Tethering

What is tethering? Tethering is using your smartphone as a modem so that your laptop, can access the Internet. Tethering is different than HotSpotting. Creating a HotSpot on your phone allows multiple laptops, iPads, game consoles, etc. to access the Internet through your phone. Hotspotting in affect turns your phone into a wireless router.

Tethering typically requires a cable and uses your data plan. Typically there is no additional charge for tethering.

Hotspotting a phone typically results in additional fees; from $29 per month on up. Additional fees can be avoided by "rooting" or "jailbreaking" your smartphone.

Rooting or jackbreaking a phone means removing the restrictions cell phone vendors place on a phone. Lots of new features become available once a phone is jailbroken or rooted. Cell Phone providers will typically not service a phone that has been jailbroken or rooted - so the best time to perform the procedure is after the phone warranty has expired.

Jailbreaking a phone refers only to iPhones, rooting a phone only refers to Android phone; both procedures are identical; they remove the restrictions phone vendors place on phones.

It is not possible at this moment to root a Blackberry.

To tether a blackberry - visit tether.com - to tether an Android phone visit http://www.mobile-stream.com/easytether/android.html or http://junefabrics.com/android/ and to tether an iPhone visit http://junefabrics.com/android/mac.php. There are many other vendors that offer tethering software - these are the ones we have tried and they work.