# Using a iPhone as a modem



## gropierre (Jul 9, 2008)

Hi, 
I live in a region were there is no high speed internet ( no cable, no ADSL ) Would it be possible to use an iPhone as a high speed connection and share it between 2 computers. With Rogers new plan ( 30 $ for 6 Gig ) it would be a fine alternative.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

gropierre said:


> Hi,
> I live in a region were there is no high speed internet ( no cable, no ADSL ) Would it be possible to use an iPhone as a high speed connection and share it between 2 computers. With Rogers new plan ( 30 $ for 6 Gig ) it would be a fine alternative.


They probably have it in the fine print that you're not allowed to do this with the 6gb add-on. Also have you checked the Rogers Vision/3G map to see if there's 3G in your area?

I'm pretty sure you can tether with the $30 for 300mb data plan. but thats not a whole lot to deal with. 

Also I don't think any modem software has been developed for the iPhone yet.


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## petero1818 (Jul 2, 2008)

gropierre said:


> Hi,
> I live in a region were there is no high speed internet ( no cable, no ADSL ) Would it be possible to use an iPhone as a high speed connection and share it between 2 computers. With Rogers new plan ( 30 $ for 6 Gig ) it would be a fine alternative.


Firstly, my guess is that if you live in an area without any hi speed internet, it is unlikely Rogers 3G service will be available in your area. If it is not available, an edge connection would not do you much good. 

Secondly, I do not believe that the Iphone can be tethered to computers for this purpose. I could be wrong though.

However all that said, if you do have 3G why not get a wireless data card for your computer. If you dont, you could use an EDGE card, but speeds are not much different than dial up.


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## MoveZig (Jul 9, 2008)

I've read that it can be done on the old phones but only if the phone is jailbroken and custom software is installed. Perhaps the same thing can be done on the new phones. The question remains: can Rogers or Fido tell that you're doing it? I mean data is data and tethering shouldn't be restricted, but if the telecoms can tell it's tethered, they'll find a way to charge you extra.


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## MoveZig (Jul 9, 2008)

I read that you could do it with the old phones. You needed a jailbroken phone with custom software.

What I'm not sure of is whether Rogers or Fido can tell if it's tethered. If they can tell, you can be sure the all some bogus charge (to the tune of thousands of dollars) to your monthly bill.

6 GB is 6 GB so they shouldn't technically care whether it came from browsing on the iPhone's screen or on your laptop's screen. But if they can find a way to distinguish a service they'll charge you for it.


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

Unless they have changed things with the 3G iPhone, you cannot use it as a modem.


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## htdub (Sep 11, 2007)

Can't but, you can pop out the sim card and drop it into a pc card.

The bluetooth stack in the iphone is crappy, I don't understand why the iphone doesn't have better bluetooth integration with a mac.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

htdub said:


> Can't but, you can pop out the sim card and drop it into a pc card.
> 
> The bluetooth stack in the iphone is crappy, I don't understand why the iphone doesn't have better bluetooth integration with a mac.


would be nice to not have to plug into usb to sync.. but I don't know how fast a bluetooth connection is.

but yeah.... sending files etc to other i/cell/Phone users over bluetooth would be fun sometimes...


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

It's possible that some sort of firmware update will make this possible with the iPhone in the future.

The PC card option above seems workable. At the moment, Rogers hasn't announced any restrictions on tethering for the $30/6GB plan.


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## aaron (Jul 17, 2003)

Tethering has been possible for the iPhone for a while now: http://www.zdziarski.com/papers/tethering.txt

Can an ISP (Rogers) detect when an iPhone is being used for this purpose? Where the iPhone is acting as the proxy, wouldn't all traffic appear to be coming from it?

Cheers,
Aaron.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

That's tethering via wifi. Rogers won't care or know if you do that.





aaron said:


> Tethering has been possible for the iPhone for a while now: http://www.zdziarski.com/papers/tethering.txt
> 
> Can an ISP (Rogers) detect when an iPhone is being used for this purpose? Where the iPhone is acting as the proxy, wouldn't all traffic appear to be coming from it?
> 
> ...


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## gropierre (Jul 9, 2008)

petero1818 said:


> However all that said, if you do have 3G why not get a wireless data card for your computer. If you dont, you could use an EDGE card, but speeds are not much different than dial up.


I tried a wireless data card on Bell Mobility, the speed is about 1.5 Mbits/s but the download limit is 1 Gig/month, after that it's 10 $ per Gig. The price is not the same either, it's 84 $ ( tax and services included) per month. That's why I tought that the iPhone idea was good. It seems that I will stay with my low speed internet ( 56 K ) for a while.


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## htdub (Sep 11, 2007)

HowEver said:


> It's possible that some sort of firmware update will make this possible with the iPhone in the future.
> 
> The PC card option above seems workable. At the moment, Rogers hasn't announced any restrictions on tethering for the $30/6GB plan.


I've used the pc card method on my current $65 / 1 GIG plan, helps when I need to send something from my MBP when i'm far from anything fast, of course edge is not far from fast.


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## htdub (Sep 11, 2007)

jawknee said:


> would be nice to not have to plug into usb to sync.. but I don't know how fast a bluetooth connection is.
> 
> but yeah.... sending files etc to other i/cell/Phone users over bluetooth would be fun sometimes...


Forget the files, the built in sync/sms/addressbook in OSX is amazing. Add in Sailing clicker and having itunes pause when a call comes in is so Apple. But not supported with the iphone, but works on my e61 and my old 4 year old t616 phone is stupid.


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