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jayem1234

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 19, 2012
114
1
Hey all, I've recently purchased a new iPad with wifi only and noticed that Verizon doesn't offer free Internet tethering from my iPhone. I have however discovered that this is possible via jailbroken apps; so my question is would it be worth it to jailbreak my iPhone just to get this feature for my iPad? Are the any downsides to doing this and could I potentially get in trouble by doing this? Thanks.
 
My question is would it be worth it to jailbreak my iPhone just to get this feature for my iPad?

Yes, and once you get on Cydia, you will find a lot of cool stuff to customize your iPhone with. Get MyWi for tethering. Best tethering app out there.

Are the any downsides to doing this and could I potentially get in trouble by doing this? Thanks.

There are some downsides. If you have a 3GS, the jailbreak slows it down a lot, for 4 and 4S it slows it down just a little. Your carrier will send you a warning at the most.


Email me at ijoecoles@gmail.com or PM or quote me if you need help
 
Yup. Tethering is my only truly compelling reason for jail breaking. At home, I tether my iPad to my iPhone. When I travel, I buy a local SIM for my (3G) iPad and tether my iPhone and other devices to that.

MyWi is brilliant. The OnDemand Bluetooth tethering is fantastic (now that they finally have it working again on iOS 5).
 
I jailbreak just to tether (PDANet is my tethering choice!
But, like others, got to looking around and have since added Clockify
along with nonewsisgoodnews to get rid of the Newstand icon.
 
Appreciate the responses, guys, thank you. Now what are the chances that my iPhone becomes unusable? And is it easy to revert back to a non-jailbroken firmware? I might go ahead and pull the trigger later tonight and see how I like it.

Thanks again.
 
You can easily revert back to stock iOS by restoring in iTunes. Go to DFU mode if everything goes absolutely wrong, but it won't. The chances your phone becomes unusable are minimal unless you install something that looks fishy.
 
Appreciate the responses, guys, thank you. Now what are the chances that my iPhone becomes unusable? And is it easy to revert back to a non-jailbroken firmware? I might go ahead and pull the trigger later tonight and see how I like it.

Thanks again.

The stock repos in Cydia are highly moderated. You can get stuff that might force the device to start in Safe Mode, but it's simply just going back into Cydia and deleting whatever it was which is very easy to do. The Safe Mode feature was implemented so your device wouldn't boot loop. Cydia will warn you if you're adding repos that are flagged for fishy behavior too.
 
Glad to know Verizon is going to let people tether for free, so no need to jailbreak for that (at least for me).

MyFi is the better choice over PDANet since it's cheaper & works better with iOS overall.
 
Free tethering was one of my main incentives for jailbreaking! I use TetherMe. It's pretty basic, but it allows you to use the stock personal hotspot feature, which I like.

I haven't found the jailbreak to slow down my 4S. I try to keep the amount of tweaks I install to a minimum.
 
I know the topic of tethering has been beaten to death on this forum, but has anyone gotten a warning from AT&T about tethering, specifically from their iPhone to a wifi-only iPad?
 
Yes, and once you get on Cydia, you will find a lot of cool stuff to customize your iPhone with. Get MyWi for tethering. Best tethering app out there.



There are some downsides. If you have a 3GS, the jailbreak slows it down a lot, for 4 and 4S it slows it down just a little. Your carrier will send you a warning at the most.


Email me at ijoecoles@gmail.com or PM or quote me if you need help

The JB sped up my i4 performance, not slowed down. It only gets slowed down if you install certain apps/tweaks that, for example, run constantly in the background like Winterboard themes. I don't customize like that, but with fakeclockup, my phone is much faster in normal daily use than even the 4S.
 
Wow, this forum is great ... Thank you all so much! I do have one last question: I've read on other sites that Verizon had begun to track down on such 'illegal tethering' and I was wondering if they really do that and what happens if they catch you do something like this.
 
I don't know about Verizon, however, I know that ATT said they were going to crack down on unofficial tethering, however, I tether many times and have never been contacted about it. What ATT really means is that anyone who uses A LOT of data (probably 5GB+) they suspect is probably tethering, so they will look into that individuals usage. I never use that much data even when I tether, so I think that is why I've never been notified about it. Maybe Verizon is the same?
 
I'm with AT&T and I use PDAnet...works great. I really don't tether all that much but it's nice to know that I can.
I'm grandfathered in their unlimited data plan but actually have never gone over 2GB a month which is why they probably leave me alone. :)
 
I'm with AT&T and I use PDAnet...works great. I really don't tether all that much but it's nice to know that I can.
I'm grandfathered in their unlimited data plan but actually have never gone over 2GB a month which is why they probably leave me alone. :)

I'm grandfathered into the unlimited plan as well. ;)
 
Sorry to be *that* guy - But when you took out your contract with the network of your choice, did that contract not specify that you would have to pay for tethering? Are you therefore in breach of contract?

Personally, though, I don't know how they (carriers) get away with charging you extra to use the data you've already agreed to on your contract - i.e. if you signed up to get 500MB, then you should be able to use that 500MB as you d*mn-well-wish.
 
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