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Tethering Options?

M

marker227

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 29, 2004
349
5
Hey all,

I haven't owned an iPhone for a few years now and I wasn't sure what was available in the world of jailbreaking and tethering.

I normally tether my non-smart phone to my laptop when WiFi isn't available. I've been doing that for years with much success on my unlimited data plan.

I wanted to know if there was a way to tether a new generation iPhone to a laptop. I've already checked and the legitimate hotspot option from my carrier does not apply to the current family plan I have.


Thanks in advance.
 
Well…unless you are on iOS 9.1 or less then it doesn't matter. You need to be able to jailbreak to install one of the tethering tweaks and 9.2 and above are not currently jailbreakable.
 
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Are there any other solutions? I take it there aren't any others.

I think I'll stick to my dumb-phone and continue tethering via Bluetooth. That's too bad.
 
This is to use the internet from your phone on your laptop.
 
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It's a disabled featured to have an iPhone that act as a WiFi hotspot for other devices. Cellular companies make you pay extra to enable it. However, that option is not available for the type of plan I have. So, I'm out of luck.

Bluetooth tethering doesn't work either I believe.

I have had success with tethering from my Nokia to my IOS devices and laptops with Bluetooth. I've been doing that for years. I was hoping to somehow be able to share an iPhone's data with a laptop as some of the areas I reside in don't have WiFi.

It looks like I'll be sticking to my Nokia for now.
 
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Does anyone know if Unlocked iPhones have the mobile hotspot feature enabled? If they do, is there a specific procedure to activating that or can a user just turn it on themselves?
 
The technology is there within iOS devices... it all depends on your service plan with your provider. If you want to use your iOS device as a mobile hotspot, get a plan with your service provider that includes it or allows you to add it as an option.
 
Unfortunately I can't do that because of what is needed for the majority of the people on my family plan. We just switched plans to accommodate DirectTV with international calling to Canada and Mexico (I think).

Ideally I wouldn't take this switch, but it does make my line free if I switch to a smartphone. The only downgrade is that I loose the ability to tether.

So, I'm wondering if I get an Unlocked iPhone if the tether feature is still available and how does it work.
 
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marker227 said:
So, I'm wondering if I get an Unlocked iPhone if the tether feature is still available and how does it work.
Click to expand...
An unlocked iPhone will not make magically make available to you a feature that your carrier is not providing to you.

Unlocked phones simply allow you to take your phone from one carrier to another. No more. No less. It is up to the carrier to decide if you get free tethering - or not. If you don't, the hotspot feature does not appear unless you pay for it. And if your carrier does not offer it you're out of luck.

Jailbroken iPhones on the other hand are capable of installing tethering tweaks that can force this option to appear. And then you are on your own as far as the carrier catching you tethering.
 
Thank you for pointing that out eyoungren. I must have forgotten Unlocked has nothing to do with the features that lie within the OS.

Do iPhones normally have a mobile hotspot feature built-in to the software that came from Apple? If so, why can't it just be turned on with a simple press of a button? I take it's because of the software that doesn't allow it to activate if your plan doesn't allow tethering?

If this is the case, why then do non-branded phones tether without any hiccups from AT&T? Specifically speaking, I'm talking about dumb-phones, even Androids, or Microsoft phones, etc. As long as they are non-carrier branded phones, a user can tether if the phone has that capability from the factory.

To me, it appears like the iPhone has stricter regulations over say Android, or the other phones?

I'm a little off topic from my original question :D

By the way, I am in the US.
 
I can't tether an iPhone to a laptop like you can because of the restrictions.
 
marker227 said:
Thank you for pointing that out eyoungren. I must have forgotten Unlocked has nothing to do with the features that lie within the OS.

Do iPhones normally have a mobile hotspot feature built-in to the software that came from Apple? If so, why can't it just be turned on with a simple press of a button? I take it's because of the software that doesn't allow it to activate if your plan doesn't allow tethering?

If this is the case, why then do non-branded phones tether without any hiccups from AT&T? Specifically speaking, I'm talking about dumb-phones, even Androids, or Microsoft phones, etc. As long as they are non-carrier branded phones, a user can tether if the phone has that capability from the factory.

To me, it appears like the iPhone has stricter regulations over say Android, or the other phones?

I'm a little off topic from my original question :D

By the way, I am in the US.
Click to expand...
The carrier controls whether you can tether or not.

If they allow it, the option appears in Settings. If they do not, the option is hidden.

The carriers determine what plans at what price points or addon options allow you to tether and thus whether the option appears or not. Apple merely provides the hook to the carriers to allow for tethering when the carrier offers it. Apple has no control over tethering. Imagine the blowback Apple would get if they circumvented the carrier's option to disallow tethering.
 
Okay, I understand that. This obviously applies to iPhones.

Are you familiar with Android at all? I don't expect you to be, but I thought I'd ask.
 
marker227 said:
Okay, I understand that. This obviously applies to iPhones.

Are you familiar with Android at all? I don't expect you to be, but I thought I'd ask.
Click to expand...
To a certain extent. I had a tablet for awhile. At the time I was on Sprint but I had a crappy data plan with no tethering for it.

Are you saying that Android has the option appear even if the carrier does not allow tethering?
 
eyoungren said:
Are you saying that Android has the option appear even if the carrier does not allow tethering?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. This is not from personal experience, but I've asked this question to the Android community and their indication was that as long as you buy a non-branded phone the built-in tethering features will be available (if they came from the factory. IE: Samsung, Nokia, etc.).

To put this in a better perspective, the Microsoft Windows phone (Nokia) outlines their tethering capability even on their website. If you buy their smart phone from AT&T, it's likely that because it was branded by AT&T that those tethering features would be disabled unless exclusively activated from the carrier. This is my impression from the information I've been given by other users.

My personal experience on the matter is - I went out and bought two of the same dumb-phones once (many years ago). One from AT&T and one that was not (unbranded). It was very obviously that between the two phones some features were missing. I stuck with the non-branded version because I wanted all the features. So, I do know that there is a difference between branded and non-branded phones.

I choose to go with an unbranded dumb phone and I've been tethering ever since on AT&T's unlimited non-smart phone data plan for $15 a month. They don't allow a mobile hotspot (not that my phone even has the ability to do that) and I never saw the option to tether a dumb-phone in the plan details.

So, by following what I've been told already, I was trying to determine if an iPhone mobile hotspot could be utilized in the same fashion as it can be on other (non-IOS) smart phones. By what you are telling me, it doesn't sound like it can. Which I just thought that was interesting seeing that I was comparing apples to apples (smart phone to smart phone) and apparently there are some slight differences with how carriers handle their features.
 
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marker227 said:
By what you are telling me, it doesn't sound like it can.
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No, it works differently with Apple and the carriers.

I don't have an explanation for you as to how Android would be able to work around limitations imposed by the carriers through their branded phones, but I do know that the Android OS provided directly from Google on the phones it sells itself is a completely different thing than the Android OS you find on carrier branded phones - in terms of features and functions available to the user.
 
eyoungren said:
I do know that the Android OS provided directly from Google on the phones it sells itself is a completely different thing than the Android OS you find on carrier branded phones - in terms of features and functions available to the user.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I was pointing out. It's pretty obvious that Apple doesn't work that way. It looks like they worked with the carriers to help lock out these features.

The consumer contain is tight.
 
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I use my iPhone as a hotspot for my iPad all the time, and it'll work for my MacBook too. I'm on an AT&T mobile share plan. AT&T doesn't care how I use that data. I certainly don't pay extra for the "privilege" of sharing data.
 
chabig said:
I use my iPhone as a hotspot for my iPad all the time, and it'll work for my MacBook too. I'm on an AT&T mobile share plan. AT&T doesn't care how I use that data. I certainly don't pay extra for the "privilege" of sharing data.
Click to expand...

Are you in the US?

I'm on the AT&T Unlimited Plan for 4 lines. Note: 4th line is only unlimited data if it's a smart-phone. Non-smart phones have to pay $25 a month extra for unlimited data. Talk and text is unlimited and includes Canada and Mexico.

I don't believe I have the mobile share plan that you have. I believe that's what I used to have. Then again, you should be paying a mobile hotspot fee if you aren't.
 
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