The short answer is no. But let’s still go over what a personal Wi-Fi hotspot is.

Many smartphones today have the ability to create a local wireless connection for nearby Wi-Fi devices, such as your laptop, tablet, iPod touch, Nintendo DS and so forth.

In other words, your smartphone is now a wireless router. Rather than plugging your smartphone in to a laptop with a USB cable, you can have a few local Wi-Fi devices (usually up to five) go online, wirelessly, via the smartphone’s 3G or 4G data connection.

So is it safe? Yes -- if, when you set up your Wi-Fi hotspot, you enter a unique password on your smartphone (under “Network Settings”). This password will be used when you want to access the Wi-Fi through the other devices, just like when you log in to your wireless home network via your laptop.

And just like your home Wi-Fi network, if you don’t set up a password, people around you can log on to your personal hotspot and possibly rack up your data bill. Be sure to pick a password that’s hard to guess. Refrain from passwords like “password,” “12345” and “letmein” -- three of the most common passwords.