Possible to share wifi signal via phone?

[caspian915]

Is it possible to set up the Nexus 4 (or any Android phone for that matter) to share the wifi signal it is connected to (as opposed to a mobile 3g/4g connection)?

i.e., say the N4 is connected to a wifi signal, can I rebroadcast that signal out to my laptop with N4 acting as a router of sorts?

 

[El Presidente]

Not stock, and I can't see an app that would do it either.

Not entirely sure it's possible tbh.

 

[charliecc]

I'm no expert, so this may well be wrong, but I think the problem lies with the wi-fi radio having to do 2 jobs. In this case it would have to be the receiver and the transmitter, and I think it can only do 1 job at a time.

 

[caspian915]

That's what I figured, thanks to both of you for chiming in.

 

[ooberandy]

Why wouldn't you just connect to the wifi router directly? Just curios....

 

[caspian915]

Where I work, on a drill ship, my subcontractor is only allowed one device on the network (employees of the rig operator allowed at least two because I read the list of MAC addresses/names over the IT guy's shoulder).

I don't have both devices with me this time around, but I was curious for next time.

Doesn't one of the tether apps allow for a device to be connected to the phone via Bluetooth and snag the internet connection that way? Like foxfi maybe?

 

[El Presidente]

I've had a look and can't see any that do. I presume it's a hardware limitation as Charlie has said.

Probably also to do with the fact that if your phone is connected to a WiFi source, it's presumed any other devices you'd want connected to it are close enough to it as well.