iPhone 5 Tethering via USB and PDAnet

[kohursr]

I currently tether my android phone with PDAnet via USB and I am pleased with this setup.

However I purchased the iPhone 5 and will want to use a 3rd party app to share the data connection from the carrier with my laptop.

What is the best way to do this? I read on the junefabrics.com website that PDAnet requires a jailbroken iphone and that was with the iphone4.

Are there any other apps currently available to do USB tethering with iPhone 5?

I am new to iPhone so i am not sure what limitations there are for installing apps on the iPhone.

 

[HXGuy]

What carrier are you on and what data plan?

I believe with AT&T and Verizon, if you have the Family Data Share plan, then wifi tethering is included for free.

If you have an individual plan, then you need to make sure you have one of the plans that includes tethering ($50/month for 5GB inc. tethering on AT&T). Otherwise you have to wait for a jailbreak if you want to use an app like PDANet and do it for free on your current data plan.

 

[kohursr]

To be very clear, I am speaking of third party apps to accomplish USB tethering.

 

[psxguru]

Don't know if your carrier is able to disable tethering but I tether all the time with T-mobile UK via wifi usually and occasionally via USB. It's all under Settings | Personal Hotspot

 

[kohursr]

So both responses so far refer to a built iOS solution to tethering. I am looking for a 3rd party app that does this.

I use PDAnet with android and would like to do this with the iphone 5 but...

The PDAnet website http://www.junefabrics.com/iphone/index.php:

Says this of the iPhone: "Apple has not accepted PdaNet into the App Store since it avoids your carrier's tether plan. You will need to jailbreak your iPhone (see instructions) and install it through Cydia. "

Are there any 3rd party apps that allow USB tethering?

 

[Tortri]

To be very clear, I am speaking of third party apps to accomplish USB tethering.

You can USB tether assuming you have the shared plans just turn it on in settings. Is there any particular reason you need a third party app?

The only reason you would need a third party app is if you had Verizon unlimited plan and didn't want to pay $30 for tethering (shared plans including tethering for free) at which point you would need to jailbreak and use third party apps like mywi, pdanet, etc.


Occasionally an app for USB tethering slips through but is usually quickly removed from the store.

 

[HXGuy]

Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about WiFi tethering.

There used to be an app called Tether in the Apple App Store, not sure if it's still around, that worked very well and without having to pay anything to the carrier. I was able to download it when it originally came out and even install it on my iPhone 5 since I had it in my iTunes library.

 

[kohursr]

you would need a third party app is if you had Verizon unlimited plan and didn't want to pay $30 for tethering

... I suppose you are right that is one good reason to use a 3rd party app, however there are other reasons to use a 3rd party app to USB tether. PDAnet offers alot of nice features bundled into one app like
auto-connect, SMS agent and interception and others.

So is it that the only way to install an app not on the app store is to jailbreak?

With android i would use the Market app or Google Play to install an app however i could always install the app without Market and without rooting.

 

[HXGuy]

That is correct, without a jailbreak, the only want to install apps is to buy them from the App Store.

 

[spades1412]

So both responses so far refer to a built iOS solution to tethering. I am looking for a 3rd party app that does this.

I use PDAnet with android and would like to do this with the iphone 5 but...

The PDAnet website http://www.junefabrics.com/iphone/index.php:

Says this of the iPhone: "Apple has not accepted PdaNet into the App Store since it avoids your carrier's tether plan. You will need to jailbreak your iPhone (see instructions) and install it through Cydia. "

Are there any 3rd party apps that allow USB tethering?

I believe you answered your own question here. Apple will not approve any app that does what your asking. Your only option would be to jailbreak and look for a solution there. Perhaps PDAnet, installed from Cydia once a jailbreak for the iPhone 5 is available.

This is where android destroys iOS. The openness and being able to side load apps without rooting. Basically being able to do what YOU want with your device.

 

[Tortri]

... I suppose you are right that is one good reason to use a 3rd party app, however there are other reasons to use a 3rd party app to USB tether. PDAnet offers alot of nice features bundled into one app like
auto-connect, SMS agent and interception and others.

So is it that the only way to install an app not on the app store is to jailbreak?

With android i would use the Market app or Google Play to install an app however i could always install the app without Market and without rooting.

Yeah unfortunately if you want pdanet you'll need to jailbreak the iPhone when they officially release the jailbreak. Carriers didn't like the third party tethering apps and apple always controlled what's allowed in the AppStore, google market went uncontrolled for a while but caught up and they removed all tethering apps eventually. unfortunately you can't simply install any app from outside the AppStore, so easily.

 

[dmelgar]

The folks that did the brief 'tether' app ended up creating a web service to accomplish tether. I haven't tried it so I don't know for sure if it works. Its a really ingenious solution that does not require any app to be installed on the iPhone.

The website is "tether.com".

Essentially what happens is that you install an app on your Mac or Windows machine. You/it sets up an adhoc wifi network. The PC will end up receiving the data rather than sending it out. The iPhone connects to this wifi network. You go to a specific website on the phone. On the PC you run an app from tether.com. That app routes network requests over the wifi to the iPhone. The website on the phone is running javascript to pass data between the 3G connection and the adhoc wifi network. The data comes from the tether.com website and forwarded to the PC's adhoc network.