Useful Trick For Tethering Iphone As A Modem To Connect Laptop, Notebook Or Desktop PC To The Internet
Any Apple iPhone, be it a classic first generation or 3G model, allows you to get connected to the web via various wireless communication services such as GPRS, 3G UMTS, EDGE, GSM, HSPA etc. The introduction of iPhone 3G has brought in a considerable amplification in broadband speed.
This basically means that if you own an iPhone, you can go online on your laptop, notebook or desktop computer by connecting your iPhone to it. By default, iPhone is not equipped with such ability but you may however transform your iPhone into a modem and use it to connect your laptop, notebook or desktop PC to the internet without making use of iPhone modem driver.
There are two ways of doing this. 1st you can use this app: iPhoneModem 2nd you can follow the steps mentioned below.
In order to use your iPhone 3G as an internet gateway for browsing the web on other devices, you will need to jailbreak your iPhone. However, you need to note that this may lead to violation of terms of service laid down by AT&T. The trick for tethering iPhone 3G is pretty simple.
It is all about linking your iPhone to your laptop, notebook or desktop computer through an Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi network, then running a proxy server program on your iPhone and finally intimating the PC’s browser to make use of that proxy. Just follow the below mentioned steps.
Step I: Jailbreak your iPhone 3G
From the iPhone Dev Team portal, download and install WinPwn if you use Windows and PwnageTool if you use Mac OS X. You need to make use of this freeware in order to jailbreak your iPhone 3G.
Step II: Set up 3Proxy and MobileTerminal
Once you jailbreak your iPhone 3G, you will see a Cydia icon on any of the application pages. You need to load Cydia and let it get self updated. Once done, go to the tab “Install” and select “All Packages”. Now, install both 3Proxy and MobileTerminal, and press the “home” button.
Your iPhone will restart and you will see Terminal installed on the iPhone Home screen.
Step III: Create Ad-Hoc (PC-to-PC) Wireless Network (Wi-Fi) on Windows or Mac
Ad-Hoc or PC-to-PC network is basically a temporary network which enables you to share presentations, files and internet connections between multiple devices (e.g. computer). It therefore serves the purpose of tethering iPhone for sharing internet connection.
Incase you use Mac OS X operating system, you can create and set up ad-hoc wireless network by using the link “Create Network” present in the Airport menu. If you use Windows Vista, access “Network & Sharing Center”, click on the option “Set up a connection/network” and choose the option that allows you to set up an ad-hoc (PC-to-PC) wireless network.
Windows XP users can go to the category “Network & Internet Connection” and choose the option that allows you to set up a wireless (WLAN) network for office or home (wireless infrastructure network). The ad-hoc network needs to be named as “SSID”, which is a network name.
Step IV: Join the Ad-Hoc (PC-to-PC) Wireless Network (Wi-Fi) from iPhone
You can join the ad-hoc (PC-to-PC) wireless network that you have created by accessing the settings for Wi-Fi Networks in your iPhone.
Step V: Make a note of iPhone Internet Protocol (IP) Address on the Ad-Hoc WiFi Network
The moment you join and get connected to ad-hoc WiFi network, you need to click the blue colored right arrow that appears next to the Wi-Fi ad-hoc network that is selected or connected in your iPhone. The details of the network will also be displayed which will contain the IP address.
Note down the IP address as you will require it later.
Step VI: Open Terminal Application and Launch Proxy Program
Open “Terminal application” on your iPhone and type in “SOCKS”. Click on “Return” in order to start the proxy server “3Proxy”
If you do not come across any error/warning, you may assume that the SOCKS server is running on your iPhone. The Terminal application remains open. If you wish to close it, you just have to press the button “Home” which will push the Terminal application to the backdrop.
Step VII: Run Mobile Safari on your iPhone and Open any Web Page
You need to establish and start Mobile Safari on your iPhone and browse any web page.
This step is of utmost importance to be make sure that your iPhone switches itself and turns to 3G GSM connection incase it is unable to attain internet connectivity using ad-hoc wireless network, without terminating/dropping the ad-hoc network, thus permitting the proxy server to use 3G network connection to transfer or transmit data.
Due to this, the page takes some time to load at the first attempt.
Step VIII: Configure and Set a Web Browser
Run Mozilla Firefox to configure the proxy server for data transfer. Within Firefox browser, open “Preferences” and select “Advanced”. Now choose network and go to “Settings”. You need to type in the IP address of your iPhone (the one noted down in Step V) within the field “SOCKS Host”. Also enter “1080” within the field “Port” adjacent to the field “SOCKS Host”.
Note that rest of the proxy fields should be either blank or 0.
Step IX: Use SOCKS Proxy for resolving with the DNS
SOCKS proxy is able to build a connection with the target DNS depending on requests received from the application for resolving domain name. Each application that requires an internet connection using the SOCKS proxy basically needs to be manually configured in order to establish connection with the DNS server through HTTP protocol.
Firefox browser comes with the ability to resolve DNS through SOCKS Proxy. This advanced option can be enabled by typing “about:config” into the URL Location Bar in firefox and altering the value of the preference “network.proxy.socks_remote_dns” to “True”.
Some applications fail to successfully connect to Internet using iPhone tethering due to the limitations of resolving DNS through SOCKS proxy. However, the moment you locally cache the DNS requests, the domain starts working well.
Step X: Stop 3Proxy SOCKS Proxy Server
Once you have successfully connected the Internet to your laptop or computer via iPhone, you can now terminate the proxy server which is running on your iPhone. You just need to switch back to Terminal application and keep the “Home” button pressed until the Terminal application quits. If you leave Terminal open, it tends to consume the battery of your iPhone.
By following the procedure up to step IX, you can successfully link your iPhone to your laptop or computer to utilize it as a modem in order to connect and browse the internet. This trick can be applied to variants of iPhones such as first generation iPhone, iPhone 2G , iPhone 3G as well as iPhone 2G (firmware OS 2.0). You may also use iPhoneModem to make iPhone tethering much easier.