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Tethering Is Exhilarating (With the Nexus One)
timothy found this link (hat-tip to Tim O'Reilly) to a paean to the joys of tethering. "In a short post, Steve Souders explores the current state of tethering 3G connections via iPhone (on which he basically gives up, for the perfectly decent reason of not wanting to jailbreak his iPhone) and the Nexus One, with which he has great success. His writeup serves as a micro-tutorial ('use PdaNet's Android app') as well as an endorsement."
I'm not sure which is more boring - the article or the website its on. Seriously, how is this interesting enough to make it here?
Android is a vastly more open platform. Tethering on WinMo is also effortless, over both bluetooth and USB. I was under the impression that some iPhone carriers allowed tethering ... do they make it difficult to use?
Well, it's true that there are only about 1500 fart apps for android as opposed to the iPhones 7000, but many people are willing to make that sacrifice. I noticed the misleading article on the screen was posted today on Wired ... but it's still misleading.
His writeup serves as a micro-tutorial ("use PdaNet's Android app") as well as an endorsement.
I don't think I have every seen a summary admit it is an endorsement before. It even has timothy and kdawson's names on it. Is this some sort of alternate reality?
Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
Tethering on webOS is also very simple. In Europe, it's enabled by default and on Verizon you have the built-in hotspot app. On Sprint, though, you'll need one of the homebrew solutions.
Author of Enyo: Up and Running from O'Reilly Media
Not in the US. AT&T's network can barely handle the iphone data, let alone a laptop which can download multiple pages at the same time.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I'm with Fido in Canada. I have the 6GB/mo plan for $30, and no problems tethering whatsoever.
blah, blah, blah...
Tethering is awesome, as many non-iPhone smartphone users have known for years.
I used to tether my Sprint Treo with PDANet, when I swore I'd never pay Comcast another red cent. My sister uses PDANet on her G1 to avoid signing up for an internet connection she doesn't use much, and I used my rooted G1 to look up geocaches on the road from my g/f's laptop. The rooting process is pretty painless now, so I'd imagine that it's just a matter of time before the telcos start clamping down with usage caps.
"In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
iProxy works pretty well on an iPhone :
http://wiki.github.com/tcurdt/iProxy/
You have to be a developer to compile and run it on your phone. He has a helpful setup guide for phone and laptop.
I don't see why people dismiss jailbreaking so readily. There are basically no downsides to it, other than sometimes if you want the latest update you have to wait some time.
Not a particularly interesting article, but I'm eating dinner and my brain is sizzled, so why not?
Then it all came crashing down. iPhone 3.1 came out. I had to choose between visual voicemail and tethering or consider jailbreaking my iPhone.
A search on Google points one to the website which holds mobileconfigs for most global cellular providers. Downloading and installing the appropriate profile enables whatever support is needed. (It's also how one enables T-Mobile's MMS and Internet support rapidly.)
I’m gearing up for some travel so revisited the topic of tethering. I was stunned when I spoke to AT&T tech support two days ago and they told me they support tethering. How did I miss this?! Then the guy said I had to jailbreak my iPhone. It seems weird to have tech support recommend jailbreaking. I guess that’s a result of the AT&T/Apple love/hate relationship.
They shouldn't be telling people that because (a) that doesn't require a jailbreak and (b) jailbreaking is technically a contractual violation. That could get that CSR in trouble. NOTE: I'm all for jailbreaking; my iPhone certainly is. I'm just being pedantic.
I tested it last night at home, but the real test was this morning. I stopped for coffee at Peets, booted up Windows, tethered my Nexus One, opened a ssh session, and drove to work. At every stoplight I verified my ssh session session was still active. I was reading email, surfing the Web.
Reading mail and surfing the web WHILE DRIVING? That almost sounds responsible. ALMOST.
I really don't see what all the fuzz is about in regards to jailbreaking iPhones. Doing so doesn't seem to cause substantial harm to daily operation. In fact, it enhances usability even more since it allows applications that would never make the App Store, but are incredibly useful, to get installed (ex. SBSettings, which makes toggling all sorts of stuff dummy-proof and FAST, MobileTerminal, Veency for remote control, OpenSSH for obvious reasons, etc. et al). It's not hard at all to do (though it does make upgrading more cumbersome; hardly a disadvantage, though --- wait, isn't jailbreaking an iPhone easier than rooting Android?).
I'm in Canada where tethering is possible but I thought AT&T began offering tethering last ... June? July? I could well be wrong... Actually, checking the Apple website, I see that I am wrong - it is not currently available in the US. Ah well, yet another example of AT&T sucking it up...
Anyhow, the point remains - tethering on the iPhone is effortless and easy. Apparently outside the US...
I've been using it since I got my Droid last year. It works great, it is frequently updated, and allows me to surf the web on an actual laptop while (riding) in a car on the freeway. I use it for everything short of gaming, and who knows, maybe it would even work for that! Best of all, Verizon still hasn't freaked out about data usage, and I go through a LOT in a month.
Bluetooth File Sharing Induces Orgasm (With the Nexus One)
At one point AT&T said they planned to support tethering. But like you said, I think they are afraid of the data load.
What I am afraid of, is how much it will cost...
It is great other countries get this enabled though, it was really effortless to use when I used the 3.0 profile trick before...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No apps. Crappy screen. Violates dozens of Apple patents. OS based on Lin-sux. Why bother?
I always knew that my general distaste for Apple Computer and its afficionados was based in fact. Thank you for the confirmation.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Semantics. I can't do what I want with the iPhone. I don't give a shit about which part of the system is broken.
Droid tethering with PDAnet and MacBook Pro on Verizon network works great. Speed is actually better than my work DSL!
Are you sure about this? I believe that to enable tethering on an AT&T iPhone, you either had to: .mobileconfig file to change your settings, which would only work on OS3.0. Since Apple stopped signing OS3.0, you can no longer downgrade your OS to 3.0 if you have a 3GS iPhone. The only way to downgrade to 3.0 is if you had SHSH on file somewhere, which you had to do before Apple stopped signing OS3.0.
1) Jailbreak and install some stuff
-or-
2) Use a
If you know how to "easy tether" your iPhone without jailbreaking, please post instructions, I'm curious.
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
Justify it any way you want, fanbois, but Apple is the kings of lock in.
They used to say that about IBM ... but Apple seems to have taken over that spot in the public's eye. Certainly Apple won't get any of my money, not with their attitude.
... watching the Nazgul slowly disassemble SCO was highly entertaining, and I wouldn't mind seeing IBM take some of the shiny off this particular fruit. But nobody with a functioning business model and something to lose would make that mistake. Still, one can always hope.
I started out on an Apple ][ Standard (Integer ROM, no less), hell, made a living at it doing custom programming. Back then openness was the name of the game, and Apple Computer was the king of cool (or should I say, "insanely great") to people like me. Sadly, Apple stopped being something special a long time ago. Now they're nothing but JABOS (Just Another Bunch Of Suits) protecting their oh-so-valuable "intellectual property." Gagh. Yeah, they've come up with some nifty tech, but other than that I think they're litigious pricks who need to be taken down a notch. I hope they decide to go after IBM on patent infringement
I really don't like that company, and if you Mac people expect me to apologize for any of this, you little know your man.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
1. Move to Canada.
2. Sign a contract with Rogers.
3. There is no step 3!
and it's virtually impossible to break/brick your iPhone in a way that it won't be restorable. In the rare event you manage to brick it, the only danger is losing the (in most cases useless) warranty. But that doesn't really matter because Apple support will check the humidity sensors and if they are not triggered, Apple will give you a replacement. They will not bother discovering whether the device was jailbroken or not. It costs Apple more to determine an unknown problem than to give you a refurbished or even new iPhone.
"(on which he basically gives up, for the perfectly decent reason of not wanting to jailbreak his iPhone)"
You know how a non-jailbroken iPhone works and looks like after being jailbroken? Exactly the same. So instead of this app store you go to this other app store. Only difference. I really wonder why some are so afraid of doing something so simple.
Yes it does, but that's it.
It amounts to half a page of an anecdote about the guy having a hard time getting it working on his iPhone, but downloading an app and it working fine on his N1...
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
I like this "move to Canada" idea of yours, but I'm not a big fan of "Sign a contract with Rogers". 3 year contract AND no free nationwide long distance calling AND relatively small data AND not as many minutes AND no rollover.
Canadians really get screwed on their wireless bills :(
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
Tethering is built into the n900. I had no trouble providing internet for my home network via 3G during snowmaggedon last month, when my internet went down. I use Ubuntu, but I'm sure it would have been about as easy with Windows or Mac.
Property law should use #'EQ, not #'EQUAL.
I really like being able to set-up a hotspot in a conference room where IT are a bunch of pricks (ok overworked, and dealing with crazy mandates).
over the last year i've definitely made some people happy at multi-company meetings with the ability to get them all access to e-mail with no fuss. This is on a G1 (that I did root).
Don't know what the article is about, but I really like that I can just set-up a wifi network in 3 seconds, not sure if the iPhone does that either.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
AT&T can barely supply data to the iPhone without tethering... can you imagine how pissed off everyone would be if they could tether? I mean, they might even have to improve their network or buy more spectrum to serve their customers, those jerks who expect a service when they pay for it.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
I guess I don't keep up with iPhone news outside the US...but is this really something that is done outside the US. If that's the case I now think even less of Att, didn't know that was possible!!!
Those who can, do.
Well, it's true that there are only about 1500 fart apps for android as opposed to the iPhones 7000, but many people are willing to make that sacrifice. I noticed the misleading article on the screen was posted today on Wired ... but it's still misleading.
Games, games games. A lot of high profile game development companies are either not bothering with Android or have scaled back their release schedule for Android due to low sales compared with the iPhone app store even relative to the install base on each platform.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
I always knew that my general distaste for Apple Computer and its afficionados was based in fact. Thank you for the confirmation.
So you admit prejudice then? Why do you care so much?
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
That doesn't really sound like an appropriate descriptor - unless you happen to get giddy with excitement whenever you get a low-speed internet connection.
... and then they built the supercollider.
But not too much since you have the 6GB data plan? Are you saying you actually get anywhere near 6GB in a month? I've had my 3GS for almost a year now and I'm only now coming up on 1GB (for the whole year).
You can still use .mobileconfig files on the latest 3.1.3. Just use the iPhone Enterprise Configuration Utility (official download from Apple site). I used it to change APNs in order to get PPTP VPN working.
I like this "move to Canada" idea of yours, but I'm not a big fan of "Sign a contract with Rogers". 3 year contract AND no free nationwide long distance calling AND relatively small data AND not as many minutes AND no rollover.
Canadians really get screwed on their wireless bills :(
Really? I'm paying around 89 CAD per month for 6GB of data, 250 week daytime minutes, unlimited 5pm-7am local calling+weekends, some texts, free tethering, visual voice mail, call display, who called. Most of the time Americans talk about paying 100+ dollars per month. Long distance? What if you don't have anyone you want to call outside of your local area on your cellphone? What if you have VOIP will unlimited long distance at home through cable your cable company? Since I work until 5pm, I effectively have unlimited local calling.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Tethering in Palm Linux WebOS on Sprint is easy as pie. Just load MyTether and off you go- no "jailbreaking" (there is no such thing on WebOS, since there is no need) and in minutes you are able to tether with USB, Bluetooth, and multi-client WiFi as a real access point with optional WPA. 3G goodness @ 2Mb/s+ :) Of course, it is under the table and should be used responsibly (especially since if you go over your 5GB "unlimited" data plan, Sprint may come a knocking on your door).
I think that's a bit of a stretch, It's down to the average stupid consumer buying devices they want and cant really afford on contract to a telco and then complaining when they dont get everything they want. I haven't bought a phone on contract since the 90's and I never ever would. Maybe there's less choice in American but that's another problem not so much Apples. Here in Australia i bought a 3GS, unlocked from an apple store, stuck in my Vodafone 3g data sim, and it tethers fine, no jailbreaking, no client login program like the vodafone USB dongle and better reception at/around work where i use it, I dont need to find or download the vodafone install disk/files if i format/change computer.. so if anything it's better than the modem vodafone sold me, its faster and just works better. Anyone getting excited about phone tethering now is so behind the times it isn't funny.
89 CAD is ~86 USD. I pay 140 USD per month for two lines with: Unlimited voice, data, SMS. (Real unlimited data, not "unlimited till you use 5GB") If I was the only one on my line I could get the same thing for 59$. There are companies in the US that do unlimited everything for less. The US government may be fucked up, but I am glad I don't pay what I'd pay in europe or canada for mobile service or home internet.
You can still use .mobileconfig files on the latest 3.1.3. Just use the iPhone Enterprise Configuration Utility (official download from Apple site). I used it to change APNs in order to get PPTP VPN working.
Is there a tutorial or something available for how to use this?
The ones I've read are very long and involved, and involve jailbreaking:
http://www.redmondpie.com/fix-iphone-3.1.2-tethering-and-visual-voicemail-vvm-ows754/
http://www.redmondpie.com/enable-tethering-on-iphone-3g-3gs-3.1.2-firmware-eqw846/
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
That's odd since they sell "laptop connect" bundles and pretty much every other phone they sell (or have sold for many years) can be tethered to a computer and work just fine. Yes, their 3G network is way overloaded and coverage is shit. But allowing or disallowing tethering on the iPhone won't make much of a difference. This comes down to pure greed. They've sold millions of these things and want a way to extract even MORE of everyone's cash. They are mistaken if they think all of those phones are going to be tethered to people's computers the instant it's officially available. I know a lot of iPhone users; many of them enabled tethering long ago (and it's still functioning in 3.1.3 without screwing anything else up.) And yet, they rarely use it... because when they're in places without "traditional" access, surprise surprise, they have no 3G coverage. (personally, where I'd tether, there's no AT&T signal at all.)
(Note: you don't have to have a "tethering" plan to use tethering. I've tethered to phones that don't even have a data plan :-) [not recommended if you're the one paying the bill.])
Did he buy the special-ed version of the iPhone? The iPhone offers tethering. Easy and effortless. Without jailbreaking.
Apparently, he upgraded to 3.1.
Is 'special-ed' the new code name for version 3.1 of the iPhone? What happened to calling the iPhone a girl's name ending with the letter "a"? I've got to say I'm not too hot about that new name.
Not to mention that article was one of the biggest wastes of my time and I'm sitting in Iron Forge waiting for my dungeon queue to pop...
Do not even pretend to have read the article.
The article being a waste of time was just a lucky guess on your part.
I have a 2 year contract, I pay $64 for 450 anytime with rollover, 5000 minutes (3.5 days!) nights and weekends, 200 text, unlimited data, free nationwide long distance.
I don't know about you, but the biggest thing for me is the no long distance charges. I move around a lot, and it's hugely liberating to not have to wonder if you're in your calling area before you pick up the phone, or where your contacts are.
In the US, most people don't even bother to change their cell numbers when they move because everyone's got free long distance anyways.
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
Don't know what the article is about, but I really like that I can just set-up a wifi network in 3 seconds, not sure if the iPhone does that either.
There's an app for that.
(but only for jailbroken iPhones)
Trolling is a art,
This is not a flamebait, but a serious question.
I have a Xperia and I can connect my desktop/laptop without any additional application straight to my mobile (linux or windows) using bluetooth/wifi/usb. Why would I write a story "oh I can connect my laptop to my phone"???
I have been able to do this for a while using Fedora/Centos/ubuntu/xp/2000 with my current and previous phone.
to code or not to code, that is the question.
Not to mention the 10,000 that turn your iPhone into a flashlight. ... aww shucks... I am really missing out on the other 9,000 flashlight apps.
We only have 84 (as of this writing) on Android market
No, that he'd draw attention to the obvious fanboy (biased) mod and someone would fix it (and that happened). He has a point because you can't equate "general distaste" to "hate" without seriously embellishing on what the GP wrote.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I am using the free alternative way on my locked/unrooted N1, :)
http://code.google.com/p/azilink/
No, that he'd draw attention to the obvious fanboy (biased) mod and someone would fix it (and that happened).
It was a taunt.
He has a point because you can't equate "general distaste" to "hate" without seriously embellishing on what the GP wrote.
That is a fine rebuttal to something I never said that curiously omits what I did say.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
AT&T's service is just fine if you don't like in one of the handful of super-cities in the US (NYC, LA, DC, and a few others). Hell, I tethered the other night to download some stuff and was getting over 300KB/sec download speeds (and these were big downloads). Just because a few cities have crap service due to overpopulation doesn't mean that the majority of the country has any problem with the service - it's a very vocal minority bitching about poor service.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
I remember doing this like ten years ago.
I don't see why people dismiss jailbreaking so readily. There are basically no downsides to it, other than sometimes if you want the latest update you have to wait some time.
I know - I just jailbroke my 3GS a few weeks ago using Blackra1n and it couldn't have been easier. You download a 512 KB .exe, run that, then you're jailbroken. No hassle at all and you can always reinstall the firmware / OS if anything goes wrong (you can download older firmware / OS versions easily online). So it's not the default from the factory setting - big deal, it's no more of a hassle than going to the App Store to download an app.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
+1 Wow, tethering. Been doing that with my Windows Mobile 6 phone for two years now. That may be considered dancing with the devil but actually it is one of the things that on WM6 actually works, works very well and right out of the box. Speeds on Vodafone have been great too.
http://virtualize.wordpress.com/
This will get you up and running with USB tethering - the only downside is that I don't see Cyanogenmod supporting multi-touch: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Full_Update_Guide_-_Nexus_One_Firmware_to_CyanogenMod then custom compile and setup busybox, dropbear, ssh, etc. Not too difficult if you can read man pages and use 'vi'.
In Windows Mobile 6.5 tethering works great.I've been using it for many years. There are even three ways to do it: * usb * bluetooth * wifi (phone becomes acces point) I guess for some people the notability of a phone is in a flashy interface and games in it's app store, rather than in productivity.
Just got back from a quick business trip to Thailand. I brought my many-years-old Nokia phone, a brand-new netbook running Ubuntu, and a USB cable (Bluetooth drains batteries fast).
When I got there I bought a SIM card (DTAC/Happy) for US$1.50 and then paid an additional $4 for 30 hours of online time (could have done one week unlimited 24/7 for $8 but I didn't think I'd use that much).
Stuck in the SIM card, connected the cable, and everything worked straight away. The Ubuntu wireless menu knew the name of the cell company and offered it as option alongside the wifi networks it saw. And that was it. I used it in the airport, on the bus, in taxis, hotels, restaurants, everywhere. Business hotels wanted $10 for one hour's access; I paid less than half that for all I could use in a week.
I used to hunt around for hotels with wifi; I don't think I'll be wasting time on that anymore. Even in expensive countries the mobile access is cheaper, especially when you start including airport wifi charges.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
I can't believe that tethering is (still) an issue. I was doing it in Finland 7 years ago using gprs with a monthly flat rate of something like 20$ (for the monthly flat rate, tethering was just there..) . It's seriously fudged up that you still have to fight for it with some manufacturers/operators. This attitude pretty much the main reason I dislike (well, loathe) Apple.
Also I couldn't get USB tethering to work on Ubuntu ( it appeared as an ndis device but I couldn't get it to work), so that's one very good reason to use wifi tethering.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
I want to remind folks here that this seems to be an AT&T/Apple issue, not a technical iPhone issue. Here in Sweden all carriers support tethering and activating it is as simple as pushing a button on the iPhone and pressing an OK button in OSX acknowledging that there's a new network interface active. Slide a slider, attach the cable, press OK. Done.
- Henrik
- when the Shadows descend -
My HTC Topaz does tethering without network interaction. I enable connection sharing, plug in the USB cable, and it shows up as a USB NIC to my PC.
I say my PC, as it works on Windows xp, 7, and Ubuntu 9.10 without any configuration whatsoever.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
The funny part is that the Nexus One (which I have) prevents you from tethering in its default state as well. You either have to pay (as in the "solution" presented in this "article") or root the phone... which is nowhere near as easy (yet) as jailbreaking the iphone!
I was doing this "tethering" thing regularly 10 years ago with my old Nokia and a Palm Pilot. It was even easier to do with my desktop PC (I didn't own a notebook at the time).
Clearly there's a lot of consumers of mobile services out there conditioned to accept being shafted all the time by the telecoms ...
On my unlocked-iphone Tethering works great with Vodafone Carrier.
I have tested it with a Macbook via Bluetooth.
-- Giovanni Daitan Giorgi http://gioorgi.com http://www.siforge.org
Just an FYI, we're the publisher of EasyTether for Android. It's got a 4.5 star rating and at $9.95 is less than half the price of PdaNet:
http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.mstream.easytether_polyclef/
Yeah great we can get tethering. Whoop dee farking doo when you look at the shit data plans Canadian providers give us. Rogers 2GB a month for $80. Bell and Telus are not any better.
Really? I took a look through the manual on the page you linked and it says that if you change the APN settings the configuration payload has to be signed by the carrier.
According to this CBC article last year, Canadians have among the most cellphone rates, and home broadband rates.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/08/11/canada-cellphone-rates-expensive-oecd.html
I don't have any data to back this up, but I do believe that most European nations have better coverage *and* cheaper rates than in the US. I believe this is doubly true in developed asian nations, such as Japan.
--
#include <malloc.h>
free(your.mind);
Wow, so let me get this straight, i need windows os or a mac and not only that i need to buy the product so i can receive and transmit data on the internet via my cell phone, so no i cant use linux (very stupid), i need to spend 10 dollars on this software (for something to move my data from my computer to the cell phone network via my cell) (really stupid), oh and this simple peice of sofware needs how much memory (really stupid) I going to put this in my mental box labeled (tech articles written by people with more money than brains) and my other box (hey this is one of those people that like paying for everything little thing they want to do with my equipment they have already paid for). REALLY, I already purchased the device to communicate on the cell phone network, I already purchased a cable to move data from my computer to my cell phone, Why the hell would i want to run a 17 megabyte application to move packets from my computer to my cell phone providers network when in reality my os has all the code required to move data between my computer and cell phone). How annoying, it was so annoying i felt i needed to spend 10 minutes writing this instead of reading more useful stuff (REALLY, so i dont have to read more crap like it). Heres a quote from the article. "I’m always wary of new installations bogging down Windows, but PdaNetPC.exe is only 17M of memory and 0% of CPU when not in use, so I’m fine with that running in the background." The very idea of having to run windows or mac os x to network another computer and paying for it is the exact time of moron i dont want to help do anything in this world. He promotes the use of software which causes more problems that it solves. In short, Hes the kind of guy that would buy anything to solve a problem no matter how silly the solution is. I hope his other posts aren't as stupid.
My first computer had 1024 bytes of ram
Retarded linux fanboy hating on retarded Apple fanboy, now that I've seen a troll-virgin-fight my morning is complete!
How did you get that I'm a Linux fanboy? I'm a fan of nothing and nobody. As it happens, at this point in my life I write Windows apps (yeah, I know, but it pays the mortgage.)
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I tried various tethering-apps ever since I got my G1 (dev-phone and therefore rooted). The best one I found is hands down Wifi Tether, which converts the phone into a hotspot. Very cool, especially as it makes it very easy to give other people access (at the same time, no less!). It's free, so I donated a few bucks.