Sunday, April 4, 2010

Use iPhone tethering to get 3G on your WiFi only iPad

I figured out a way to get the 3G service from your 3G enabled iPhone to your iPad, only using these two devices and software! Although there might be other ways to achieve this, this worked for me and is relatively simple to set up.

Jailbreak your phone
There is plenty of info online about how to do this, so google it. As far as I know, the iPhone 3G and 3GS can be jailbroken on the most up to date firmware.

Buy MyWi
Any jailbreak method should leave you with Cydia. So in Cydia, search for MyWi. This application enables the phone's 3G service to be shared over WiFi. I don't condone pirating, so seriously, BUY this, don't steal it via those sinful iPhone repos that are out there that hosting cracked apps. Make sure you get the No Rock version with Cydia. If you are using Rock as your jailbreak package manager, then get the appropriate download.


Enable MyWi
Name your network, set a password. Then hit the on switch to enable to WiFi tethering. You'll know its working when you see the blue bar telling you upload and download figures.





Connect iPad to this WiFi network
Go to your iPad Settings->WiFi. Find the network that MyWi has created. Join it and enter the password.



Win
But be careful of your network operator charging you for extra data, since tethering is technically not part of your "unlimited" service, especially here in the US with AT&T

14 comments:

Chuck Baldwin said...

Would AT&T be able to know you are tethering with a jail broken phone? I know they charge for it (a ridiculous amount) but how would they know, if you are using alternate software?

Raj said...

Well, if they ever run any kind of deep packet traffic analysis they will see stuff like http headers that have iPad safari user agent strings, and they can try and say you are tethering. I haven't heard of anyone being charged yet in this manner so it should be okay though.

Chuck Baldwin said...

Thanks for the advice, Raj. Hoping to jailbreak and test this soon!

Raj said...

Awesome! Let me know how it works out for you. As for me, I'm really excited about being able to use my iPhone and iPad together like this.

Display name said...

I have been looking but to no avail for a working jailbreak for the 3GS on 3.1.3
None of the "sn0w" or "rain" methods seem to work for me... Any suggestions?

Raj said...

The Man, I forgot about this combination of hardware/firmware. Yes, it has been jailbroken by Geohot, but he hasn't released the tool to the public yet. He will though, like he always does, when its fully baked and when it strategically makes sense in the Apple vs. Hackers cat-and-mouse-game. I know it sucks, but when he releases it, you should be able to follow these directions pretty easily to get 3G on your Wifi only iPad.

http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2010/03/untethered-jailbreak.html

I'd suggest watching his blog for updates.

Raj said...

I just found this, I'm not sure if it will do the trick, but its not one of the regular Geohot or dev-team releases, this is from a new player into this game. See if it works for you:
http://www.techhail.com/iphone/download-sn0wbreeze-3-1-3-to-jailbreak-iphone-3gs3g-with-3-1-3-firmware/3209

Unknown said...

Raj - I am able to Tether my 3GS phone (Vodacom SA) - without a jailbreak (because it is not AT&T). Does this mean I can tether to the iPad.

Raj said...

@Samir:

As far as I know, the official tethering only supports sharing the connection over the Apple 30 pin -> USB interface. This means you'd need a separate device (like a computer) that takes the USB connection, and rebroadcasts it over Wifi to tether to your iPad. I think all the modern operating systems support this feature. Just google "internet connection sharing XYZ" where XYZ is the OS version you want, like Windows Vista, Windows 7, etc.

Unknown said...

Will this work on IOS 4.0.1 on an 3gs?

Barron-Gafford's said...

Nice trick Raj. I have been trying to decide whether to go with the Wifi only or the Wifi & 3G. I love the sound of this tethering trick. Do you know if it would still work if I got the WiFi & 3G version of iPad, just avoided using it's built in 3G capabilities?
Thanks

Raj said...

@Ivar:
It should work on any iPhone, any OS, but I'm not 100% sure. Its possible MiWi doesn't work on iOS 4 yet, but I will find out and write a post about it.

@Barron-Gafford's:
It will certainly work on any device with WiFi, iPad 3G included. You could just not have a 3G plan for your device, and use the WiFi.

Christiaan Nagel said...

Hey Raj

I've just managed to jailbreak and unlock my 3GS 4.0.2 which was on AT&T. I'm now on Vodacom.
How do i tether it and use it as a modem for my laptop?
I've tried iphone modem 4 and MyWi 4. I've got them installed. There is a connection betwee my laptop and iphone, but none between my laptop and the internet.
These are wireless apps right, i've tried the USB and Bluetooth connection too though..

Please help
Regards
Christiaan
0768950090

Raj said...

@christian:

If you've followed the MyWi instructions I give you above, I'm not sure why else it wouldn't work. I've tried the USB tethering with MyWi and that has worked for me too.

Once you connect the laptop to the MyWi hotspot, try the regular IP address release/renew tricks. If this doesn't work for you, I'm really not certain what's going on.