FoxFi No Go on Exhibit II 4G Pre-Paid

[gunshotlead]

I know folks have been reporting mixed results with FoxFi not requiring root. Mine is thumbs down unfortunately. I could not get this app to allow a complete connection when running WiFi hotspot mode. Fortunately, it's been widely documented - you're going to have to root and bypass the Tether Manager running service. Easy enough to do. Then install your own preferred Wifi Hotspot app. This is on a recently activated SE II 4G.

[IsLand_BoY]

That's weird. I had it on my Galaxy S II (with the newest software update which came out two weeks ago) and now I have it on my Galaxy S Blaze, both work just fine without root, and both have the Tethering Manager service running.

The Blaze is especially impressive, it was pulling 6-10mb down in an area where my S II usually gets 3-7. I was having trouble with my home router so I pulled out my Blaze and tethered to it for fifteen minutes to download some updates to my computer.

[gunshotlead]

Well, the strangeness continues. I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.

Got to my remote location where I really need the wifi hotspot since Internet Access here is strictly monitored. For yuks and giggles, I fired up FoxFi again, and lo-and-behold, it works just fine now.

My previous tests with FoxFi had all been at home, where I have a separate Wifi network operating off my cable connection. Prior to installing and configuring FoxFi, I had connected the SEII to my home network so I could take advantage of the really fast speeds to download a lot of apps off the Play Store. Even thought I had triple-confirmed that WiFi was no longer ON in the phone (and rebooting a few times to make sure), I suspect either the stronger Home Wifi signal and/or the fact that I had connected and associated with the Home Wifi on the phone was causing FoxFi fits. However, in my later attempts to troubleshoot at home, I also installed Barnacle and Wireless Tether for Root Users. Both worked just fine regardless of the presence of my Home Wifi, so the experience is inconsistent. However, I really did want FoxFi just because the other two wouldnt' allow me to set WPA as a security protocol - they were both stuck on giving me WEP only, which is a no-go for me. Even using the profile configuration on Wireless Tether, I still couldn't make it work right - tried tricking it into thinking I was a different phone, etc.

Anyway, lesson learned. I probably did NOT need to root, but I wasn't taking the chance of going to my remote location and not having personal Internet access for the day. Didn't really matter, I was happy to root anyway because I got rid of a lot of carrier bloatware.