My Tether turns mild-mannered Palm Pres into wild and crazy hotspots
By Tim Stevens 
posted August 6th 2009 9:26AM
posted August 6th 2009 9:26AM
Official application portals like Apple's App Store and Palm's App Catalog are the big box retailers of the mobile space: plenty of choices, but to get the really good stuff you have to go elsewhere. Case in point: My Tether, an app that, naturally, allows tethering through a Pre, and does so quite comprehensively. Palm's savior can be directly attached through USB, but Bluetooth and WiFi are also available, thus delivering the connectivity trifecta. It's a lot easier to enable than the last option we found, and though the fully-automatic, self-installing version costs $10, there's a free one if you're feeling cheap (and know your way around a shell prompt). We're still waiting to see whether Palm or Sprint will put an end to these 3G hijinks, since the pair are obviously not in favor of them, but right now this particular carrier needs every selling point it can get -- even unofficial ones like this.
[Via Palm Infocenter]
Wow look at those on/off switches. Now I know where the Palm Pre was inspired from.
I know I thought exactly the same thing!
Shut up! Seriously!!!
Would an on/off radio button be better? That wouldn't be as 'fun' on a multitouch phone first off. Second, it's not like Apple invented the toggle switch.
Actually, Palm didn't copy anything. It was the makers of this particular app who made that interface. The regular Pre's interface looks completely different. Stop trying to make a null point, you're all smart enough to know that.
Paul,
Wanda Sykes called. She hopes your kidneys fail.
@ Paul...
*sigh*... "PALM" is not trying to copy the iphone, in case you havn't noticed by it's (many) hardware and software differences.
Captive touch screens, html browsers, and application catalogs are the way that the market is moving.
Im not saying that Apple hasn't paved a road here and there, but its not like "PALM" lives to produce KIRFs.
isnt the internet fun? -_-
Hey Paul,
Change your name or get banned again?
your whole "existence" on this website is pretty pathetic.
hah.. copying the iphone and imitating it for user convenience is kinda not the same thing, imo.
but anyways... if they are trying to copy the iphone, dont you think they would run advertisements that say soemthing more like "this phone and associated plan are just as good as the iphone and its plan. but if you're cool, youll buy this one instead of the iphone."
i personally like both devices and platforms. each can offer something that the other doesnt.
but-- i swore to myself i would never get into an engadget scuffle with any sort of narrow-minded fanboy, but here i am.
i'm so ashamed.
paul, something bad needs to happen to you. now.
@ Down and Paul
Troll, party of two, your table is ready.
You don't have to be an "Angry" PC user to get aggravated at the senseless BS that happens when you show up Paul. While some of your points in your posts are true, the way you go about it is wrong and people tend to low rate you because if this.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery!
By the way, good job in responding to the actual substance of this post... you know, that the Pre now has tethering capability. Oh wait, you don't want to mention that because another phone that you love doesn't... so instead you say it "looks like" another phone. You stay classy guys.
just remember... he's getting downranked by the same audience that makes up the 200 or so comments on every apple article. they aren't haters. they can just tell when someone presents their thoughts and ideas (have of them ridiculous) as a douche.
*half
...damn i need some coffee :\
"he get's downvoted and hammered by the ubiquitous haters all over this blog...must be full of a bunch of Christian zealots"
Actually, I think you have your analogy mixed up. I kind of picture Paul as a splinter branch of the Church of Apple. You know that most mainstream worshipers of Jobs are decent people, even if you don't accept the theology. But the militants don't like mainstream, so they carry their crusade to every blog post for or against their teachings.
Oh sure, Paul inspires equally stupid return rhetoric, but that's what happens when zealots clash with zealots. He's not a reasonable person, and does not inspire reasonable replies. Like others before him, he could tell us that the sky is blue in such a way that we'd be whipping out wikipedia to prove that the sky, in fact, is not blue because of x,y,&z reasons.
Erm, anyway, UI critiques aside, it is a pretty cool feature that someone whipped up. And its not like you can exceed the 5GB cap, so it only pisses off carriers that you might use what you're entitled to.
Yay! Another comment section distryed by Paul and co. Can't you guys at Engadget just ban his IP address?
I'd like to see tethering stick around on the Pre. Not cause I own but if Sprint can allow it, I hope ATT changes their mind. My Internet occassionally goes down at home and it'd be nice to have some backup.
I'd pay $5.00 a month to read a Paul Chapel free Engadget.
Haha. I'd call it "On/Off" Switch done Right! iPhone's on-off looks sooo 2002. White and blue? Are we in OS 10.1 world again?
@ Paul, I'll join you getting ranked down by PC fanboys saying they hate Apple fanboys. Pot...calling...kettle...black...but yea, developer or Palm, this app looks exactly like apple's UI. Just rounder sliders and a softer background is the only difference.
And for the Palm fanboys, you guys have more Apple hires than Apple has. So, yea, you're are going to end up looking exactly the same, because that's Palm's aim here.
the FREE app is extremely easy to load. basically all the Pre apps are easy to load once u install FileCoaster which will allow you to DL apps directly from the web and install on your device..
Iv been using the tether app for a couple days now and its no different the WMwifirouter i was using on my HTC Mogul for years.
And the community at Precentral IS THE BEST.
Every pre user should be on that site daily. tons of FREE homebrew apps to install.
Well its not "free" anymore, to get the latest version you have to donate to the creator. Same shit with tetris aka blockdrop.
We'll consider your "advice" (AKA spam) when you learn to spell "you".
No thanks InformationCentral. That didn't bother me enough to consider it spam. It was actually a useful message. I don't understand how all you fake Maddoxes can be so offended by a simple abbreviation
Sprint should be smart and allow tethering on Pre the way its currently configured with the simply everything plan. Other phones in the past from Sprint have allowed tethering on the Simply everything plan out of the box. And I really dont think Sprint does a good job marking their killer plans.
The reason I didn't buy the Iphone was because I don't want to pay 90 bucks a month for it. Thats the bottom line for most people.
[sry for double post, i fail at engadget]
agreed. Sprint does not advertise their plans enough (other than the "save $1200/yr over comparable iphone plan" business)
their 'now network' commercials are definitely innovative and interesting (while the full blown Pre ones creep me out), but they seem to be gearing more towards advertising the pre, when i'm sure half of their potential customer base don't give a damn about that phone.
I personally just love teh ease of development (html/js/css
Way to be behind the times by like two weeks engadget. I thought maybe you didn't want to alert sprint to this.....
Yeah, seriously. This is why we can't nice things. Way to blow up our fun Engadget.
"We're still waiting to see whether Palm or Sprint will put an end to these 3G hijinks"
I can do this on my WinMo Touch Diamond on Sprint (free app, auto install of course). Part of the setup is to edit the registry of the device to tell Sprint it's the phone using the data, not a tethering connection. So, Sprint can't stop it, because it doesn't know what you're doing. You just have to watch how much bandwidth you use.
"So, Sprint can't stop it, because it doesn't know what you're doing."
The difference in this case is that Palm is forcing people to update the software on their phones. So if Sprint bullies Palm enough to close the loopholes or whatever in the next update, we will be forced to install the new "features".
Please Paul/Down/First Post, don't pretend like you guys DIDN'T imply Apple. It's one thing to troll, it's another to troll arrogantly. The former is expected from anti-anti-Apple crowd, the latter is just embarrassing to those who respect both Apple and Palm.
I've used this app and its amazing. It worked great when I was waiting at an airport and needed to do stuff on my laptop but didn't want to pay for wifi.
I want to add this functionality to my pre (and will pay) but I want to wait and be sure sprint is not going to kill it. Plus I wont need this for a few months so I imagine we will know by then how sprint plans to deal with this.
agreed. Sprint does not advertise their plans enough (other than the "save $1200/yr over comparable iphone plan" business)
their 'now network' commercials are definitely innovative and interesting (while the full blown Pre ones creep me out), but they seem to be gearing more towards advertising the pre, when i'm sure half of their potential customer base don't give a damn about that phone.
There's a difference between copying a product and competing with a product. I for one like competition. That said, I like how they are letting geeks get it for free and only people that don't know how to configure a connection have to pay for the software.
This is ace. Although, peaked a bit too early... I'm guessing a variant of this app for the GSM Pre on O2 won't be available, or that O2 will be al over that :-S
That font on the Pre is incredible. I love it!
The most loyal Apple fanbois are rewarded with 10 minutes of digging through Bill Gates' couches for change.
Wow, you can connect the phone to a computer and it COMMUNICATES WITH IT?
Ya year that, Apple? Maybe someday iPhone owners will have the functionality that Palm Pilots handled with aplomb a decade and a half ago.
Step 1: Stop trying to use a music-player app to manage data and applications for a handheld computer.
FAIL
Copying is what Apple does: Mac OS = Xerox PARC, touchscreen (including multitouch) = not invented at Apple. Firewire = not invented at Apple. OS X = Nextstep = BSD Unix. iPod = refinement of existing PMPs. To quote your fearless leader, "Lesser artists copy. Great artists steal." - Steve Jobs.
Competing by producing superior products is what EVERY good company including Palm does. The Japanese didn't invent cars, just built them more ergonomic and more reliable. Pre offers features the iPhone DOESN'T have: a physical keyboard, a GREAT network (better than AT&T at any price, and 30% cheaper to boot), and multitasking. It also forced Apple to offer incredibly simple features they refused to give users for 2 years: MMS and cut and paste, features they COPIED from the Palm Pre after the impressive reception it received on announcement.
As someone already pointed out, the iPhone does NOT have tethering software. This functionality was already available on other platforms, but the Palm Pre is the first platform capable of competing with and besting the iPhone. I for one am ecstatic to have the ability to occasionally tether while traveling without paying $60/mo for a data card that would sit idle most of the month or $10-25 a night for hotel wifi which gets used 1-2 hours a night. If Palm and Sprint are smart, they will not shut this down. They do need all the customers they can get. (Plug the Pre into a power source to avoid power drain during tethering and loss of wifi internet when the Pre goes into sleep mode.)
David
Touchstones work surprisingly well for this functionality, since the screen doesn't dim unless you lock the phone.
Also, the fact that I can now have my own wifi hotspot is pretty awesome, considering the fact that I spend at least 80% of my time away from areas with dedicated internet. The Pre is pretty sweet for this.
Actually, the screen doesn't dim at all. Whoops.
Palm freaking invented the smartphone.
How does this not avoid the 5gb cap?
They don't know WHAT is using it other than the phone. The phone is the source and that's on an unlimited plan (unless you like to be sadistic and pay for a less than $99/unlimited plan) ....
So yes this is definitely a big issue for carriers with their current structure. I literally just got back from the Sprint store, I bought a Pre...The guy there told me their USB cards used to be unlimited but since MiFi (and maybe just the public getting smarter about devices) they started capping to 5GB. I know before MiFi there was also a cap. I doubt many people ever went beyond it even given the chance, but it's probably there for some small 1% that would use it to do something illegal.
Our habits change. We will eventually use more than 5GB. Streaming Pandora and other things...legal things. So the carriers will need to raise the cap. One reason for the cap is because with MiFi a bunch of computers can start humping their network. So that could start to cause reliability issues. However, I would imagine that as time goes on their networks can get better and handle that many people.
Of course a cellular internet is only an "in a pinch" and if I had the choice between a wireless hotspot (free) and my tethered phone...Guess which I'd choose?
I think that as long as a phone can connect to a computer, you'll always be able to tether it. I'm not sure how a carrier could avoid it. All they know is the phone uses the internet. It doesn't know where the data is going ultimately or what device is steering and making the requests.
Obviously everyone wants to use cellular internet more. I used it for years before the iPhone, but I thank the iPhone for paving the way and bringing in the average user. Apple is really good at swaying a particular type of audience. I like Apple products, I've used their products and almost got an iPhone, but honestly I don't like the company. They charge over market value for hardware and they have this scheme of making people rebuy the same devices every 6 months to a year. From ipods to iphones. You can't replace batteries...the batteries wear out we all know that they do. You can't use removeable media for storage. So they start off with 1gb and then 2 and 3 and rope you in. Ultimately for as "green" as they want to be with their new laptop, I have to laugh because they are promoting pollution by making people upgrade and ditch their old devices into landfills...
But I digress and as far as the argument about stealing ideas is concerned EVERY company barrows ideas from others. Otherwise there'd only be one car manufacturer, etc. It's a pretty good thing we have inspiration in the world. So that means yea funny enough iPhone, Pre, etc. are working together to figure out good UI, good design, etc. that is not only attractive to the mass population but also usable... Further, don't think that Apple is some messiah or great inventor company. It bought the multi-touch technology on the down low from a company that build pads that plugged in to USB for people with motor function problems. Cool gesture pads that I always wanted to track down, but are hard to come by. Further...Apple gobbles up other patents and buys their technology. They are not a hardware R&D company. They are a retailer and software development company. Where do you think the bits in their devices come from? Some magical farting apple? Nope, same companies that put the parts in....wait for it....PC's running Windows! Oh my God! Woah! Wow! Further, my PC can run OS X.... so how do you like those Apples...but I run Fedora Linux. So enjoy arguing amongst yourself. I'm off to enjoy the Pre.
to all readers... My mom always taught me that if you ignore someone, they will go away. By responding to and arguing with Paul, you are encouraging him to come back again and again. If you don't like him, don't talk to him.
No, the toggle switch was not invented by Apple. It was first used in this way on this type of phone by Apple, but who gives a crap? iPhone was an innovation leader when it came out. Since then, there have been many worthy competitors, but none quite did it.
Now, everyone is in the App Store/Touchscreen/Media Phone game, and things are going to get interesting. I can't wait. I use an iPhone 3GS because it integrates with my life well. It has the database apps that I need to do my job, and no other phone does. I also keep an older 3G around that is jailbroken to use PDAnet to get tethering, but I'd kill for this Palm App on the iPhone. It links the 3G radio to the WiFi, essentially creating a wireless hotspot by pushing a button. It's like a free MiFi!
I love my iPhone, but in relation to this one App, Palm beats the iPhone hands down!
@Tom
"They charge over market value for hardware and they have this scheme of making people rebuy the same devices every 6 months to a year"
don't start that again. People pay market value, that's called capitalism. If they were charging "too much" people wouldn't buy them. And the only one making you buy a new toy every 6 months is you. I love my Apple products as much as any piece of electronics I own, but I jut replaced a 5 year old PowerBook with a new MacBook Pro. Not 6 months or a year, 5 years. People who have self control don't need the latest toy, or to buy a new iPod because it has a few more gigs of memory.
It's not a scheme, it's called "marketing". look it up.
I installed the free app a few days ago. It only took a few moments to root the Pre, then get everything installed via the command line. There are a few bugs, apparently, as my phone has rebooted on me a couple of times since the installation while shutting down the app. Other than that, it's an amazing program and I'll probably spring for the paid app just to help the developer.
I love my Pre, and I also have an iPod Touch. Personally, I like the internet and email experience on the Touch more than the Pre. For one thing, I still can't use my Pre to send email from my company EAS server. So, now that I have this WiFi tethering option, I'll enable the WiFi on my Pre and then use Safari and the mail client on my Touch. It's essentially the same thing I used to do with my Palm TX and my Treo 755.
I love my Pre AND my Touch.
This program is a simple unlocking of the "built-in" tethering program on the Palm Pre (in other words MyTether is really not an application). The reason it is disabled on the device is because Sprint pulled off the tethering plan on this phone before Pre's launch. My question is that how would Sprint "Not" be able to detect or charge the usage if they want to? Or, if/when they flip the feature back on?
my tether is infact an application it has nothing to do with the built in tethering the pre was supposed to have. the reason my tether tethering can not be tracked by sprint is because it simply routs your phone internet straight to your computer it looks no different to sprint at all to them it seems as if you are just browsing the web on the phone. now if you were to use the built in tethering (which no one has figured out how to do fully yet considering my tether does such a good job as is) i am sure they have some sort of way to track that
for the record... there is no 5gig cap when using internet on your phone so no cap when tethering.. the 5 gig cap is not really a cap beyond 5 gigs you start paying per kbite. but it only applies to the usb modems not cell phone internet.. also applies to phone as modem plans but once again not to your unlimited phone data plan which is what my tether uses.