iPhone tethering !!!

[Doug Brown]

This is pretty cool. I just found out how to tether my iPhone to my Mac laptop using either USB or Bluetooth. It took less than 5 minutes. It does not involve jailbreaking your phone. AT&T has disabled tethering but this instruction set enables it. Here's how:

1. Quit iTunes
2. Download the following file: iPhone tethering
3. Double click the file to mount it in Finder.
4. Open Terminal and type "defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE" (do not include quotation marks) and hit Enter.
5. Open iTunes, select your phone and press "check for updates" while holding down the 'Alt' key on your keyboard. You will be prompted to select a file. Choose the file that appeared when you double clicked in step 3.
6. After you load the file, make sure you restart the phone by powering it down fully and then turning it back on.
7. Then go into Settings on your iPhone. Select Network. You should see an option for Internet Tethering. Turn it on.

Attempt this at your own risk, but it does work! Tethering can be very useful when you're out in the field without wi-fi and you need internet access on something more full-featured than an iPhone.

BTW I got this off of a reputable website (none other than CNET). Here's a link to the original article. The steps outlined above are not CNET's method. These steps come from someone who commented on the story (it's the fourth comment down).

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Have you tried how fast the download speed is using this method?

[Doug Brown]

I'm currently tethered using Bluetooth and I'm at my house which has a crappy 3G signal. I'm getting 560 kilobits of download speed right now, but the pages load pretty quick.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks, Doug! That means about 70 kByte, right? If I remember correctly the theoretical maximum speed is about 200 kByte right now.

[Doug Brown]

Correct. But it's fast enough for BPN. Are you going to try it Axel? If so, could you please post your findings on this thread?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I might out of curiosity, if I do, I will post the results. The speed should be good since I have 4-5 bars most of the time.

[Doug Brown]

BTW I'm running iPhone OS 3.0 and iTunes 8.2 (these are both the most current versions).

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I installed 3.0, too. I'm not sure tethering is even an option with 2.2.1.

Do you think AT&T might cancel your service if they notice that you enabled tethering?

[Alfred Forns]

I was thinking of that possibility Axel? When enough people try it will find out !!! It is a neat option

Thanks for the info Doug !! Your getting to be handy with those devices !!!!