Use Your Pre as a Modem with My Tether

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Wednesday, August 5, 2009 10:43:28 AM

my tether palm pre modem Palm Pre users can now use their device as a modem and even as a 3G router with newly available unofficial software. A developer has created a application called My Tether which enables users to utilize the Pre's 3G connection much like a WiFi hotspot. This lets users share connections and link up laptops on the road over USB, Bluetooth or WiFi.

There are currently two versions of the application. A free version 1.5 requires some technical know-how and Linux hacking in order to install and configures, while a more user friendly version 2.0 comes with its own automated installer. The later option is available with a $10 donation. A tutorial for Windows users is available online here, and you can check out a video demo after the break.


YouTube Link

Thanks to Make for the tip.

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Silly Sprint

freakout @ 8/5/2009 4:17:07 PM # Q
Why did you even bother trying to forbid this?
RE: Silly Sprint
DarthRepublican @ 8/5/2009 6:46:16 PM # Q
Fish gotta swim. Birds gotta fly. Cell carriers gotta screw the consumer.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
RE: Silly Sprint
hkklife @ 8/5/2009 6:46:55 PM # Q
Silly PALM for being so damn smitten with Sprint. For years now they've constantly aligned their fortunes with the Wal-Mart of wireless carriers.

Y'know, there'd be a LOT more interest in the upcoming DevCamp this weekend if Palm had the Pre on another CDMA carrier, a GSM Pre, or even had a WebOS-based non-phone device such as a "Pre Touch".

For every person I know that switched to Sprint or is already a Sprint customer, there are 3 more cursing Palm for not making the Pre available elsewhere.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Silly Sprint
vetdoctor @ 8/5/2009 6:47:40 PM # M Q
I could see a tethered laptop moving significantly more data than a Pre. On that basis it might be in the companies interest to try to bill for data.

Seeing the practical imposibility though I would try to get Sprint to advertise "free tether" with a Pre. Rattle the compitition a bit.

RE: Silly Sprint
DarthRepublican @ 8/5/2009 6:55:33 PM # Q
You keep saying this and it's simply not true. Sprint is not the Walmart of carriers. Walmart is successful. In any case, there are times when it seems that everyone who carries an iPhone curses AT&T for their crappy service and generally evil business practices. And everybody on Verizon gets pissed about its high prices and unwillingness to approve decent phones for its network. And of even (relatively) friendly and nice T-Mobile gets no respect for its smaller, less capable network.

Face it, there are no good American cell carriers.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

RE: Silly Sprint
freakout @ 8/5/2009 7:10:55 PM # Q
The way I see it, cell carriers are the same across the globe. Every country has three varieties:

The 800lb Gorilla: Has indisputably the best network. Also indisputably charges prices that you could charitably term "highway robbery". Has a tendency to control their handsets with an iron fist, demanding proprietary software and crippling built-in features. (In Oz, this would be Telstra)

The middle child: They want to be the 800lb gorilla but can't quite get there. Most of their customers are with them simply because they aren't the gorilla. It's more a vote against their competition than it is for them. (Optus)

Hey, we're cheap: The network isn't quite up to scratch and their handset selection at times feels like shopping at a factory-seconds warehouse, but the prices put the other two to shame. (Vodafone)

RE: Silly Sprint
hkklife @ 8/5/2009 8:55:28 PM # Q
Hmmmm, good point. Ok, Palm is the secondhand thrift shop of handset manufacturers. And I definitely agree with you on the suckage of all of the domestic carriers.

-VZW has great coverage and solid CS. But they are atrociously expensive and have had horrible hardware for years.

-Sprint is cheap but their coverage and hardware (aside from Palm devices and the occasional HTC offering) usually leaves much to be desired. Their CS always leave much to be desired.

-AT&T is also pricey and has (mostly) poor coverage. They'd be toast if it were not for the iPhone (anyone remember how lame Cingular's offerings were in years past?)

-T-Mobile are simply too small to be a force to be reckoned with.

In all fairness, Alltel was a very solid regional offering (aside from their always dated lineup) until they were assimilated by Verizon.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

RE: Silly Sprint
Gekko @ 8/6/2009 4:26:58 AM # Q

move out of the sticks, gentlemen.
RE: Silly Sprint
CFreymarc @ 8/8/2009 1:38:12 AM # Q
It has been my experience that tethering is competition for these "Broadband Cards" that many carriers, like Sprint, sell.

As anal as it sounds, they are interested selling you two plans (one for your and one for your laptop) instead of doing a high volume, data as you want, plan. It is very short sighted. Fortunately for you and I, the carrier doesn't have final say on every feature that goes into a cell phones ROM and only what is turned on or off on shipment.

Eventually, they will give when their bean counters realize the market wants a multipurpose smartphone that lets all your equipment connect to the Internet instead of multiple bills. Recessions are good for things like this as we are in now.

Reply to this comment

A Mini-review.

DarthRepublican @ 8/8/2009 5:05:21 PM # Q
After having played with My Tether for a couple of days, I thought I'd post my thoughts. I'm generally pleased with this app. (I'm posting this while riding home on a bus with my Pre tethered to my netbook through the USB cable. I look like a total dork and I don't care.)

But My Tether is clearly "nerds only" software at this point. While USB tethering works well for me, I still haven't been able to get wifi tethering to work consistently. (Curiously, several of the developers at the Chicago Pre Devcamp set up My Tether with their laptops today and at least one of them was able to get the wifi tethering working fairly easily but couldn't get the USB tethering to work.) This is definitely a YMMV situation.

Tethering generally works better with Windows XP as Vista tends to get temperamental about the security implications of downloading files to its "Program Files" directory.

Still, the bottom line is that I have it up and running and can connect to the 'net anywhere I have cell coverage. So hooray for My Tether. Windows reports a speed of 425.9 Mbps and that sounds about right. In practice, I get about half the speed of my home DSL connection out of my tethered Palm Pre.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

RE: A Mini-review.
hkklife @ 8/9/2009 11:47:34 AM # Q
Look like a total dork? I've got one much better than that!

My best geeky wires galore experience was in an airport sometime in early 2003ish. I had my Tungsten T with a serial Hotsync cable attached, with a gender changer or two on the end of that. That monstrosity was then connected to a SupplyNet serial cable going to my Motorola V60 phone. On top of all of that, my T|T was precariously perched on a ThinkOutside (or Palm) IR portable keyboard. It was an impossibly fragile kludge of a solution but I was able to sit at a small table and bang out responses to a few dozen emails, update my AvantGo channels, and send off some work I had just finished editing.

That said, I have determined that the ideal formfactor with the best compromise between portability and power is an 11.6" or 12" netbook with some kind of WWAN capability. The lack of officially supported Pre tethering (Thanks, Sprint!) is a huge bummer. I suppose the carriers all want us to make do with ExpressCard & USB modems.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->?

Reply to this comment

OH, that's why no tether

vetdoctor @ 8/10/2009 1:21:34 PM # Q
Here Sprint is pushing there "MiFi". Why you would want one under any circumstances I do not know. But if you had a Pre Tether it would be worse than useless

http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork/mifiProductPage.html?id9=Ad_2009q3_mbb_mifi_anyspot_728x90
In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.
- Chesterton

RE: OH, that's why no tether
DarthRepublican @ 8/10/2009 7:26:20 PM # Q
Actually, I saw the MiFi in the Sprint store on the day I bought my Pre. A very elegant and lust worthy little device. If Sprint weren't asking so much money for it or if it were possible to just buy it and use it with the same data plan I have with the Pre (I wouldn't even mind if they slapped it with a 250 GB download limit or whatever they are doing these days.)

But no, you have have to buy it along with a separate data plan, effectively doubling your monthly fees for the privilege of carrying an EVDO wifi hotspot in your pocket. (As opposed to hacking your Pre into an EVDO modem -- a pain in the ass but doable.) Too freakin' 'spensive Lucy.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

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