Can I use the internet connection on my PC on my phone?
We’v e got rubbish internet at home and I want to download my Spotify playlist to my phone using the superfast here at work..
Before anyone says anything, I am allowed to use the work internet for personal use 😉

I’ve got a HTC One A9

No, for a number of reasons.

1) You may be allowed to use the internet for personal use, but you will almost certainly NOT be able to connect a personal device to the office network, for very good reasons.

2) Connecting a phone to a computer which is in turn connected to the office network is exactly the kind of thing a hacker would do.

3) A network adapter in a computer can only connect to one network at a time, so if your work PC is connected to office wifi then it cannot also connect to your phone via wifi unless it’s got two wifi cards, which is unlikely.

4) If you are connected to wired office network, then your PC might have a wifi adapter, but you would have to set that up to use the ‘internet connection sharing’ feature or whatever it’s called nowadays, and that would require more privileges than you probably have.

You might have an office guest network – try asking for access to that from your phone. They should be aimed at letting any random guest device onto the internet. IF they let you on it.

That bit certainly isn’t true. I can do it on my laptop here – it depends on whether the Wifi chipset supports it, but I think it’s fairly common nowadays. Handy way to share a free wifi connection in hotels to my phone which I can’t spoof the MAC address on…

Look up “wifi hosted network”

So dependent on work policy, the answer may be yes.

Whether you are allowed to or not is up to your company. Actually doing it isn’t very hard. You need a wifi router and an unused LAN port on the computer. If you don’t have a LAN port free, buy a USB one, they are cheap. Connect the router to the PC with a LAN cable, then search for “Internet Connection Sharing” on the Microsoft website and follow the instructions.

Only do this if your company allows it. It would be a sackable offence at many companies.

it depends on whether the Wifi chipset supports it, but I think it’s fairly common nowadays

Really? Two wifis on the same adapter? That’s a new one on me, never seen it before. How does that work? You click on ‘connect to network’ then you can click on ‘connect to network’ again and Windows says you are connected to two networks?

Sounds like a massive can of worms!

Yes, it’s a fairly standard thing. You can set up a wifi hotspot on your computer on the same wifi card you’re using to connect to the internet. I’ve been doing it for ages.

In theory it’s actually a standard thing in W10 which you can enable from the settings, but that doesn’t seem to work for me and I have to do it from the command line.

Only do this if your company allows it.

Which they almost certainly won’t. Ask your IT helpdesk, they will be shocked that you are considering it probably.

I would not even try, because even if they allow it they shouldn’t.

Imagine if you worked in a highly secure building and were asking us how to prop open the fire door that leads out onto the street without the alarm going off cos you like fresh air.

If you can’t use the network at work, can’t you just plug your phone in to charge (so it doesn’t go flat) at home and set it to download over night?

Disclaimer: Listen to molgrips advice on not getting sacked, but if you work for a small company who don’t really care about that stuff:-

Assuming your work PC is connected via ethernet cable rather than wifi?

– If not, connect your phone directly to the wifi if you can find the password.

– If it is connected via ethernet, and your PC has wifi, you should be able to share the internet connection via wifi. Can’t advise how this is done on windows, but on a mac, just go to system preferences -> sharing -> internet sharing

In short, and agreeing with Molgrips – if you employer wants you to use their bandwidth, they’ll probably allow you access to a wi-fi signal, use that.

You will likely need admin rights to set-up personal hotspots etc, which you most probably won’t have.

Can you download Spotify on your work PC and transfer the data via USB?

For all Mol’s tales of doom, corporate policy will vary between companies. I don’t think I’ve ever worked anywhere that would have even noticed, let alone care.

Personally if I were you I’d find the nearest Starbucks and cane their Wi-Fi. Public wireless isn’t exactly hard to come by these days.

For all Mol’s tales of doom, corporate policy will vary between companies. I don’t think I’ve ever worked anywhere that would have even noticed, let alone care.

I may not be typical then, but I’ve never worked anywhere that would have been happy about an employee connecting (or attempting to connect) a personal device to the network. USB and other removable media was locked down and outside of the IT department nobody would have had access to network settings.

Depends on your IT, we have several networks, one for contractor access due to the number of contractors who need access to their corporate sites from their laptops as well as another public one for patients. Prior to these being set up, doing what you suggest would have been at least disciplinary if not sackable. NHS though, so maybe not typical.

Personally if I were you I’d find the nearest Starbucks

Starbucks!? Round these parts??

Steve – if you need the wifi password give me a shout, presuming it’s the same as up in the office 😉

I would ask a friend or use a public wifi…

From what I remember of stevie’s work I doubt he has an IT department.

I think Costa also do free Wifi, and there are a couple of those round here

I may not be typical then, but I’ve never worked anywhere that would have been happy about an employee connecting (or attempting to connect) a personal device to the network. USB and other removable media was locked down and outside of the IT department nobody would have had access to network settings.

Sounds like any typical corporate IT set-up, and all justified i’m sure.

The last company I worked for with more than handful of employees (software development agency with 100+ people spread over several countries and offices) had no IT dept, no IT helpdesk, and no office-based servers or file shares. Everyone used laptops over wifi, and all servers and software were internet based (i’m not going to say “in the cloud”. doh! I have). We also had a guest wifi access point in each office, separate from the company network, for freeloaders to download stuff to their phones 😉

For all Mol’s tales of doom, corporate policy will vary between companies.

Even if you don’t have an IT department or an IT policy – if you do this and something goes wrong, you will still be culpable for having possibly bypassed any security you have.

Don’t you have a data contract? 4G is better than most consumer access broadband anyway. How bigs the playlist??

aracer – Member
Yes, it’s a fairly standard thing. You can set up a wifi hotspot on your computer on the same wifi card you’re using to connect to the internet. I’ve been doing it for ages.

In theory it’s actually a standard thing in W10 which you can enable from the settings, but that doesn’t seem to work for me and I have to do it from the command line.

This was news to me, I see its called a “hosted network” in Win10, and is controlled via netsh.

Thanks aracer, had never heard of this feature.

Don’t you have a data contract? 4G is better than most consumer access broadband anyway. How bigs the playlist??

This. While i’m lucky enough to not have to deal with repressive corporate environments much these days, when smartphones and decent data connections came along, that problem was removed – i’d rather keep all my (entirely legal!) personal internet use away from the IT police anyway, I don’t want them knowing how much time I spend on bike-related websites 😉