I agree AYCE is a similar word to Unlimited.

Most users are aware that a 'Hotspot' is used within wireless 'tethering'. Honest opinion if a user wasn't aware what 'Tethering or hotspot' was they wouldn't be looking for 'tethering options' and it's clearly written in the terms and conditions of The One Plan ;-

http://www.three.co.uk/ThreePortal/S...&ssbinary=true

'Want to tether?
If you are on The One Plan contract (handset and SIM) we’re
happy for you to tether, this means you can connect your
phone to other devices via USB or WiFi to connect to the
internet. If you’re not on The One Plan, you can get a Mobile
Internet Add-on, or a Tethering Add-on. See page 5 for how
to get one. If you have a Tethering Add-on, this will not work
in a Feel At Home country'

Clearly uses the word 'tethering'. Personal hotspot only applies to new tariffs but again 'Hotspot' is a obvious term.

Personal hotspot is what Apple call it too

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517

Same with Samsung ;-

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/su...&map_seq=34471

My LG G3 calls it 'hotspot' on the device too

So do Nokia ;-

http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/support/f...topic=FA136563

Tethering
Wi-Fi Hotspot
Portable Hotspot

That's not saying the same as "Personal Hotspot". Like I said, in my post before, only Apple call it that and it's a term used in the USA rather than the UK. Also they never call it hotspot directly. The wi-fi hotspot option is usually under the tethering option on the phone.

Maybe it's just my experience but 90% of people I've spoken to about this know what tethering is but get confused when personal hotspot is mentioned.

I would suggest that wifi tethering is "Personal hotspot", it is on almost every phone I have used. My Samsung calls it "mobile hotspot".

Tethering would be connecting via USB.

Most people I know use the terms in that way, I don't see how it's misleading as everyone knows "hotspot" for a wifi connection.

I'm not saying it's misleading. I'm saying not many people call it that or know what it is.

For example, here on Digital Spy if you search for "Tethering" you get 217 different threads. If you search for "Personal Hotspot" you get 17 results.

Same with google.
"Tethering" produces 2.87m results and "Personal Hotspot" produces 0.75m results.

I'm just saying Three have replaced a common term with a less common term and in my opinion it's led to a bit of confusion. And I'm basing that conclusion on real life scenarios that I've seen both online and in person.

"Hotspot" alone comes to 'About 20,300,000 results (0.28 seconds)'

Personal just defines it as a users own hotspot so the 'Personal' bit is irrelevant it's Hotspot vs Tethering

A hotspot is a hotspot regardless of if it includes the word 'Personal'

My results on a search of 'Hotspot' (Which are linked to tethering)

http://prntscr.com/44cqeh

But when you google hotspot it has nothing to do with mobile wi-fi hotspots. There is only 1 result on the front page which talks about that.

The other results talk about every other type of hotspot from companies with the same name to other types of services provided under the hotspot moniker. In fact a number of google search results talk about BT/O2 Wi-Fi hotspots that you can find around the country. This adds to to the confusion. When you google tethering all the results are the same and result to the same topic.

And Like I've said, I've seen plenty of confusion whenever "Personal Hotspot" is mentioned as to what it is and includes. Yet when "tethering" is mentioned it's an already known word that people know the meaning to.

(btw that wiki page your screenshot has talks about wi-fi hotspots found in coffee shops and not tethering wi-fi hotspots)

Obviously the majority of people here (Including myself) know what a personal hotspot is and how it works. I'm just saying that changing the term "tethering" to "personal hotspot" wasn't a good move in my opinion.

A 'Personal Hotspot' doesn't have to use data it could simply just be a LAN hotspot operating on the 802.11 'AC' to act as a media centre to stream 1080p HD videos to a display it doesn't mean it has to use data a hotspot is just defined as something that another 'node/device' can connect to (Which wouldn't include tethering).

Strange if you have a look at the 'tethering' page on Wikipedia it's clearly outlined that it's also called 'Hotspots' etc...

http://prntscr.com/44cui2


A lot of people refer a router as a 'Hotspot' or a AP (Access Point).

I'm failing to understand what anyone would think a 'Personal Hotspot' was when it's listed on my device S5 as 'Tethering and Wi-Fi Hotspot' and Mobile Hotspot what else is it going to be ?

Ok Ok... i get it haha.

But I'm just saying that "Personal Hotspot" isn't as widely used and I've seen people confused by the term but at the same time understanding what "Tethering" is.

That's all.

Personally I think both are often wrong, and I remember tethering before I recall it being called that. More likely Internet (connection) sharing.

What did Symbian phones call this feature.. you know, before O2/AT&T and Apple came along and made tethering something that was different to simply sharing an existing connection (and thus something that could be separately controlled/metered/charged for)?

I'd imagine tethering to be a wired connection, so that's USB tethering and Mobile/Portable Hotspot when you set your device to share over Wi-Fi, like - well - a hotspot that's portable.

Of course, at the end of the day, they're all the same thing.

I don't think they do.

The term router is one pretty much every member of joe public will know, as they'll have one in their home (almost certainly a wireless one), but access point and hotspot are more techy terms that joe public wouldn't use.

It is the other way around 'hotspot' is not a techy term at all, it's a marketing term and the term Hotspot, personal hotspot or wifi hotspot is used by the most popular phone makers.

Samsung screenshot, it's called Wi-Fi Hotspot

IOS screenshot, it's called 'Personal Hotspot'

I reckon Three's market research (focus groups etc) might have suggested that "tethering" is not a widely understood term, rather it's a kind of techie terminology, open to misinterpretation (specifically, I'd think "tethering" to many would suggest a wired connection).

When tethering was limited by Three, and only available to those on the One Plan or those who'd paid extra for the tethering add-on, then using this techie term was deemed ok.

However, now that all Three plans allow tethering (albeit with limits), it can now be used to promote the Three tariffs - and so Three has decided to use a term that (they think) is more widely understood, i.e. a "personal hotspot".

(Personally, I think putting "personal" in front of something doesn't necessarily add that much in terms of describing it - a 'personal' computer aka PC can be used by many people, likewise a 'personal' video recorder aka PVR, and a 'personal' hotspot can be used by more than one person. Though yes, before someone picks me up on it, a PC is a rather different, more personal beast than a timesharing mainframe!)

Same with PDA (Personal digital assistant)

Every time I read "hotspot" it reminds of Michael Barrymore's Strike it Rich LOL

I think you may have misundstood.

I wasn't referring to what term phone manufacturers use, I was referring Jack Wilson's point that a lot of people use the term hotspot &/or access point instead of router.

I think joe public would use/know router.

hotspot, tethering, wifi is all the same thing, just another name lol

In the US before smartphones had this ability you'd see signs up in places like coffee shops and hotel receptions for "T-Mobile Hotspot" or "AT&T Hotspot". You can even buy a portable hotspot in the stores in the US, what we call a "MiFi" device.

In Europe we've used the term WiFi and it might be because "WiFi" doesn't need translation, but hotspot might.

At the end of the day someone purchased a contract as to not knowing what the 'Personal Hotspot' feature was and didn't know if it meant 'Tethering'

It's down to the user to ask questions before purchasing the contract or even 'Google' the term if you don't understand it. Or even better search on Three website. The terms 'Personal' 'Hotspot' 'WiFi' 'Tethering' are all clear to the average user. (If we are talking about OAP's who still use WAP (Nokia 3330) devices they may not know what tethering is) but the average tom, dick and Harry will

There's also a glossary in the Terms and Conditions of the contract ;-

Page 22 clearly says what a 'Personal Hotspot' is

http://www.three.co.uk/ThreePortal/S...&ssbinary=true

it's down to the user to read the terms and conditions or ask any questions.

This, As far as I am concerned tethering has been the wrong word for the newish hotspot features that phones have nowadays.

I used to tether my phone to my laptop in the old days to use as a modem.

My Hotspot isnt tethered to anything and can provide internet to multiple devices.

What is confusing is there's supposed to a 'Soft cap' although on the Three terms it actually says a 'Usage cap' is set of 1TB although a Three spokesman said on here ;-

http://www.itproportal.com/2014/03/1...new-customers/

"A small percentage of customers were taking advantage of the tethering benefits, using up to 2TB of data a month, making it unfair for the other 99 per cent," said a Three spokesperson'

How can someone use 2TB a month?!