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Bluetooth tethering without jailbreak now works in ios 4.3.

I

ignaurus13

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2011
1
0
Bluetooth tethering without jailbreak now works in ios 4.3.

http://meekgeek.tumblr.com/post/3763709075/bluetooth-personal-hotspot-in-ios-4-3

http://swangle.blogspot.com/2011/03/bluetooth-tether-ipad-to-iphone-in-ios.html

I am having some issues with it using my WinMo 6.5 phone (Tmo Dash 3G). I have not tested this against an iPhone. The connection cuts after 30 seconds but for those 30 seconds I do have internet connectivity! Has anyone else experienced this disconnect? Has anyone tried this on an iPhone or non-iPhone cell phone? Yes tethering is enabled by my carrier as the tether works fine to my laptop over Bluetooth PAN. Any advice?

Same result using HTC Touch Cruise upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.1

I am starting to think that Apple may have configured iPads/iPods to prevent Bluetooth tethering between non-iPhones and iPads. Something is making my Bluetooth tether fail after I connect to a WinMo cell phone.

It is Bluetooth PAN not DUN, right?
 
I haven't upgraded to 4.3 on my iPhone so I thought I would try this with MiWi BT Tethering to my 4.3 iPad and it works perfectly.
 
This is good news for 3GS users. They can tether to their iPads now w/o JB.
 
Are there advantages/disadvantages between wifi and Bluetooth tethering? Differences in speed or setup or anything like that?
 
Dmunjal said:
I haven't upgraded to 4.3 on my iPhone so I thought I would try this with MiWi BT Tethering to my 4.3 iPad and it works perfectly.
Click to expand...

So MyWi not on 4.3 tethering to iPad 2 works? Im on 4.2.1.

EDIT: Confirmed working. Nice!
 
Last edited:
C N Reilly said:
Are there advantages/disadvantages between wifi and Bluetooth tethering? Differences in speed or setup or anything like that?
Click to expand...

BT - Better battery
wifi - Higher maximum speed

In most cases your speed will be limited by the 3G data rate, not by BT. So CDMA users should stick with BT and unless you're in an area with exceptionally good GSM 3G service, BT is more then enough for AT&T.

If you want to sure that you are receiving the maximum performance or connecting more then one device, use wifi.
 
Does Apple's official hotspot feature allow for bluetooth tethering?

Is it a MyWi-exclusive feature?
 
neko girl said:
Does Apple's official hotspot feature allow for bluetooth tethering?

Is it a MyWi-exclusive feature?
Click to expand...

Yes. With a stock iPhone, iPad and appropriate plan you can tether your iPad to your iPhone via BT or wifi.
No JB required on either end.
 
Awesome, just tested stock iPad 1 on 4.3 to JB iP4 on 4.1 with TetherMe. Works like a champ.
 
I just ran some speed comparisons and despite what I had read, my speeds via BT tethering are FAR less then what I'm getting through wifi.

BT is getting about 0.3 Mbps
Wifi is getting about 1.9 Mbps (with a much lower ping)

Maybe I'm getting some interference? YMMV.
 
err404 said:
I just ran some speed comparisons and despite what I had read, my speeds via BT tethering are FAR less then what I'm getting through wifi.

BT is getting about 0.3 Mbps
Wifi is getting about 1.9 Mbps (with a much lower ping)

Maybe I'm getting some interference? YMMV.
Click to expand...

I did some initial testing with BT and I got 1.45 Mbps down and around 1.0 up. These speeds are good enough for me in a pinch.
 
Couple questions for those that tether via BT.

1.) if the iPad or iphone connects to wifi, does it still use the 3G signal?
2.) how do you disconnect the tethering outside of cycling the BT on/off.
 
thelookingglass said:
I did some initial testing with BT and I got 1.45 Mbps down and around 1.0 up. These speeds are good enough for me in a pinch.
Click to expand...

I suspect that my issue was having more then 20 2.4ghz devices in range when I was testing. Good to know that it should be better in more typical scenarios.
shareef777 said:
Couple questions for those that tether via BT.

1.) if the iPad or iphone connects to wifi, does it still use the 3G signal?
2.) how do you disconnect the tethering outside of cycling the BT on/off.
Click to expand...
1. While actively tethering your phone will stay on Cell data.
2. Disconnecting from the guest is the easiest. Once the guest disconnects, tethering will stop on the iPhone. Since this leaves BT running on your phone, your guest device will be able to connect again w/o reactivating anything on your phone. Keep in mind that BT being enabled will drain some battery, but it seems to be about the same as leaving it one for BT headsets.
 
Last edited:
shareef777 said:
Couple questions for those that tether via BT.

1.) if the iPad or iphone connects to wifi, does it still use the 3G signal?
2.) how do you disconnect the tethering outside of cycling the BT on/off.
Click to expand...

1. Not sure what you mean, if you use the Hotspot your 3G is the data source.
2. Just toggle the Hotspot via the Settings menu.
 
Wirelessly posted (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)

Maybe I'm being dense, but you still have to have a DataPro tethering plan... Right?
 
JustCrusin said:
Wirelessly posted (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)

Maybe I'm being dense, but you still have to have a DataPro tethering plan... Right?
Click to expand...

That's the only legit way.
 
blueroom said:
1. Not sure what you mean, if you use the Hotspot your 3G is the data source.
2. Just toggle the Hotspot via the Settings menu.
Click to expand...

I was hoping that the iPhone would be smart enough to use the Wifi signal if it was able to connect to one with an internet signal.

So for now, the easiest solution would be to manually disable BT in the iPad, and then re-enable it when needed.
 
shareef777 said:
I was hoping that the iPhone would be smart enough to use the Wifi signal if it was able to connect to one with an internet signal.

So for now, the easiest solution would be to manually disable BT in the iPad, and then re-enable it when needed.
Click to expand...

I think the assumption is that if a device has BT, it also has wifi and would be able to connect directly w/o talking through your iPhone.
 
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