vB Easy Archive - Can I tether the iPhone to my laptop?

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Can I tether the iPhone to my laptop?
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Posted by: bob69

Early reports said that I could not. Does anyone know if this has changed?

I need to be able to connect my laptop to the net, something I can do with TMobile (painful, but I can do it). This is the deal maker/breaker for me.

Posted by: efparri

According to the latest information, you cannot tether the iPhone to a computer. The USB connection is only for synchronizations and software updates. The Bluetooth is only for headsets and hands-free modes.

Posted by: bitslap47

Quote:

Originally Posted by efparri

According to the latest information, you cannot tether the iPhone to a computer. The USB connection is only for synchronizations and software updates. The Bluetooth is only for headsets and hands-free modes.

What's interesting though is that Bluetooth 2.0+EDR is listed under the Data section of the specs on Apple's site.

Posted by: baimo

someone will probably figure out a way to do it

Posted by: RF9

I think the lack of ability to tether is one of the reasons the data plan is only $20, not $40 like every other AT&T PDA.

Posted by: BB8100user

I'm tethered right now via my unlocked iPhone through T-mobile.

Posted by: samab

Quote:

Originally Posted by RF9

I think the lack of ability to tether is one of the reasons the data plan is only $20, not $40 like every other AT&T PDA.

I agree. You get what you pay for. You are paying for a $20 mediamax plan, so expect the mediamax restrictions.

Posted by: samab

Can the mods just ban BB8100user.

Posted by: MacFrog

Quote:

Originally Posted by baimo

someone will probably figure out a way to do it

What he said ....

Posted by: cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

Posted by: BB8100user

Quote:

Originally Posted by samab

Can the mods just ban BB8100user.

are you jealous?

Posted by: LoKoTe

I know it'll be slow, but sometimes I'm somewhere where I need internet on my laptop and I tether using my W810, it's EDGE, but it's enough for what I need at that time. Hopefully I can have everything I'd need to do on my iPhone if that iLife or iWork suite for iPhone comes out ... we shall see

Posted by: MacFrog

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

Ehh depends. I've used dial up before on my laptop when I couldn't get anything else.

Posted by: inkhead

No point in my mind at all to doing this, if you really need apps on your laptop to run off EDGE network, they would be super slow, like dial-up only slower because of the latency of cell networks you get 800ms ping times + on a good day. So any net app you might use would be adium (ichat) and you can just use the web based one out already so there is no advantage to this.

If you really need to tether to your computer get an EV-DO expresscard from verizon just for this purpose. Even this "broadband" is still slow.

There's nothing the edge could do fast enough that you would want it tethered to your computer for.

Posted by: lucid1

I tether to my Treo 650 all the time. It is certainly not broadband, but is fast enough (I can still recall 300 baud). What will suck is if I can't pull my sim card and use it in my treo for bluetooth DUN after the iphone is activated. If that is the case, it will probably go back to ATT.

Posted by: baimo

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

The real answer is it is not that slow, at least using edge on my n95. When i need to do several hours of tethering I switch to my BJ for the 3g, but it is not that big of a difference.

I do not understand why the reviewers all stated that internet surfing was really sllooooooow. It could be a specific issue with the iphone and its browser or some other app running in the background.

Posted by: RF9

EDGE is slow compared to 3G, but it's not painfully slow.
For a couple of years I tethered with EDGE only back when it was considered "fast." People seem to have a short memory as if UMTS has been around forever.

Even then a lot of places still don't have UMTS, so your tethering is EDGE anyway.

Posted by: bob69

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

Yes, I'm aware of the pain in EDGE.

More and more clients won't let me connect my laptops to their networks. Sometimes I have to download files to my laptops and right now my TMobile phone tethered to my laptop is the only connection I can get.

Posted by: stufried

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

Slow is a relative concept. Current US EDGE connections are faster than many of the ISDN Connections I've used in Africa and other developing countries. While I don't think EDGE would ever work for streaming, music on the go, VOIP over the air, etc; I do think it is tolerable for basic e-mail checking and web browsing.

Posted by: blackraven

http://lifehacker.com/software/feat...ptop-327066.php

Posted by: cowboy1964

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc2096

The real question is why would you want to. Since the iPhone only uses EDGE it will be very slow for an internet connection on your laptop.

EDGE works fine for web browsing on the iPhone so I would expect similar results from a laptop, depending on what you are doing.

Posted by: dsigma6

Quote:

Originally Posted by stufried

Slow is a relative concept

As is bumping 6 month old threads.

Posted by: RogerPodacter

i've been tethering with my 20 dollar media max plan for years. its not endorsed by ATT. but they have not been restricting it for a long time now. shhhh....dont tell.

Posted by: dmc

It CAN be done:

http://cre.ations.net/blog/post/tether-your-iphone