In technology, there are often shortcuts to overcome most obstacles, such as not having Wi-Fi connectivity when setting up a new device that connects to the Internet. Since the smartphone is a Swiss Army knife of versatility, why not use it to share Internet with the Amazon Fire TV? Not only is it simple, it will also fill you with entertainment on many a boring afternoon.
Whether it’s a short trip or a month-long vacation, packing a device like the Amazon Fire TV is a surefire way to fill your spare time with multimedia entertainment. And it’s not always easy to set up, often in a hotel room, rental apartment or vacation home. does not have a WiFi network from which to configure the player. Do you have enough data on your mobile plan? Problem solved.
If you don’t have an Internet connection, your Amazon Fire TV won’t load the home screen: The device is totally useless without connectivity. Which is logical, on the other hand, since its purpose is to play streaming content. And it does this really well.
Sharing the connection from your smartphone to any other device that connects to a WiFi network to access the Internet is not more complicated than setting up a mobile hotspot to connect the other device to. In the case of Android, the process is as follows:
- Access your phone settings.
- Go to “Networks and Internet”. Depending on the brand of your mobile phone, the menus may have different names.
- Tap “Internet Sharing.” You may also find this feature under the name “WiFi Hotspot” or “Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot.”
- We recommend that you fill in the fields with a name and password that be easy to write: you will have to type it with the Fire TV remote.
- Once you have filled in the hotspot name and password fields, activate the WiFi hotspot.
- Connect your Amazon Fire TV to a free HDMI port on your TV and tune that source into your TV.
- You’ll see the Fire TV loading screen prompt you to connect your device. Tap Add New Network.
- Choose your mobile hotspot’s Wi-Fi network and the TV will load the grid and content just as if it were connected to a Wi-Fi router.
You must be careful, the Amazon Fire TV will consume a lot of your data. Only do this process if you have a generous and/or unlimited plan.
Once you have connected the Amazon Fire TV to your Android mobile, you will have access from the TV to all the content of the apps that you have installed on the multimedia player. Without limitations, the resolution and quality that you have set on the Amazon Fire TV. Therefore, our recommendation is that reduce video performance so as not to waste excess data.
How to stop your Amazon Fire TV from using mobile data
Your home WiFi has a free gigabyte limit, but the access point you set up on your smartphone doesn’t; as long as you don’t have an unlimited plan, you don’t have to worry about this. What’s not the case? Our advice is to cut the bandwidth that the Amazon Fire TV reserves for itself.
Amazon hides bandwidth reduction for WiFi connection, which is known as “metered Internet.” Activating this mode your Fire TV will reduce playback performance for spend as little data as possible. It also won’t update while you’re connected to your mobile hotspot.
To reduce playback performance on your Amazon Fire TV, perform the following process:
- Go to your Fire TV options, under the home cog (top right).
- Click on “Network”.
- Get on top of your mobile network and press the play/pause button on the device’s remote control.
- You will see the hidden menu of « appearConnection status». Click on «Advanced», at the bottom.
- Click on “Configure data usage control”.
- Turn on data usage control and go to “Set video quality.”
- Set to “Good”: Your Amazon Fire TV will reduce the video quality during playback to use the least amount of data possible.
Once you have your device connected to an unlimited Wi-Fi network again, simply repeat the process and disable the data usage control. This will return the playback quality to its original state.
Cover image | Ivan Linares