Tethering ipad using Bluetooth vs wifi with iphone

cujimmyusa · Mar 13, 2011, 01:29 PM

Trying to decide on dumping my virgin mifi $40 grandfathered unlimited data plan and go for a $50 iphone 3GS or wait for the iphone 5 and hope it looks nicer and has less glass than the iphone 4.

What is stopping me for going for the great price of the 3GS is only the fact that it will not have wifi tethering, only usb and BT tethering. Our household has 2 ipad 3G's, ipod touch and three pc laptops without BT capabilities.

Questions are:

1. How fast is BT compared to wifi and how much battery drain will be on the iphone?
2. How much will the iphone 5 be?
3. I know coverage varies, but the virgin mifi does play netflix when we are on the interstate and has good coverage for our geocaching hobby. Both of which we only use at weekends. How will they compare - BT at&t v sprint/virgin mifi?
4. Buy the 3gs or wait for 5
5. Keep mifi and the unl. Data plan and old flip phone with at&t

Love some advice, this Is doing my head in!!

cujimmyusa · Mar 13, 2011, 02:51 PM

Lots of peeks but no thoughts

ovrlrd · Mar 13, 2011, 02:57 PM

You cannot tether the iPad to the iPhone using Bluetooth or USB. So yeah, if you want to tether from your iPhone without jailbreaking, then currently the iPhone 4 Wi-Fi Hotspot feature is the only way to do it.

Warbrain · Mar 13, 2011, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ovrlrd

You cannot tether the iPad to the iPhone using Bluetooth or USB. So yeah, if you want to tether from your iPhone without jailbreaking, then currently the iPhone 4 Wi-Fi Hotspot feature is the only way to do it.

If you have an iPhone 4 and a tethering plan from your carrier you can tether to your iPad via wifi or Bluetooth.

Phil A. · Mar 13, 2011, 03:02 PM

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ovrlrd

You cannot tether the iPad to the iPhone using Bluetooth or USB. So yeah, if you want to tether from your iPhone without jailbreaking, then currently the iPhone 4 Wi-Fi Hotspot feature is the only way to do it.

Actually, you can as of iOS 4.3
My wife tethers hers to her 3GS and it works perfectly. Speed wise, Bluetooth caps out around 3mbps so its not mega fast but plenty fast enough for most tasks.

TheBaconKing · 03:13 PM

If you ditch your $40 a month mifi and go to the iPhone and tethering route with AT&T you will pay $45 and be limited to 4GB data

hitekalex · Mar 13, 2011, 03:09 PM

[edited]

cujimmyusa · Mar 13, 2011, 03:11 PM

Sorry, but the iphone 3, 3GS and 4 can ALL tether, BUT the iphone 4 is the only one that can do wifi, they ALL can use usb and BT tethering tho. Of course you have to pay the att tether fee and data for a total of $45 to activate the function with the new iOS 4.3 update last week.

cujimmyusa · Mar 13, 2011, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBaconKing

You cannot tether using Bluetooth to an iPad, it must be done by wifi.

Also if you ditch your $40 a month mifi and go to the iPhone and tethering route with AT&T you will pay $45 and be limited to 4GB data per month.

You just need to decide if you want the i4 or wait for iPhone 5. I would say the 3Gs is out of the question since it cannot wifi tether (I think)

Ignore post I was wrong about Bluetooth tethering

Thank you

I agree and still in a dilema if I would miss the wifi tether, which could cost me $150 more purchasing the iphone4 or maybe even more for the iphone5. How good is the wifi over BT, as I have not ever tethered to a phone.

ovrlrd · Mar 13, 2011, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil A.

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Actually, you can as of iOS 4.3
My wife tethers hers to her 3GS and it works perfectly. Speed wise, Bluetooth caps out around 3mbps so its not mega fast but plenty fast enough for most tasks.

I stand corrected!

cRuNcHiE · Mar 13, 2011, 03:32 PM

is there a way to bluetooth tether to other phones (not iphone) without jailbreaking yet?

Phil A. · Mar 13, 2011, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cRuNcHiE

is there a way to bluetooth tether to other phones (not iphone) without jailbreaking yet?

The iPad tethers using standard Bluetooth PAN services so should (in theory) work with any phone that supports PAN (personal area networking). I don't have another phone to try it on though so can't be sure

cRuNcHiE · 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil A.

The iPad tethers using standard Bluetooth PAN services so should (in theory) work with any phone that supports PAN (personal area networking). I don't have another phone to try it on though so can't be sure

I dont have an ipad at the mo to try with 4.3 as i'm waiting for UK release, but with Ipad1 and bluetooth to a nokia/android before it wouldn't work without Jailbreaking and using 'ibluever' from cydia.

This also seems to suggest it wont work http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3647

BUT: this thread, on post 22 says it does work! http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...uetooth+tether

Won't be getting a 3G ipad now! wifi all the way + my droid!

err404 · Mar 18, 2011, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cRuNcHiE

I dont have an ipad at the mo to try with 4.3 as i'm waiting for UK release, but with Ipad1 and bluetooth to a nokia/android before it wouldn't work without Jailbreaking and using 'ibluever' from cydia.

It does work as of 4.3. There is some confusion due to the new feature being undocumented by Apple.

OSMac · Apr 27, 2011, 12:04 PM

Great thread,
this works perfect with a 3GS sharing 3G to an iPad over Bluetooth.
No more JB needed.

I'll list the steps incase I forget

Update both devices to the current firmware.

1) Turn on Personal Hotspot Bluetooth on the 3GS iPhone
2) Turn on Bluetooth on the iPad and pair with 3GS iPhone

Only have to pair once then it remembers.

Nice.

dranakin · Apr 27, 2011, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cujimmyusa

1. How fast is BT compared to wifi and how much battery drain will be on the iphone?

Yes, I'm curious about this as well (battery on BT vs Wifi).

blueroom · Apr 27, 2011, 02:46 PM

Turning off WiFi and just using a Bluetooth Hotspot makes a noticeable difference in battery life.

err404 · Apr 27, 2011, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dranakin

Yes, I'm curious about this as well (battery on BT vs Wifi).

On my iP4:
Power - BT uses less power. While worse then BT, wifi mode isn't too bad. Maybe 30% more power than BT (it's better then the JB wifi solutions).

Data - Wifi is faster. Much faster in some cases. In a congested 2.4Ghz area, BT topped out at 0.2mbps. In the same location wifi was running at 3.5mbps. In less congested areas BT is better. I have seen BT as high as 1.5mbps. YMMV

Mar 13, 2011, 01:29 PM	#1
cujimmyusa macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2010	Tethering ipad using Bluetooth vs wifi with iphone Trying to decide on dumping my virgin mifi $40 grandfathered unlimited data plan and go for a $50 iphone 3GS or wait for the iphone 5 and hope it looks nicer and has less glass than the iphone 4. What is stopping me for going for the great price of the 3GS is only the fact that it will not have wifi tethering, only usb and BT tethering. Our household has 2 ipad 3G's, ipod touch and three pc laptops without BT capabilities. Questions are: 1. How fast is BT compared to wifi and how much battery drain will be on the iphone? 2. How much will the iphone 5 be? 3. I know coverage varies, but the virgin mifi does play netflix when we are on the interstate and has good coverage for our geocaching hobby. Both of which we only use at weekends. How will they compare - BT at&t v sprint/virgin mifi? 4. Buy the 3gs or wait for 5 5. Keep mifi and the unl. Data plan and old flip phone with at&t Love some advice, this Is doing my head in!!
	0

Mar 13, 2011, 02:57 PM	#3
ovrlrd macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2009	You cannot tether the iPad to the iPhone using Bluetooth or USB. So yeah, if you want to tether from your iPhone without jailbreaking, then currently the iPhone 4 Wi-Fi Hotspot feature is the only way to do it. __________________ 15" rMBP 2.7GHz+16GB+768GB :: iPhone 5 32GB :: iPad Mini 64GB Wi-Fi
	0

Mar 13, 2011, 03:05 PM	#6
TheBaconKing macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Northwest Arkansas	If you ditch your $40 a month mifi and go to the iPhone and tethering route with AT&T you will pay $45 and be limited to 4GB data __________________ Laptop - 2011 13" MacBook Air, 1.7 GHz i5, 256 SSD, 4GB Ram HTPC - 2011 Mac Mini, 2.3GHz i5, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM Mobile - 64GB Wifi iPad 2, 32GB iPhone 5  Since 2006 Last edited by TheBaconKing; Mar 13, 2011 at 03:13 PM. Reason: Corrected false information
	0

Apr 27, 2011, 02:46 PM	#17
blueroom macrumors 601 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada	Turning off WiFi and just using a Bluetooth Hotspot makes a noticeable difference in battery life. __________________ My iOS devices are not jailbroken. Bill My Blog
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Mar 13, 2011, 02:51 PM	#2
cujimmyusa Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2010	Lots of peeks but no thoughts
	0

Mar 13, 2011, 03:09 PM	#7
hitekalex Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicago, USA	[edited]
	0

Mar 13, 2011, 03:11 PM	#8
cujimmyusa Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2010	Sorry, but the iphone 3, 3GS and 4 can ALL tether, BUT the iphone 4 is the only one that can do wifi, they ALL can use usb and BT tethering tho. Of course you have to pay the att tether fee and data for a total of $45 to activate the function with the new iOS 4.3 update last week.
	0

Mar 13, 2011, 03:32 PM	#11
cRuNcHiE macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2007	is there a way to bluetooth tether to other phones (not iphone) without jailbreaking yet?
	0

Apr 27, 2011, 12:04 PM	#15
OSMac macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jun 2010	Great thread, this works perfect with a 3GS sharing 3G to an iPad over Bluetooth. No more JB needed. I'll list the steps incase I forget Update both devices to the current firmware. 1) Turn on Personal Hotspot Bluetooth on the 3GS iPhone 2) Turn on Bluetooth on the iPad and pair with 3GS iPhone Only have to pair once then it remembers. Nice.
	0

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