Windows XP help - What is a USB dongle in re hot spotting?

lonelydad wrote:
I was having some problems with my internet modem/router, so I tried using
my phone as a hot spot. When I selected that option, I was to choose
between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB dongle as the connection medium. How would
a USB dongle work in this environment?

Serial connection running PPP ?

On a Windows machine, you could run USBTreeView.

https://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtreeview_e.html

Start it, then, note when you plug the smartphone
to your Windows machine, what "new" USB device showed
up. In the USBTreeView right pane, you can see the USB
Class field value, and standard "Classes" have drivers
in Windows where they will be automatically recognized.

You would need ninja-like reflexes, to detect "what changed"
by looking at Device Manager alone, when the SmartPhone
is plugged in.

Also, SmartPhones run multiple protocols. They might default
to MTP (MediaTransferProtocol) and "image transfer" as a mode.
The SmartPhone has to be told what you want to do, to select
a protocol for the job. Otherwise, you'll end up accessing some
image folder or the like. I don't think a SmartPhone defaults
to hotspot mode, out of spite. Some phone companies charge
an extra per-month fee, when they detect "tethered usage"
as you propose to do - and that's a reason why the phone should
not switch to hotspot without some effort.

When a serial port opens, nothing has to happen right away.
PPP (just like back in dialup modem days), is an overlay
or protocol on top of a serial (dialup) style connection.
And you have to find RAS or similar, to configure it
and make it work.

At one time, one of the good things about PPP, is it kept a
log file, and up until the networking stack took over, the
logs were in "plaintext" of a sort. And the log was "educational".
Since that time, there have been many cases where I would
have preferred to see a similar log for examination.

Of your stated three options, Wifi stands the best chance of
"going fast". Whereas Bluetooth is generally bandwidth
limited (except when it runs in parallel with Wifi as an
augmentation of Bluetooth). If the phone is emulating a
serial port, then I would not expect that to be running
at an infinitely high rate. It probably would not be
comparable to 802.11N.

While it is possible to support an "Ethernet" or network class
on USB, I don't think smartphones use such a method.

It would be really handy, if these SmartPhone devices had
a "reference architecture" so we could "check the list"
as to what protocols to expect.

I have no plan of buying every phone under the sun, to
figure this out manually (what options are on offer).
Using USBTreeView, you might be able to figure it out
for yourself. Even if your Windows computer makes an
inappropriate or incomplete response, USBTreeView and
Device Manager are your friends, and are there to give
you the breadcrumbs needed to figure it out. Make sure
the phone is in the desired mode, before wasting time
analyzing the results.

Paul