Lumia Phone Internet Sharing with Surface Pro 2

[muneshyne21]

At first I thought it was a glitch but I think its actually well coordinated feature now.

In order to use internet sharing on your Windows phone, you have to toggle the sharing feature on and then use your wifi device to find it and log on. Apparently my Surface Pro 2 (using the same Microsoft account as my phone) doesn't require mr to toggle on the sharing feature from my phone. I noticed that my Lumia shows up on the SP2 wifi list even if the internet sharing is turned off. When I click on it, my phone automatically turns internet sharing on and connects!

Can anyone else verify this? Glitch or Clever? I have WPfD 8.1 Update 1 and Denim.

 

[T Moore]

This came with the black update I think. The WiFi name broadcasting is done with Bluetooth.

 

[onlysublime]

I have Lumia Icon on Verizon with the Black firmware and the 8.1 developer preview.

If Internet Sharing is off/disabled, my phone does not show up on my SP2 (Windows 8.1). It needs to be enabled for my SP2 to see it as a wifi option.

Perhaps of note, Verizon used to charge for hotspot wifi sharing. Now they do not so I'm happily able to now do internet sharing as part of my phone plan.

 

[dKp1977]

Like T Moore said, it's a feature. I can't tell whether or not it had been added via firmware or OS updates, but it's definitely supposed to work without having internet sharing enabled on your device. My Lumia 1520 always shows up on my Surface Pro 3, and my internet sharing is always switched off.

 

[PiggyMiddle]

Buuuzzzzzz: Wrong!

What you are seeing on the SP2 is the former connections. That is a windows thing and has been there for more years than I can remember.

You can clear that from the SP2 display by removing all old connections (SSID). Do some searching online and you will find a myriad of utilities to remove old SSIDs. If you can't find one you like, then let me know where to deposit a file and you can use the one I wrote for my own use to do just that.

 

[hotphil]

Hmmmmm. Not so sure!

​Seems to work as per the OP for me. Obviously, BT needs to be on.

​And if you need a "utility" (that may be loaded with all kinds of other crapware) to select and delete SSIDs from the list, you're doing it wrong.

 

[zei20t]

just connect the two devices via Bluetooth. it will connect then disconnect. you need Bluetooth active on both devices for this to work.

then on your windows 8/8.1 machine, youll see the internetsharing wifi, but its not active until you connect to it.

simples!

 

[dirtyvu]

You don't need Bluetooth for internet sharing. You can share via wifi or Bluetooth

 

[hotphil]

Correct. But if Bluetooth is on you don't need to turn on internet sharing on the phone. That's the feature the op is pointing out.

 

[Harrie-S]

Just tried this with my surface 2. (windows RT)
Without bluetooth i do not "see" my phone on the surface 2 available wifi networks
With bluetooth i see my phone and can connect to it.

 

[Great deal]

The only issue is the wifi and Bluetooth radio use same frequency and interfere with each other, still cant believe they did that. Probably why they discontinued it as there is no software fix.

 

[muneshyne21]

Ahh, that's the key. Bluetooth. Thanks for verifying this guys! Yeah, I always have my Bluetooth on nowadays which is probably how I stumbled upon this cool feature.