| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Smartphone for Mac Tethering
Grant Blankenship, Photographer
 |
Macon | GA | USA | Posted: 8:29 AM on 01.05.10 |
->> A nuts and bolts nerd question.....
I'm interested in an iPhone-esque device. I'll need one that will tether to a Mac running OS 10.4 for transmitting. I am lost in the sea of marketing and technical terms I half understand. Any suggestions? |
|
Les Stukenberg, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Prescott Valley | AZ | USA | Posted: 8:53 AM on 01.05.10 |
->> Grant,
I use an iPhone, granted I haven't done any updates on it since 3.0 came out so I don't lose the tethering feature. Wish AT&T would get their tethering act in order for the iPhone. If you bought an iPhone now you wouldn't be able to to it cause they blocked that feature with software updates. Needless to say I wait to find out what the updates actually before installing them, so in this case I gave up MMS and kept the tethering.
Les |
|
Stephen Brashear, Photographer, Assistant
|
Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 9:06 AM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> Grant - Any Blackberry device with Tetherberry (http://www.tetherberry.com/) allows you to tether phone to computer, so you can keep your service if it is not AT&T. They frequently have have 50% coupons floating around. It retails for $50 ($25 w/coupon). No extra monthly tethering fees. You still have to pay for a Blackberry data plan, which is $30/month (Tethering is extra even when you have a data plan). It's pretty easy to set up and use. Feel free to email me if you need more info. |
|
G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
|
Dallas | TX | Lower 48 | Posted: 9:12 AM on 01.05.10 |
->> Grant:
Most of us here at the paper do this with Blackberries. Works decently -- not as fast as a wireless card, naturally, but it works in a pinch. And of course, the speed of your connection will depend on what your service signal is like in any given spot.
Guess you know this already, but you'll need to pay a tethering fee in addition to the data plan. It's like $15-16 bucks for most carriers.
We use Bluetooth to sync the phone and computer, but with Verizon you can also use the VZW access software via a USB cable. I've had worse luck with this on AT&T (whom I switched to last year) as their software doesn't have this capability for Mac yet, as far as I can tell. There's third party software like Tetherberry that lets you accomplish the same thing.
Oh, and I've had more problems with uploads and service speed with an AT&T phone than I ever did with Verizon. In fact, I'm pretty sure I asked about that on this site a while back. It's been more of an annoyance than anything else, which is why I've not investigated it more. Still, if I ever get off my ass and do some research, I'll pass the info along.
Cheers, and best of luck my friend.
- g - |
|
Nick Adams, Photographer
|
Lynchburg | VA | | Posted: 9:50 AM on 01.05.10 |
->> I use my iphone. I ran blackra1n to unlock and jailbreak it, then downloaded the tethering setting off the internet.
The speed is great, with 3g.. I can steam video, et |
|
AJ Mast, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Bryan Hulse, Photographer
|
Nashville | Tn | USA | Posted: 10:48 AM on 01.05.10 |
| ->> I've been trying to get Tetherberry to work for about a week now. I am a bit underwhelmed with their customer service at this point. |
|
Grant Blankenship, Photographer
|
Macon | GA | USA | Posted: 1:48 PM on 01.05.10 |
->> While I like the spirit of Nick's solution, I think Gerry may have the answer.
Gerry, which Blackberry device are you using? |
|
Stephen Brashear, Photographer, Assistant
|
Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 1:59 PM on 01.05.10 |
->> Gerry and Grant-
Some of the newer Blackbery devices run at the same speed as the broadband cards. Older Blackberries use Rev0 and newer Blackberry phones use RevA which is faster. I've had times when Tetherberry is faster than my broadband card and vice versa. The great thing about Tetherberry is that you avoid the additional $15/month tethering fee and pay $50 (or $25 if you get the half off coupon) once. They have a 30-day free trial. The only drawback at this point is that you can't have Blackberry Desktop Manager installed on the same computer as Tetherberry, which should matter much. Just install it on another computer if you use it. And no, I'm not affiliated with Tetherberry in any other way than as a customer. |
|
Alan Walsh, Student/Intern, Photo Editor
|
Tucson | AZ | | Posted: 10:17 PM on 01.07.10 |
->> Isn't using something like tetherberry or jailbraking the iphone to use as a tether a violation of your terms of service? (If you don't already pay for tethering service that is)
What are the consequences of being caught? |
|
Matthew Bush, Photographer
|
Hattiesburg | MS | USA | Posted: 10:36 PM on 01.07.10 |
| ->> http://www.wmwifirouter.com/ this is a program for Windows Mobile that would turn you phone into a hotspot using the internal wifi to bridge to the cellular connection. I had it on my old HTC touch and loved it. I really wish Droid had something like this ! |
|
Jeff Kowalsky, Photographer
|
West Bloomfield | MI | United States | Posted: 10:37 PM on 01.07.10 |
->> Alan,
I agree with you. It is like licensing a photo to a client and they use it beyond the terms of your agreement.
I find it ironic that some photographers have no problems with stealing software/bandwidth, but get out torches and pitch forks if someone takes one of their photos.
Fair is fair. |
|
G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
|
Dallas | TX | Lower 48 | Posted: 12:43 PM on 01.08.10 |
->> Grant -- I use an 8310. I switched over to it when I moved to AT&T. The Verizon folks at the DMN use the 8830 World Edition .... the silver one from a couple of years ago.
I would have preferred to go with a newer model myself (or at least something that was 3G and could use WiFi when available), but at the time I needed something that was compatible with Cradlepoint.
Stephen -- I still had upload issues when I used Tetherberry. I used some Internet site to check download and upload speeds, and I was still having the same slow-down issues with Tetherberry that I was using the "script" and info I found through my own trials.
My original problem is noted here:
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=34467
One of these days I need to get off my ass and figure out what's going on. The annoying part, as I recall, is that AT&T customer service won't help you troubleshoot the Internet via tethering option. Which is nice, since they charge you for it. Bastards.
Grant, good luck. Give me a call or email me if you need any more help or suggestions.
Cheers,
- g - |
|
Colin Lenton, Photographer
|
Philadelphia | PA | United States | Posted: 12:50 PM on 01.08.10 |
->> Grant,
I do this with my Blackberry 8900, on T-Mobile with bluetooth. It works well enough, not very fast because the phone isn't 3G, but no extra software is needed. I just downloaded a modem script available for free online and used the system software already available on every mac to do the rest.
I imagine if you bought a 3G blackberry it would be considerably faster. As far as I know T-Mobile does not have any restrictions on tethering with their unlimited data plan (if this is an issue to you) |
|
Dominick Reuter, Photographer, Assistant
|
Boston | MA | USA | Posted: 1:02 PM on 01.08.10 |
->> If you're in the market for a new phone, the Palm Pre has a tether application that takes some tech savvy to set up, but basically creates an ad hoc wireless network broadcasting the phones data connection through the phones wi-fi.
The phone then basically acts like one of those mi-fi pocket hotspots.
That's the advertised theory at least. I haven't gotten a chance to fully test it, as the free version didn't quite fire up like i expected, and I haven't yet decided to cough up the $10 to get the latest version.
I'll probably get on it soon, and I'll post some results then.
Email me if you want more details.
- D |
|
Kent Nishimura, Student/Intern
|
Honolulu | HI | USA | Posted: 5:32 PM on 01.08.10 |
->> i'd like to second Dominick...
the Palm Pre is a great option for smart phone tethering...
saved my butt.
I was on obama duty on the north shore of Oahu..and my aircard was getting no signal. (thats what i get for a $30/month service...)
the AP writer was nice enough to turn his Palm Pre into a hot spot so i could transmit.
it was nice. strong signal, and fast too!
the verizon/sprint mifi is a great alternative...or a cradle point router with air card attached.
aloha! |
|
Chris Parent, Student/Intern, Photographer
|
Baton Rouge | LA | United States | Posted: 6:01 PM on 01.08.10 |
->> The new Palm Pre Plus that will be on Verizon soon is what your looking for if you want ease of use. It will include an application be make it a wifi hotspot. Similar to the application MyTether that can do it now, but without the complications. I'm sure it will include a Verizon price increase but would be the easiest.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/07/ces.palm.pre.plus.pixi/index.html |
|
Dominick Reuter, Photographer, Assistant
|
Boston | MA | USA | Posted: 12:00 AM on 01.22.10 |
->> So, to re-visit this discussion, I just installed MyTether on my Pre and I am blown away by the seamless results. http://mytether.net/
Basically for $15 you get access to a few items that essentially automate the installation, taking all the aforementioned tech savvy right out of the equation. Don't waste your time on the free one.
After that, you set your network name and password and fire it up. I was loading web pages almost as fast as my home internet connection, and I can totally see filing pictures with no problem.
The nice thing about this app is it doesn't have any extra fees like Verizon. The only warning on the message boards is that streaming torrents will probably raise red flags because of the thousands of connections.
Oh, one last thing, one setting on the application actually disables the camera on the phone, but I think that's a small price to pay, since you can always switch the feature off.
Okay... i feel like a kid in a candy store... or who just discovered wikipedia... or how to write games on my graphing calculator... NERD!
- D |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|