AT&T has finally enabled internet tethering so you can use your iPhone as a 3G connection. Those of you outside the US that have had iPhone tethering for years can feel free to laugh all you want now. Anyway, the downside to using an iPhone on a PC is that you need to install iTunes. While Apple makes wonderful software for OSX, iTunes on the PC is well, how can I say this, umm, kind of big and fat. My wife has iTunes on her PC and it’s been a hassle at times. As I use OSX for all my music, photo, and video needs, I’ve never needed to run iTunes on my Windows machines. With my upgrade to iPhone 4 (which I can’t rave enough about because it fixed all my dropped call problems), I realized to use the iPhone for tethering to get an internet connection, I was looking at installing iTunes, which was filling me with dread.
As iTunes was downloading, I was thinking I was going to be installing a truck load of programs and services just to get an attachment to the iPhone. All I needed were the device drivers for the iPhone, not the rest of the stuff in the package. As I’ve hacked through Apple’s installers before, and have been doing Windows development far too long, I set out to see if I could get just the hardware drivers without the rest of iTunes. It turned out to be far easier than I ever would have guessed! I’m fully tethered and nary an iTunes or Apple service in sight. Even better, I didn’t have to jail break or hack the iPhone at all.
Obviously you need to be set up with AT&T (or your service provider if outside the US) and have purchased the tethering plan before attempting these steps. The following instructions might work with phones other than the iPhone 4, but I haven’t tested any other combinations. My operating system is Windows 7 x64 but I suspect this might work for other operating systems but don’t know for sure. One major point is that the iTunes-less internet tethering requires a Bluetooth connection. Since most modern laptops have Bluetooth, that’s not much of a problem. If you don’t have a Bluetooth connection, there’s spiffy $20 Bluetooth USB dongles that should work. I spent no time trying to get a USB connection to work so you’re on your own there. Another item I need to point out is that by following these steps, you’ll lose the ability to use your iPhone as a USB file drive. I’m sure there’s a way to get that capability back, but I haven’t looked at what it would take.
Finally, this is obviously not supported at all by Apple or AT&T nor am I an employee of either company. This works for me but it might your fish to swim upside down, your kids to dye their hair purple with yellow racing stripes right before graduation pictures, or blow up your machine so I proclaim myself blameless for any bad things that could happen. With that disclaimer, here are the steps that worked for me.
This blog entry may prove popular with people outside my normal hardcore software developer audience so I’ve made the steps very explicit in order to help avoid bricked phones and laptops. All disclaimers still apply!
To connect to the internet with your iPhone, here’s what you do.
Before the iPhone tethering option, I was using a second 3G wireless modem for my laptop. With the new tethering support, I’m now saving $65 a month with a cheaper data plan and canceling my other line, while getting the same level of service. Throw in a massively better phone with iPhone 4 and it’s a total win all around especially with the minimal software installed.
If you’re having trouble making the iTunes-less tethering to work drop a question in the comments. If you get these instructions to work on different Windows operating systems or iPhone model combinations, please let us know in the comments as well.
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Glad to see the "iPhone Death Grip" isn't affecting you :)
I cant stand having an "unknown" item on my system, to to clean it up and to get rid of the exclamtion point on the bluetooth device:Open Device and PrintersRight click your IphoneChoose propertiesChange to the "Services" tabuncheck "Wireless iAP"
Turp,
Thanks for the hint!
Rainer,
Haha, I get so much better phone reception than I ever got with my iPhone 3G. I have yet to have a dropped call. The "iPhone Death Grip" thing is kind of a tempest in a teapot as far as I'm concerned. :)
- John Robbins
Any chance you've got a walkthrough up your sleeve for Mac users? Chandler.vdw@gmail.com
Brilliant solved my Win7 x64 iPhone 4 tethering problem first go - THANK YOU :)
Why not just download the iTunes file and unzip it with winzip or similar program. Easier than trying to find the temp file.
Good article anyway.
I have a Windows 2003 Server laptop I use for demos. One of the apps I demo has a web component that I want to show on the iPhone.
However, firewalls at prospects always block web servers inside from being seen outside. I thought of setting up tethering. After all, it’s free on my Rogers 6 GB account ... and then I won't need to buy a USB stick and get another data plan...
I tried to install iTunes 10.1 on the Win 2K3 Server but I received a message saying that Apple Mobile Device Support Drivers are not supported except on XP SP2 and above.
Any ideas on how to install Apple Mobile Device Support Drivers on Win 2K3 Server so that I can use tethering?
Thanks very much,
John
Jack,
Doh! Good point. Maybe I just like making things hard on myself. :)
Johnm243,
You're going to have to hack the installer to skip the OS version checks. That's easier said than done.
- John Robbins
Thanks JohnR. I'm not a hacker or a dev guy! So there's no way I could even think of that...
I guess there isn't an iPhone App like Tether for the Blackberry and Android...
I also have a 6 GB plan for my Blackberry so I'll have to see if I can get Tether for the BB working on that Win 2K3 notebook...
John