iOS Hotspot - how do connected devices treat it?

[koerk]

Good morning,

We are planning a three week trip to the US this summer and I already looked for a data plan I can use with my iPhone and share via its hotspot functionality - so far so good.

But a question crossed my mind:
How do the connected devices "see" the hotspot? Is it a cellular or a wifi connection for them? It would not be good if our iPad and my girlfriend's iPhone would upload iCloud backups and photo stream photos of the tremendous amount of pictures we will be taken. The 2GB of data will be gone in a few days.

Thanks!

 

[taz323]

I hope you enjoy your trip, here's a link that might be able to help you with connecting to a hotspot.
iOS: Understanding Personal Hotspot

 

[koerk]

Thanks for your response but I don't see how it contributes to my question how the hotspot connection is treated.
Do the connected devices act like they are on cellular or on wifi??

 

[taz323]

Sharing cellular data

 

[koerk]

Sharing cellular data

What do you mean by that?

 

[Just_Me_D]

What do you mean by that?

You already stated that you will have a data plan during the three weeks you will be in the U.S., right? That means you will have access to the internet even when you are not connected to it via Wi-Fi. Having said that, when you enable the hotspot feature on your iPhone, it will basically become a wireless router. Your iPad will connect to it and have access to the internet. Both devices will share your cellular data.

 

[koerk]

Yeah, I'm aware of that

My question is if the devices that connect to my iPhone with US data plan will behave like they are on cellular or like they are connected to wifi??? Will they know that this is a cellular connection and stop doing backups and uploads etc like they would be doing on a stationary wifi connection?

 

[Just_Me_D]

Yeah, I'm aware of that

My question is if the devices that connect to my iPhone with US data plan will behave like they are on cellular or like they are connected to wifi??? Will they know that this is a cellular connection and stop doing backups and uploads etc like they would be doing on a stationary wifi connection?

I'm sorry. I assumed that when I stated that the iPhone would become a wireless router that you would make the association to Wi-Fi. Anyway, the connection would behave like Wi-Fi. The iPad should continue to backup as it normally would because its connection is to the iPhone and not directly to the cellular network the iPhone is connected to.

 

[koerk]

Okay, I apologize as well if I didn't make it clear enough

That's a little disappointing, who would want that? Nearly every data plan is limited and this eats it up in no time.
Never mind, I guess you can still disable all backups and uploads for that time period.

Thank you

 

[dashauns]

Okay, I apologize as well if I didn't make it clear enough

That's a little disappointing, who would want that? Nearly every data plan is limited and this eats it up in no time.
Never mind, I guess you can still disable all backups and uploads for that time period.

Thank you

It is also dependant on the carrier, if you are on verizon or att it comes out of your data allotment. If using tmobiles $70 plan you are alloted 2.5 gbs of data specifically for tethering.