Having the maximum Internet connection speed throughout the house is a more complicated task than it seems at first glance. Long gone are the days of a single router providing service to the whole house. The cover can come, yes, but not the maximum speed typical of 5 GHz networks. Can I use an iPhone as a router?
Well yes, but no. Yes for a very limited time, but not if we consider the solution as something that must be used in a sustained way over time. It is precisely in this situation that a person found himself who had to end up calling me, alarmed by the results. Without getting ahead of the game, let’s discuss the problem and what we can learn from it before we consider using an old iPhone as a router for a while.
It may seem like a good idea, but you have to be very careful.
A few years ago, a single router was enough for the whole house to enjoy an Internet connection. But this is no longer the case. What changed? Many things. Firstly the number of devices we connect to the network. We are no longer talking about connecting a couple of computers. We are talking about a Mac, an iPad, an iPhone and an Apple Watch for each inhabitant of the house. We’re talking about an Apple TV, one or more HomePods, maybe a smart TV, and dozens of light bulbs, HomeKit plugs, and other home automation devices that require a connection.
In addition to the amount, we also have to talk about speed. A few years ago browsing at 20 Mbps was quite the feat, now less than 500 Mbps is considered typical for average speeds. At a time when we see all our content in streaming, when we download more than ever and when our use of the network involves audiovisual content more than ever, good speed is essential.
And that’s where our old iPhone comes in. We see that with the main router, we couldn’t cover that area a bit further from the house. Or, if so, the speed isn’t what we’d like. We have unlimited data rate
On the one hand, we are entering into a matter of speed. We can gain compared to what the router gives us, but a connection of this type it will never reach the speed that we can reach with a Mesh network or simply run a cable to the furthest area of our house and place a repeater.
But what really makes this solution unviable is the power consumption. Leaving the iPhone to share the Internet connection for several hours represents a consumption more than considerable, therefore quickly plug in the phone. If we add to this the heat generated by the continuous use of this function, we end up with a situation that must be looked at very carefully.
Sharing internet with iPhone is one of the most power consuming tasks.
The phone is not intended for this workload on a sustained basis. The Internet Connection Sharing feature works well for a few hours, but don’t leave the iPhone plugged in like it’s a router for weeks or months. This was verified by the person who called me running saying his iPhone had swollen after a few months of use as a router.
All iPhones do not have to meet the same fate, of course, but managing this type of connectivity is a real challenge for a device that is not prepared for it in terms of sustained cooling over time. In this sense, and if we were to find ourselves in this situation, it would surely be a lot wiser to resell the iPhone in question and invest in an access point designed to carry out this task than risk being disappointed.
As we have already said. The internet sharing function of our iPhone It is intended for occasional use. Faced with the need to extend the Internet connection in our home, it is better to resort to devices specially designed for this.
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