If the word "tethering" brings to mind images of children batting around a ball attached to a pole by a rope, or of tied up horses munching grass while you work with your metal slitter in the barn, you have some catching up to do before you can fit in with the internet generation. Tethering has a new meaning to do with wireless internet and mobile phones. If this is the first you've ever heard of it, read this article before you embarrass yourself in front of the youngins.

In the internet age context, tethering means using your mobile phone as a router to connect other devices, such as a laptop computer or a tablet, to the internet. The phone, when connected to the internet through the phone carrier's network, transfers information to your device by means of wireless networking, Bluetooth, or an old fashioned USB cable to the device on which you wish to look up information on Check 21 processors. In order for tethering to work, both devices must have matching apps enabling it.

So what is the point of tethering? Wouldn't it be better to use your home internet connection rather than your phone internet so you don't have to pay according to how much data you use? Yes. It's true that connecting to a wireless hot spot like your home internet is better, but the point of tethering is that it allows you to surf the internet on your connected devices even when you're getting dental veneers in Oakville and the dentist's office is not a wireless hot spot.

Tethering is of the most use in remote areas where there are no wireless hot spots or grounded internet connections but there is a signal on your cell phone. Tethering allows you to look up important information (such as how to repel bears), send email, or submit reports to work while you are camping in the wilderness. However, many people also use it frivolously, to look at kitchen cabinets in Oakville while they're on the bus or play games on their computer while they're visiting relatives who don't have the internet.

Because of the rampant use of tethering just so people don't have to be without YouTube while waiting for their cars at a St. Catharines auto body shop, many mobile phone carriers that offer "unlimited" data have imposed stiff fees for enabling or using tethering apps on your phone. For those that pay for their phone data by how much they use, be extremely careful about tethering because it can cost you a bucket of money.