Tether: Wireless tethering for only $30 per year
For those of you constantly traveling and unable to access a Wi-Fi connection for your Mac or PC, but unwilling to dish out the $360 a year that some carriers will require for native tethering, you can download Tether’s application for $15 for the first year and $30 for the years following.
While jail breaking is one option for avoiding the cost of tethering, other people may find that paying $30 per-year is worth avoiding the hassle of hacking a phone. Plus, for those of us who have a tendency to drop our phones, voiding the warranty and keep customer support and geniuses at bay is also reason enough to avoid the hack — which is why Tether is such a great service.
Initially launched in November 2011, Tether was originally accepted into Apple’s iTunes App Store. But the app was taken down only a few days later because it violated Apple’s terms. Since then, the team had been creating a workaround. And now, they’ve unveiled the latest version of Tether, built using its patent-pending technology, made possible by HTML5. This time around, the team decided to forgo the app’s submission to Apple altogether, seeing as how acceptance into the iTunes App Store was highly unlikely. Instead, Tether is entirely We-based, letting it bypass Apple’s scrutiny.
The service is available for Blackberry, iPhone and Android, and will currently work for any carrier throughout the world. But it’s a game of cat and mouse. Once the major carriers discern how to distinguish a tethered phone using HTML5 from a non-tethered phone, Tether users will run the risk of being forcibly upgraded to the carrier’s tethering plan, or risk being charged extra for the data sent while being tethered to your computer as per the carrier’s terms of service.
Using Tether isn’t too difficult as the video below will show you. You’ll need to download and install the appropriate software for your operating system, and proceed to create an ad-hoc network on your computer by entering in a password (if desired) for the auto-generated SSID. Note that if once Tether is open on your desktop, your current Wi-Fi connection will be disabled to make way for the tethered connection.
On your phone, find and select the ad-hoc network from list of available Wi-Fi. Then, using your mobile browser, you will be required to log into your paid account on tether.com/web. After logging in, you’re tethered and able to browse the Web on your computer right away.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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