I recently purchased a Galaxy tab S7+ and am trying to use a tethered ethernet connection. As cringe as it might sound to some, I don't trust WiFi use around my neighborhood. I've seen neighbors walking around with Flippers, pen testing for WiFi credentials/etc. It's not a hard thing to do.
All that aside, I prefer an ethernet connection because it's more reliable. The problem is with the Galaxy devices I own (S7+ tab, and phone is an A53). They both struggle to download critical security updates for the system, apps, and Samsung updates- without a WiFi connection.
This is pointless on my phone because I have an unlimited data plan. I never touch the soft cap where they start to throttle download speed. It is even more pointless on the tablet because there isn't even a GSM card slot for cellular/mobile data.
The only two connections available for my tablet are WiFi (intentionally disabled) and the tethered ethernet dongle I have. If I want to use WiFi, I have to turn it on and latch onto some random AP, or go enable WiFi in my gateway again.
Whoever thought up this implementation really needs to be examined for security leaks.
I'm posting here about it hoping someone in the community knows a fix or some easy workaround to force these updates and somehow tell the devices to stop demanding WiFi connection for updates.
You can use your phone with the unlimited data plan as a mobile hotspot for your tablet if you trust your mobile data connection and are concerned about security. This will provide an internet connection to your tablet via cellular data, which should allow it to download updates without requiring a WiFi connection.
The tablet is plugged into ethernet, I shouldn't have to fuss around with enabling a hotspot on my phone or WiFi on my gateway. I appreciate the suggestion as a potential workaround, and have considered it as well, but again- I don't trust my neighbors after directly observing them using a Flipper via my exterior security cameras.
That is one of the main reasons I'm using ethernet in the first place.
If you have worries about security and you believe your mobile internet connection, you are able to use your phone using an unlimited data bundle as a mobile hotspot on your tablet. Your tablet will receive a cellular data connection to the internet through this, enabling it to obtain updates without a WiFi connection.
For various reasons, no. I'm not toggling a hotpot on my phone, and wifi on and off every time there could be an update. There is something broken with this solution and it's not my use pattern. The tablet won't even let me search for updates unless wifi is enabled and connected somehow.
Truthfully, I've been disappointed in the phone overall. There are a lot of things about it that make it a chore to workaround.
Biggest thing is the touch sensitivity on the screen. It registers accidental presses frequently. It is so overly sensitive that I'm mistyping words constantly and having to fix errors all the time.
It also doesn't seem to understand that the phone is held up against my ear and registers accidental presses from my ear / face during calls sometimes.
This might be a carrier issue, but the way they've setup visual voicemail to only allow 20 voicemails when my phone has at least 50 GB of free storage space- is absurd. I've missed voicemails because of my box filling up. Be careful while checking them too, because if your phone has too many, it will give you the loudest notification you've ever heard, even with your notification volume turned down to a reasonable amount.
Then there is the whole security/software update issue where you must use WiFi for certain downloads or they just won't even start or look for new ones unless you're on WiFi. Many of the apps downloaded from the Galaxy Store won't auto-update unless you're on WiFi either, so you have to manually do all those.
As far as suggestions go for purchasing a Samsung phone or tablet, I'm not sure if I can honestly tell someone to jump into the Galaxy ecosystem after having daily driven two of their devices.
It's broke my intention to try any more Galaxy devices. I can tell it's not just me having this issue. Samsung hasn't done anything to fix this, or make using this "feature" function as it should- and not just fluffware to bring the retail price point higher.
