Google had rolled out the Instant Tethering feature earlier this year. The feature eases the process of switching on and connecting to a tethered connection. It had been available for selected devices including the Pixel lineup and Nexus phones or tablets.
Now, the instant connection technology seems to be available in the Canary version of Chrome OS. Even though there is no official announcement from Google, the Chromebook has a flag which lets you switch on the feature. This was first discovered by ChromeStory and is rather easy to toggle.
If you are running on an adopter build, the feature can be enabled by typing chrome://flags in the URL bar. You can then locate the enable-tether option and toggle it to enabled. Once you enable the Instant Tethering flag on the Canary Channel, restart the Chromebook, and the feature is then visible on the network settings, which can be toggled on or off as per your need. Chromestory wrote,
Instant Tethering Chrome OS
Enables Instant Tethering. Instant Tethering allows your nearby Google phone to share its Internet connection with this device. #enable-tether.
However, Chrome Story noted that Instant Tethering does not seem to work and that it may need further testing before it rolls out officially.
For the phones, you should have an active data connection in your phone. You need to go to Google Tab in the settings menu of your device. There, select the “Instant Tethering” option. Once you agree to switch on the data connection, it will gear up the host. Also, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection must be turned on to receive the data. Chromebook owners should have the Nexus/Pixel phones to make use of the feature.
In this data-intensive world, we feel alienated when the wireless connetion disappears out of the blue. Google is planning to keep you always connected to the web — but when you adopt their hardware ecosystem — so there are no disruption in your connected life. Instant Tethering is Google’s play to push this ideology to the forefront.
