get an additional 8 hours if you post in the enclosed voucher. This was enough to keep me going until I got fixed line broadband installed.

The one limitation was that it only worked on one device at a time, while I needed to connect my iPhone and another laptop. I could have upgraded to their 3G/WiFi device but that was going to involve more expense to get around a very temporary problem. I remembered reading that Windows 7 had a “hidden” feature that allowed it to act as a Wireless Hotspot and share out it’s Internet connection.

After doing a bit of research, I came across a nifty utility that did all the donkey work and greatly simplified setting up a secure connection. I downloaded Connectify here: http://www.connectify.me/ and within minutes had my Windows 7 hotspot up and running. The best thing about Connectify is the price – zero, zilch, nada – i.e. free.

I’ve since used it in a number of locations, and overall it has provided a rock-solid solution to the problem of sharing your Internet connection – recommended.