One of the nice things that comes built in with Android 2.2, codenamed Froyo, is that of Wireless Tethering. It delivers a WiFi access point that shares your 3G/HSPA connection to the outside world. So the first piece of advice to anyone reading this is "Be careful of your usage", as it will be very much more using a tethered laptop/iPad than it will via the handset's own Internet applications (browser, email etc...).

I am using the generic Google Nexus One, bought SIM-free direct from Google when it came out. The software is completely unbranded. Whether the UK mobile networks own versions of the Nexus One will have the built-in Tether software or not remains to be seen. I do suspect that they'll cripple it, however.

I can recommend tethering as an alternative means of connecting [a laptop] to the Internet while on the move. In days gone by I have used USB tethering on the likes of the Nokia N95, so this is nothing new. WiFi tethering takes things to a new level, however.

In use
The first thing anyone does when checking out tethering is a speedtest - and for this I used speedtest.net, a trusted favourite. I was using my Macbook Pro to attach to the Nexus One and a single-shot speedtest gave a typical result for my present location
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In use the tethered laptop feel no different to when used via any other 3G/HSPA means. The WiFi and the Android OS impose no penalties. This feels as it would had I used a 3G/HSPA USB stick or the Three MiFi device that I recently acquired.

Reasons to use Tethering
This built-in wireless AP is very useful if you find yourself stuck away from your usual means of Internet connectivity. As an emergency device it is a godsend. There are plenty of times that I am nowhere near my USB stick or MiFi as now is. Occasionally I've had that "I wish I had my 3G facility", not often mind you, but it would have been much easier to use the laptop than the handset's own screen. And believe me, Flash on the smaller device's screen is no match for the real thing on a full-sized laptop screen.

Reasons not to use Tethering
In a word ... cost. It can be horrendously expensive to use your handset's own 3G data allowance, particularly if you go out of your data plan's limits. And these have got a lot lower of late - at the time of writing we are witnessing O2, Vodafone, Three and Orange imposing swingeing cuts to the mobile data allowance from "Unlimited" to 500MB per month. Right now only T-Mobile has Gibabyte mobile data caps.

If you are going to use such tethering I strongly suggest the use of a usage monitoring tool on your Android handset. One that I swear by is NetCounter, a nice, simple and free app that tracks usage of WiFi and Cell (3G) usage by Day, Week and Month. It is a very handy tool to help keep yourself within your data cap.