A mobile hotspot lets you share your phone’s cellular connection with other devices, effectively turning your smartphone into a portable Wi-Fi router. In Canada, nearly every carrier, including Rogers, Bell, Telus, Freedom Mobile, and Public Mobile, offers hotspot access with modern phone plans at no extra cost.
Whether you’re working remotely in Toronto or Vancouver, streaming at a cottage in Muskoka, or connecting to a laptop at an airport, hotspots are one of the easiest ways to stay online while away from traditional Wi-Fi.
In this guide, we’ll break down what hotspotting is, how much data a hotspot uses, and how to choose the best plans for your hotspot needs.
What is mobile hotspotting?
Mobile hotspotting lets your smartphone share its cellular data connection with other devices, such as a laptop, tablet, or even another phone, over Wi-Fi. Think of it as turning your phone into a mini router. The connected devices can then use the data pool of your wireless plan with similar data speeds.
It’s especially useful when:
- Public Wi-Fi is slow or unsecured.
- You’re travelling and need reliable internet.
- You want to avoid paying for separate data plans on multiple devices.
A personal hotspot acts similarly to a Wi-Fi connection. On your smartphone, you set the “Wi-Fi password” to maintain security and limit access for unwanted users. On the desired device, you can find your hotspot connection, searching for the network name associated with your phone. For instance, mine is “Steve iPhone 17 Pro” when using my daily driver.
As of 2026, most Canadian carriers have moved away from heavily promoting standalone mobile hotspot devices. Instead, carriers now encourage customers to use their phone’s built-in hotspot feature, pulling directly from their existing data plan rather than paying for a separate hotspot-only data bucket. That said, dedicated hotspot hardware hasn’t disappeared entirely. Carriers like Bell still offer portable 5G hotspot devices, including the Sonim H500 5G.
In many cases, hotspotting is an included feature that is baked into your wireless plan. Usage is as easy as toggling on the personal hotspot and enabling the connection on your other device, similar to logging in to a Wi-Fi network.
How fast is a mobile hotspot?
Your hotspot is generally only as fast as your phone’s cellular connection. If you're hotspotting to a device on a 5G or 5G+ network, you'll have fast data speeds on your connected device. Likewise, if you're on 4G LTE, the connected device will have typical LTE speeds.
In Canada, hotspot performance has improved significantly thanks to expanding 5G+ coverage from the Big Three. On Rogers and Bell’s 5G+ networks, hotspot speeds can realistically replace public Wi-Fi for many users. Within major metro cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, you can expect to see speeds from 200–300Mbps on a 5G network.
However, speeds can still vary depending on the network congestion in the area, signal strength, your plan's speed cap, and how many devices you connect. Most smartphones can connect to between 5 and 10 devices simultaneously. However, for the best performance, I recommend you only connect 2 or 3 devices at a time.
How to use your phone as a hotspot
It's incredibly easy to set up your smartphone to be a hotspot for a connected device. Typically, it's as easy as turning on hotspot access on your smartphone and then connecting your device to it, similar to a Wi-Fi network.
Depending on your phone, whether it's an iPhone, Galaxy device, or Pixel, you may go through a slightly different workflow. Here's how to use hotspot access on various smartphones.
How to turn on an iPhone hotspot
- Open Settings.
- Tap Personal Hotspot.
- Toggle Allow Others to Join.
- Set or confirm your Wi-Fi password.
Alternatively, you can use your iPhone's Control Center to toggle hotspot access on/off quickly.
- Swipe down from the top-right corner to access the Control Center
- Press and hold the connectivity panel for the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth section
- Tap Personal Hotspot
How to turn on a Samsung Galaxy hotspot
- Open Settings.
- Tap Connections.
- Select Mobile Hotspot and Tethering.
- Tap Mobile Hotspot.
- Toggle it On/Off.
- Review your network name and password.
How to turn on a Google Pixel hotspot
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Network & internet.
- Select Hotspot & tethering and then Wi-Fi hotspot.
- Turn on Wi-Fi hotspot.
- To find or change a hotspot setting, like the name or password, tap it.
Portable hotspot devices
Rogers, Bell, Telus, and many of the flanker brands have largely moved away from offering personal hotspot devices. Now, the majority of Canadian post-paid plans include hotspot access, as most devices support it out of the box.
How much data does a hotspot use?
Hotspots can use data surprisingly quickly, especially on laptops and streaming devices. Ultimately, it'll depend on what sort of activities you're conducting on your devices.
For instance, simply browsing the web can use around 60MB/hour. Most contemporary carrier plans will support this, with no problem, if you have a week-long getaway planned at a cottage. Zoom, Teams, or Discord calls can use around 1GB/hour. With all this in mind, many Canadians can rely on hotspotting to get through lighter workflows while off of Wi-Fi (a major win for cottage-goers this season).
Once we start looking at video and game streaming, we're then shown a much different picture. Standard HD streaming across Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, etc. can use around 3GB of data per hour. Thinking of streaming 4K content? You're looking at upwards of 7GB each hour. The same goes for streaming a game from the cloud, as Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA GeForce Now, and other platforms will use tens of GBs per hour.
If you're looking at tethering a laptop or gaming device for more data-heavy tasks, you'll certainly want to ensure your monthly plan can support your habits. A 100GB data plan is a recommended place to start if you frequently hotspot and stream content.
Best data plans for mobile hotspot
Most mobile plans available in Canada provide a generous allowance of 5G and 4G LTE data for hotspotting to power your device when off a Wi-Fi connection.
One of our favourite unlimited mobile plans includes Rogers' 5G+ Essential plan, which offers 100GB of full-speed 5G+ data, enough to work remotely, upload files to the cloud, and stream the occassional video on Netflix.
View DetailsOn top of that, Freedom Mobile's 5G+ 60GB Total Freedom plan has a stable allotment of 5G+ data to use each month.
Check out our top picks for the best unlimited hotspot plans and the best general hotspot plans, and browse some of the most popular plans that include unlimited data below.
|
#1
|
Bell
Select 100GB CA-US
$55.00/mth
(includes Autopay and promotional discount)
+ $40 Upfront
|
|
#2
|
Bell
Select 100GB CA-US
$55.00/mth
(includes Autopay and promotional discount)
+ $40 Upfront
|
|
#3
|
Freedom Mobile
$50 5G+ Unlimited 175GB CA-US plan
$50.00/mth
(after Digital Discount)
+ $45 Upfront
|
|
#4
|
Telus
Complete - Unlimited 5G+ Explore
$105.00/mth
(after $10/mo. credit)
|
|
#5
|
Telus
Complete - Unlimited 5G+ Explore
$105.00/mth
(after $10/mo. credit)
|
How to check your hotspot data usage
Most Canadian carriers don’t separate hotspot usage from your regular mobile data. Instead, hotspot data typically pulls directly from your monthly plan allotment. So, the best course of action is to monitor your core data pool from your plan.
To monitor your data usage, you can use the dedicated app provided by your carrier, e.g., MyRogers, MyBell, My Telus, etc. Alternatively, you can use your phone's built-in tracker.
On iPhone, you'll want to go Settings > Cellular. On Android, you'll have to navigate through Settings > Network & Internet > Data Usage. If you hotspot frequently, it’s smart to reset your tracking stats monthly so you know how much data you have left for your billing cycle.
Mobile hotspot: FAQ
Will turning on my mobile hotspot use a lot of data?
Potentially, yes. Hotspot usage often consumes more data than using apps directly on your phone because anything from browsing the internet to streaming content will use data. A single afternoon of laptop use can easily consume several gigabytes.
Is hotspot data included in my plan?
Usually, yes. Most Canadian carriers now allow hotspot usage using your existing monthly data allotment at no extra charge. However, you should check your plan and confirm it includes hotspotting.Does an unlimited data plan give me unlimited hotspot use?
Technically, yes, but with limitations. Unlimited plans in Canada provide a fixed amount of high-speed data with unlimited data at slower speeds afterward. For hotspot users, those reduced speeds can feel restrictive once throttling kicks in.
How secure is a hotspot connection?
A personal hotspot is usually much safer than public Wi-Fi. Your hotspot uses a password you create, encrypts traffic, and avoids public networks. For sensitive work, pairing your hotspot with a VPN is still a smart move.
Steve Vegvari
Staff Writer
Find a better internet plan
Enter your address to find a match from internet providers.
Related Articles
Find Better Internet and Phone Plans
Hundreds of internet plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
Internet Providers by Provinces and Territories
- Internet in Alberta
- Internet in British Columbia
- Internet in Manitoba
- Internet in New Brunswick
- Internet in Newfoundland and Labrador
- Internet in Northwest Territories
- Internet in Nova Scotia
- Internet in Nunavut
- Internet in Ontario
- Internet in Prince Edward Island
- Internet in Quebec
- Internet in Saskatchewan
- Internet in Yukon Territory
.jpg?w=280&h=280&usm=20&usmrad=0.8&fit=crop "What Is a Mobile Hotspot?")
