"I like to think of it as magic. And so should you. That's all you need to know. We did it. And it's magic."

LOL Sorry, I love to throw in my favorite FSJ quote whenever someone asks me how something works.

Yes you need a laptop with wifi. Basically in very rough terms it uses your phones data and sends it out through your phones wifi. Someone else could explain it way better than me. To me it is magic.