Need to cut but Internet is down

Community Support
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My Internet is down for the next few days at least (landscapers damaged fiber line) and I need to use my Glowforge tomorrow for an upcoming deadline. Is there any workaround that will allow me to use my Glowforge without Internet?

I always thought Glowforge’s Internet-limited functionality would never hinder me, but here I am.

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Can you use your phone as a wi-fi hotspot? If so, connect through that.

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Unfortunately not. I have the Google Fi Simply Unlimited plan, which does not allow tethering or hotspot.

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What about a friend’s or neighbor’s phone?

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Google Fi is pretty easy to switch plans temporarily.
I often switch between “flexible” and “unlimited plus” depending on my expected usage.
i.e., when I’m traveling I need unlimited plus, but when I’m sitting around my house all the time, flexible works out cheaper.

You might bump up to unlimited plus for a cycle. It’s $10 more for the month, and they maybe even pro-rate things if you just bump it up for a shorter period of time.

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as an addon to this. what about a “burner” phone. perhaps a prepay?

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Hi @erclin . I’m sorry to hear that your Internet connection is down due to some damage to the fiber line, and understand you need to get an important print completed. The best workaround is trying a hotspot connection, which I see other users have suggested in this thread already.

If you’re able to access any smart device to create a temporary hotspot network, or access another Wi-Fi network you can keep the following in mind:

Make sure that you set it up to be a 2.4 GHz hotspot, since that is the frequency your Glowforge uses.

Once the Wi-Fi hotspot is broadcasting, follow these steps to connect to it:

  1. Turn on your Glowforge.
  2. Wait 30 seconds, and then hold down the button for ten seconds until it glows teal.
  3. Go to to setup.glowforge.com and then follow the steps to connect your Glowforge to Wi-Fi. When prompted to connect, , select the hotspot you created.
  4. Once Wi-Fi setup is complete, go to app.glowforge.com and try a few prints.

Hopefully the other user suggestions and the steps above can help you get this temporary workaround started for the print and let me know if you run into any trouble with the steps above. I’ll look forward to hearing any updates. Thank you.

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Hi @erclin - it’s been a few days since we’ve heard from you, and I wanted to check in and see if you’d had a chance to try the steps my colleague Brandon had mentioned?

Please let me know, and if you need further assistance I’m here for that as well!

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Yes, I was able to use someone else’s mobile hotspot to get my Glowforge online. Thank you, @Brandon.B .

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@erclin We’re glad to hear that helped! I’ll go ahead and close this topic since you’re all set, but feel free to reach back out if you need anything else.