JoikuSpot brings hotspots to S60

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 7th February 2008

JoikuSpot allows Symbian S60 phones to act as a WiFi-3G gateway.

If you've been looking with lust at the WMWifiRouter application for Windows Mobile smartphones and cursing your choice of mobile operating system, dry your eyes: there's now a similar app available for Symbian Series 60 phones.

Called JoikuSpot – which I have to admit is a darn sight easier to type than WMWifiRouter – the basic operation is similar to its Windows Mobile predecessor: install the app on your S60 phone with WiFi and it bridges your 3G and WiFi connections, turning your phone into a portable hotspot.

This early release doesn't have support for any encryption, so you'll be running an open hotspot should you opt to install it. Once again, this is an application for those on unlimited data tariffs only – or those with extremely deep pockets.

The current version of JoikuSpot only routes HTTP and HTTPS traffic, so if you need VPN connectivity or POP3/IMAP/SMTP you'll have to look elsewhere. At least this way you can be confident your little corner of the net hasn't become a spam sewer or BitTorrent seed while you were logging into Gmail.

Although the software is free for the moment, the company behind it is describing the currently available version as a 'beta'. By dubbing the current version 'JoikuSpot Light' the company is clearly leaving itself room to introduce a non-free non-Light version that perhaps removes the protocol restrictions and introduces encryption capabilities. Even so, the current version could certainly come in handy in a pinch.

Feeling happier now the mobile hotspot market is a little more platform agnostic, or is it a bad idea even if it runs on Nokias now? Share your thoughts over in the forums.