On a recent flight home to Cincinnati, I found myself in a Wi-Fi pickle.

Delta was offering free in-flight Wi-Fi for all SkyMiles members, but only after logging in through a web page. That created an obstacle for connecting my recently-acquired retro gaming handhelds, which don’t have web browsers onboard. With no access to Delta’s login site, I couldn’t get them online to track my gaming progress.

Quite the first-world problem, but after a bit of searching, I found a solution: Using my Android phone’s personal hotspot feature, I could relay Delta’s Wi-Fi to any nearby device without having to go through a login page. Even with my phone in airplane mode, I was able to set up the hotspot and get my gaming handhelds online.

It turns out that Windows PCs, MacBooks, and many Android phones can share a local Wi-Fi connection this way. I wish I’d known about this earlier, because it can be useful in all kinds of scenarios:.

In all of these situations, relaying the Wi-Fi connection from a phone or computer provides a workaround. To the network, it just looks like you’re connecting one device, but in reality you’re distributing it to your other devices as well.

This story first appeared in 

© Fast Company