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iPhone 3G as 3G Modem for Laptop?

W

wnxgenral

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 14, 2008
286
16
I know this is against Apples Contract but do you think it will be possible without to much modification? WIll you guys use your 3G iPhones as a 3G Modem for the Laptop Road Warrior? I am about to buy a MBA and I'd love to be able to pop open the MBA on the train ride each day and get right on the internet? I know this is possible with current EDGE Technology but 3G is so much faster, I feel like more people are going to be intrested in its potential for laptops?

Jack :apple:
 
It should be possible by running a SOCKS proxy server on your iPhone. Basically you connect your laptop through WiFi to your iPhone, and your iPhone "proxies" its 3G or Edge through WiFi.

See http://cre.ations.net/blog/post/tether-your-iphone

If posting this link is forbidden, sorry. Mods please remove it. And people just google for Tether iPhone.
 
Not sure about all providers, but AT&T terms of service forbid it. So if you get caught you'll get nailed for abuse probably. If you just do it as an occasional thing, you'll probably be fine.
 
fishkorp said:
Not sure about all providers, but AT&T terms of service forbid it. So if you get caught you'll get nailed for abuse probably. If you just do it as an occasional thing, you'll probably be fine.
Click to expand...

they cant tell it just looks like u are using the internet allot
 
People have been hacking phones to allow tethering for years. Why would the iPhone be any different? I'll guess that publicly available tethering hacks will appear within the first week of its release.
 
If by "without to much modification" you mean "I don't mind jailbreaking the phone" then yes, it will be possible. There will be no other way.

One thing to note is it is incredibly easy for AT&T to tell you are doing it - are you downloading a file from a website? Streaming a video other than YouTube? Using more than 5GB bandwidth in a month? Then you are tethering. Phone companies aren't idiots. They can track every single thing you do. Now, they also aren't idiots, in that if you just do it occasionally, they probably won't do anything - why make waves? It's people who really abuse it that they'll go after first.
 
The iPhone doesn't support it that I know of, but AT&T does offer a plan for smartphones that does this. It's an extra $30/month. What a jack.

I think I should stop reading about what O2 and T-Mobile are doing compared to AT&T. It's-a making me sick.
 
sunfast said:
Great link that. Love the wifi "mesh". I'm in London pretty much full time so I'd make a lot of use of that, plus being allowed to use your laptop on it too! O2 have definitely got a new customer in me :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, when O2 first had the iPhone, the tariffs werent great... but they've really turned things around. In feb they doubled the minutes and texts, now they've added BT Openzone, and allow laptop use for the cloud etc... its really good to see the improvements theyre making, and one can only hope it just gets better and better.
 
All you need to do is jailbreak it with the pwnage tool which is extremely easy and the install PDAnet from the Cydia package. Then just create a network on your mac, connect to it with your iPhone and then run the program. You are good to go after that. :cool:
 
There is actually a little more to it than just a jailbreak...

mcruzader said:
All you need to do is jailbreak it with the pwnage tool which is extremely easy and the install PDAnet from the Cydia package. Then just create a network on your mac, connect to it with your iPhone and then run the program. You are good to go after that. :cool:
Click to expand...

There is actually a bit more to it than that to get it working for all applications properly and not just safari, by default it only works for safari (and some other port 80 apps) it also has a habit of dropping connection.

That is why I took the time to write a bit tutorial regarding this that solves all of those problems, just goto:

http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/2008/10/27/how-to-make-your-iphone-3g-a-modem-your-macbook-free-in-15-minutes/
 
PdaNet is not a proxy, and therefore gives internet access to all ports and all applications.
 
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