So I have been working on the road a lot lately, sometimes it gets boring working at home. So I have been going to the beach past couple weeks and using my iphone to tether to the laptop. I have been getting a lot of questions about the tether via Twitter and Facebook, so I will post it here.
The tether is very simple and very basic. Even though ATT will release a way for users to tether their iPhone, this is a temp fix or hack to get it up and running right now. NOW, this is how I did it and it should work for you. If you are going to tether all your other laptops as well, make sure they have the newest release of iTunes with iPhone compatibilities. This tether will not work on new PCs without iTunes.
Also, make sure you check your data usage via your ATT account online. You do not want to abuse this because ATT may flag you. Another thing is this will work with the new iPhone upgrade 3.0.1 (I checked my version, 09/07/09). I am unsure if this will work with prior versions.
Ok so lets get tethering...
To tether your iPhone to any laptop just do these following steps. (for me PC, sad face)
- Visit http://help.benm.at/tethering.php on you Safari Browser on your iPhone
- Select Your Country - Important
- Select Mobile Service Provider
- You will see a screen asking you to Install a Profile, Install
- Once completed. Go to Settings -> General -> Network -> Internet Tethering
- Set Tethering On, you will them be prompted to access it via Bluetooth or USB
- Select USB and plugin your iPhone via USB
- Tethered Success!
I have not tried it via my Bluetooth on my Netbook but tethering via USB is fine, plus it charges my iPhone.
That is all that is needed to tether your iPhone to your laptop or netbook. Once it has successfully tethered you will see a blue bar at the top of your iPhone saying Internet Tethering.
The important part is when you plugin your iPhone you should see a new connection within your "Network Connections" (PC). If you see that then you are officially connected to the internet and can start browsing the web. It is amazing how fast it is as well. I use it to heck email, check stats, browse the web and there seems to be no lag.
It does slow down a bit if I have multiple browser tabs open, but on a single website it is fast.
Now again, if the tethering does not work and you do not see the apple connection via your network connections, then you may have to upgrade your iTunes. If you do not have the latest iTunes with the compatibility for the iPhone then it will not work.
It will also not work, if you plug it into another PC and that PC does not have iTunes. It needs iTunes.
I would also caution you to check your data limits with your ATT account, so this way you can see how much you have been using. So don't do any downloads, well BIG downloads anyways with your iPhone Tethering. I been using it soley for web base apps and services.
So that answers the question "How to Tether the iPhone"! Happy surfing!
