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Jailbreaking Allows Users to Tether the iPhone 3G to their Laptops

can you just buy the att card and add tether to your iphone 3g account for $30?

your not using the iphone to tether, but already have unlimited data so just adding a method of using it. if you have a laptop you get the same effect but legally, no?
 
works great but......

works good, I jailbroke and tethered, it only works so far in firefox though.

My question is, Does this screw other things up on the iphone, i hate jailbreaking for a good reason (like tethering), yet I am afraid that I just screwed something else up on the phone like reception quality, speed, etc....
 
BriChi said:
works good, I hacked and tethered, it only works so far in firefox though.

My question is, Does this screw other things up on the iphone, i hate hacking for a good reason (like tethering), yet I am afraid that I just screwed something else up on the phone like reception quality, speed, etc....
Click to expand...

If you feel anything went wrong, then just restore it and you should be fine...
 
so if I were to use my 3g to access the internet 4 hours a day for 3 days a week plus my regular data usage, I would probably be pushing my luck, right? I just signed a contract for a data card but if I return it in 30 days I would get out of the 2 year contract. This has certainly made me think. I checked the att website but as far as the "unlimited" data for the iPhone, it doesn't state where unlimited gets capped at, as im sure it gets capped. I guess what I am asking is would the usage I stated earlier red flag me?
 
I just did, I feel more comfortable right now with no jailbreak, I restored.

I just like testing and knowing I can tether.
 
edthehead said:
so if I were to use my 3g to access the internet 4 hours a day for 3 days a week plus my regular data usage, I would probably be pushing my luck, right? I just signed a contract for a data card but if I return it in 30 days I would get out of the 2 year contract. This has certainly made me think. I checked the att website but as far as the "unlimited" data for the iPhone, it doesn't state where unlimited gets capped at, as im sure it gets capped. I guess what I am asking is would the usage I stated earlier red flag me?
Click to expand...

Yes, you would most likely be in the upper tier of bandwidth hogs and worthy of a closer look from AT&T. "Unlimited" means "around 5GB or so". Multiple months of ~5GB transfer will result in nasty phone calls, them looking deeper in to your account, or both.
 
io_burn said:
Yes, you would most likely be in the upper tier of bandwidth hogs and worthy of a closer look from AT&T. "Unlimited" means "around 5GB or so". Multiple months of ~5GB transfer will result in nasty phone calls, them looking deeper in to your account, or both.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the fast response.
 
I figured AT&T would offer it for the iPhone at some point, or at least offer a bundle discount on a mobile broadband expresscard plan.

Anyways, I'm wondering what kinds of speeds people get with tethering versus a regular USB/expresscard modem. I have used a Verizon EVDO usb modem, but I have never tethered a laptop to a phone. In the past, those ***** wouldn't allow it, and now they charge you more per month for it. I'm assuming that tethering to a 3G phone would be a lot slower than a direct connection because of the antennae, power, and processing differences. Anyone know?
 
Using this technique on a 2G iPhone, works great, and alot faster than i thought it would be. I couldn't ever get it to work before with the earlier method of ssh-ing to the phone from the Macs terminal, but this is great, worked first time.

If anyone wants to use applications other than firefox with this, just go to the network preferences and click the advanced button, go to the proxies tab, choose manually from the drop down and check SOCKS Proxy on the left, finally enter the iPhones IP and port 1080 into the appropriate text fields.

one other thing about using other apps, in adium you have to go to the accounts tab in the prefs, choose the account and go to the proxies tab, there choose socks proxy.

I got 100 kbps from this which is about the speed of internet i had just a couple years ago so i'm actually really satisfied with it.
 
It works!

Great writeup - it works fine for me on my iPhone 3G.

I'm a happy camper!
 
I'd be worried about this burning up my iPhone 3g. It already gets warm enough when browsing on the device, I can't imagine the constant use and multitasking of my MBP with all its network processes killing the 3g's chip. Also battery life would be crap...would have to have iPhone plugged into the computer and the computer would probably need to be plugged into a power source or it would also be drained.
 
I'm starting to find that my MBP hardly leaves my house unless I'm traveling. The iPhone is so useful and portable that tethering is sort of unnecessary. I thought about bringing my MBP to class...but for what purpose?
 
Strange.... I would tether my Tilt to my laptop all the time. All I had was the unlimited internet. No tethering cost. AT&T even provided the software and support.
 
winterspan said:
I figured AT&T would offer it for the iPhone at some point, or at least offer a bundle discount on a mobile broadband expresscard plan.
Click to expand...

That's what I was hoping for as well. But the AT&T rep I spoke with said the best he could do was sell me the express card with an additional $60 a month charge. I'm already paying through the nose for our family plan data charges, and we certainly aren't consuming $90-a-month worth of bandwidth. I don't know what the big deal is with tethering. If there are people who would abuse it, then track those people down. AT&T shouldn't kill it for everyone.

I'm keeping my eye on this company:

http://www.cradlepoint.com/

They might have a solution in the near future.
 
While I wouldn't really dare to use this as my normal means of internet connection or download files, it will stilll be very useful. When you are out at a place without (free) WiFi, like the airport, to get on and surf the web.
 
You Idiots

You people are so stupid. I read this article just to see how many of you dummies actually were 'amazed' by this! I have an At&t Tilt and have had 8525, and 8125 over the previous years and have been using the "Internet Sharing" tool on the phones(Thats right! There is a program preloaded on the phone!) to connect my laptop to the internet when wireless or LAN isn't available since i can remember. I have only the Unlimited Data Plan on my family shared account. Nothing more nothing less. If you let At&t sell it to you, They'd probably try and sell you a Laptop Connect card for like 60 bucks a month or try and add on Tethering for an another 30 bucks! I have never gotten a bill that gave me outrageous charges or billed be for "tethering" my phone to my comp. You guys amaze me at how little your iPhones can do but yet kiss the ground that Steve Jobs walks on because he put an Apple logo on it. Don't get me wrong I love most of Apples products but this one is certainly a total piece of sh*t. You shouldn't have to go through all of that just to use the feature when its standard on other phones. The iPhone can do barely HALF of the things my Tilt can do(Oh and I am not giving Bill any credit because I hate Windows, only Win Mob is the best mobile operating system out at this time. Yea the iPhone may be shiny and running Mac OS X but that's where all the fun stops. You guys wait in line only to be given a non functioning, barely updated phone. THINK ABOUT THIS: If Steve Jobs would have released 3G on the first model, WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT FOR THE 2nd release??? NOTHING!!...oh wait GPS!??! You idiots got baited and hooked. My 8525 on its worst day would do what you guys sit here and praise LMAO
 
jwpedersen said:
The article mentions penalties from at&t. How would at&t know that you are tethered to your mac? Newbie here so take it easy on me.
Click to expand...

in general, they will only flag you if they see abnormal use. the jailbreak method only allows for very basic, and slow web browsing. not even worth it IMO. but if you do it just watch your data usage. I prefer to use an unlocked aircard with my sim, which gets much much better service if I really need data on the go.
 
blacklisted

this works great ... until Att blacklists you since your unlimited data plan really is not unlimited.

you get a letter from them saying that you have gone beyond "normal data usage ranges"
then eventually they cut you off
 
sfh said:
this works great ... until Att blacklists you since your unlimited data plan really is not unlimited.

you get a letter from them saying that you have gone beyond "normal data usage ranges"
then eventually they cut you off
Click to expand...

And charge you 7 cents per kilobyte (or over $71 per megabyte)!
 
MakAttak said:
You people are so stupid. I read this article just to see how many of you dummies actually were 'amazed' by this! I have an At&t Tilt and have had 8525, and 8125 over the previous years and have been using the "Internet Sharing" tool on the phones(Thats right! There is a program preloaded on the phone!) to connect my laptop to the internet when wireless or LAN isn't available since i can remember.
Click to expand...

Good for you. By the way, WinMo... piece of crap. No phone should have to have a task manager.

Why are you here, again? This is an iPhone forum and thread, not a "mine is better than yours" something out of the 3rd grade thread.
 
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