How To Tether Android Phone for Internet On-The-Go

Are you heading to work and you forgot to include something in your presentation?

Your work is on a laptop, but you don’t have internet connection to access all of your cloud based files. This is where Android tethering comes in handy.

Tethering is a process that lets you use your smartphone’s internet connection on other devices like your PC so that you can access internet on your PC even if you don’t have a local internet connection. If you want to use some PC apps that require an internet connection or if you just want to browse the web on a bigger screen, you can easily tether the internet connection from your Android device to your PC. Here are the methods that you can use to tether your Android device.

This is probably the easiest and most reliable method for tethering your Android device as you don’t need any third party apps. This method should work with most Android devices and this is Google’s own default way for tethering your Android device. This method will only work if your carrier allows the tethering service, usually charged for in the subscription fee.

Go to the Settings app on your phone and open the Wireless and Networks section.

Next, click on Tethering and portable hotspot and make sure that Portable Wi-Fi hotspot is checked. After you enable Wi-Fi hotspot, you’ll get a popup message saying that tethering will consume your battery and that your Wi-Fi connection won’t be accessible while tethering.

After you accept the popup message, you will get the Wi-Fi hotspot setup screen. Here you can configure the network connection that other devices will use through your device. You can edit the network SSID, security type and can set a password. Click Save once you are done configuring the settings. The work on your Android device is done!

In order to use the network connection on other devices, scan for available wireless connections on the other device and select the connection that you created using your Android device. You’ll need to enter the password if you set it up while creating the connection.

The is a third party app which does a fantastic job at tethering your Android device. Downloaded by millions of users, this is one of the best tethering apps available on the Google Play store. You don’t need root access in order to use the app and this is not limited to your carrier’s conditions, meaning that you don’t need to have a tethering plan in order to tether your Android device. Aside from that, the app also features USB and Bluetooth tethering options.

Download and install the FoxFi app on your Android device. You can get the app through the Google Play button below.

Open the app and check the Activate Wi-Fi Hotspot option.

Now, you can select your desired network name and you can set a password for the network connection.

Once you are done configuring the settings, your network connection will be ready and you’ll be able to use it on another device. Follow Step 4 of Method 1 in order to use the internet connection on another device.

This is another great way of tethering your Android device and this a really effective and reliable third party app that doesn’t require root access. You won’t find many tethering apps on the Play Store that don’t require root access and are able to tether your device without a tethering contract or plan with your carrier. Even though the app is extremely easy to use and is quite effective, you will need to install an app on your PC as well. This method focuses on the traditional way of tethering where you can access your phone’s internet connection through a USB cable.

Firstly, download the tether software for your Windows PC here. The app also has a versions for Mac and Linux .

Once downloaded, run the installer file and install the app on your PC. The installation wizard might also install drivers for your device automatically if they’re not already installed on your device. Alternatively, you can manually install the drivers for your device.

Now, go to the Settings app on your Android device and enable USB Debugging by going to the Developer Options section.

Download and install the ClockworkMod Tether app on your Android device. You can download it using the Google Play button below.

Now open the Tether app on your PC that you installed earlier and connect your Android device to your PC using a micro USB cable.

Once connected to your PC, open the Tether app on your Android device and click on the Start button in the Tether app on your PC. That’s it! Your PC should now be connected to your Android phone’s internet connection and you will be able to browse the internet on your PC.

How to Tether Android Smartphone to Ubuntu Linux

Posted by jun auza On 7/22/2012

Ah! You got an awesome Android smartphone. with a blazing fast connection and an awesome download speed. Life couldn't have been more perfect. Well, it was perfect, until you realized that your laptop’s Internet connection isn't as fast as the one on the phone. "Darn! After paying so much for turning my phone into a surfer’s heaven, I can’t even make it work on my laptop!"

Hey, don’t get sad! There’s always a way to solve that problem. Tethering is a technology that allows sharing the Internet connection of the phone or tablet with other devices such as laptops. The connection is usually over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and sometimes also via USB. Though not easily possible in iOS or in other proprietary phone operating systems, tethering is very much the norm in the world of Droids.

Thanks to the openness of Android, people can share their smartphone’s Internet connection with their laptop without paying any extra money. Moreover, Android being Linux-based, many users don’t have much trouble connecting their Linux box to their phone. So, if you too are looking to connect your Android device to your Ubuntu Linux box, here’s a helpful guide for you.

Tethering via USB

Tethering via USB is one of the best ways to share your Internet connection. It is simple, hassle-free, fast, and convenient. There’s no need to set up any password, nor there is any loss of battery (as opposed to tethering over Wi-Fi).

To set up tethering on your phone, go to System Settings first. Here, you’ll find various options for tinkering with your connections. Click on More and proceed.

Then, select the option that says 'Tethering & portable hotspot'. This will then take you to a menu from where you’ll be able to tether your smartphone to your desktop via USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

To get started, connect your smartphone to your Ubuntu desktop via USB. Now, here, don’t select the USB mass storage mode. Simply connect the phone to your desktop and then go to the Tethering & portable hotspot menu again. Check the option that says USB Tethering and wait for a few seconds.

In a while, in your Ubuntu Indicator Menu (Network Manager), a new connection will appear. Usually, even if you’re on another connection, the new connection gets enabled by default. So, basically, this functions more like plug and play.

Tethering via Wi-Fi

If you want, you can also use your Android smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. This is very convenient as you can simply walk into a coffee shop with your laptop and your phone, keep them side by side, and surf the net in its full glory.

To enable Wi-Fi hotspot, go to the 'Tethering & portable hotspot' menu again. From there, select the option that says Configure Wi-Fi hotspot. Enter a Network SSID, Security mode, and password and then press Save. Anytime you want to use your phone as a Wi-Fi router, simply check the Portable Wi-Fi hotspot option and a new wireless network will show up in your network manager.

How to Reverse Tether an Android Smartphone or Tablet to Your PC

Typically, people tether their laptops to their Android phones, using the phone’s data connection to get online from anywhere. But you may also want to “reverse tether,” sharing your PC’s Internet connection with an Android phone or tablet.

There are a variety of ways to do this. You could use a Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth — or even reverse-tether entirely over a wired USB cable. It’s useful when your computer has an Internet connection, but your phone doesn’t.

RELATED ARTICLE

Windows can turn your laptop (or desktop) into a wireless hotspot, allowing your other devices to connect to it. With. [Read Article]

The simplest method here will likely be to create a Wi-Fi hotspot. This is just like creating a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone to share its mobile data connection with your PC or Mac. But, instead, you’ll be creating a Wi-Fi hotspot on your computer and sharing its Internet connection with your Android phone or tablet.

Of course, you’ll need Wi-Fi hardware to do this. A typical laptop will work just fine. If you want to reverse-tether an Android phone or tablet to a desktop computer that doesn’t have Wi-Fi so you can share its wired Ethernet connection. you can purchase an inexpensive USB-to-Wi-Fi adapter and use it for this purpose.

Android phones and tablets don’t support ad-hoc networks, but the Virtual Router software will create a Wi-Fi hotspot that functions as an access point, allowing Android devices to connect. If you’re using another solution, be sure it functions as an access point and not an ad-hoc network .

We recommend using Virtual Router for creating a Wi-Fi hotspot on a Windows PC. It’s a convenient front-end to the powerful Wi-Fi hotspot and Internet Connection Sharing features built into Windows. You can use it to share a wired Ethernet connection over Wi-Fi, or even share a Wi-Fi connection you’re connected to by creating a Wi-Fi hotspot. This makes it convenient in situations where you only have one login for a Wi-Fi network — like in a hotel .

Mac users could theoretically use the Internet Sharing feature built into Mac OS X for this, but that creates an ad-hoc network Android devices can’t connect to.

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Your Mac can function as a wireless hotspot, allowing you to connect your other devices to it and share its Internet. [Read Article]

You could also use Bluetooth for this. Assuming your phone or tablet runs Android 4.0 or newer, you can pair it over Bluetooth and use a Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network).

Typically, you’ll want to create a Wi-Fi hotspot if you use Windows and connect to the Internet through that. Wi-Fi is faster and easier to set up. However, a Bluetooth PAN is particularly useful on Macs — if you want to share a Mac’s Wi-Fi connection with an Android smartphone or tablet, you’ll need to use a Bluetooth PAN or get a second physical Wi-Fi adapter (like a USB-to-Wi-Fi adapter), as you need two separate network interfaces for this.

Enable Internet Sharing over Bluetooth on your Mac and pair your Android phone with your Mac. Tap the connected device on your Android device’s Bluetooth settings screen and enable the “Internet access” checkbox.

RELATED ARTICLE

People often “tether” their computers to their smartphones, sending their computer’s network traffic over the device’s cellular data connection. “Reverse. [Read Article]

It’s possible to tether your computer to an Android phone over USB, accessing the Internet via the phone. You might wonder if it’s possible to reverse-tether an Android phone or tablet to a computer via USB, accessing the Internet through the computer’s network connection.

The USB cable method is most useful when you’re in a location where you can’t use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth reverse-tethering for some reason. It’s obnoxious because of the requirement for root access and the additional hacks and tools required to get this working. Worse yet, some Android apps won’t actually realize they have an Internet connection if you do this. If possible, you’re better off setting up a Wi-Fi access point or using a Bluetooth PAN for reverse-tethering.

Unfortunately, none of these methods will work for a Chromebook. Despite Google’s attempts to make Chrome OS and Android work better together, a Chromebook can’t yet create a Wi-Fi hotspot or Bluetooth PAN to share its Internet connection with other devices.

That’s assuming you’re running Chrome OS, anyway — you could potentially put your Chromebook into developer mode and install a full Linux system to gain access to the Wi-Fi hotspot-creation tools built into typical Linux distributions .

Android tethering

Tethering is a way to have internet access on your PC through your smartphone using its network connection. USB tethering and Wi-Fi access point tethering are natively supported since Android Froyo (2.2). In older versions of the Android OS, most unofficial ROMs have this option enabled.

• Disconnect your computer from any wireless or wired networks
• Connect the phone to your computer using the USB cable (the USB connection mode -- Phone Portal, Memory Card or Charge only -- is not important, but please note that you will not be able to change the USB mode during tethering)
• Enable the tethering option from your phone. This is usually done from Settings --> Wireless & Networks --> Internet tethering (or Tethering & portable hotspot. for more recent versions)
• Make sure that the USB interface is recognized by the system by using the following command:

Note: Take care to use the device name from your own system in the following commands.

Warning: The name may change depending on the usb port you use. You may want to change the device name to create a unique name for your device regardless of the usb port.

Using systemd-networkd you can automatically adjust the networking to use the phone as the gateway when plugged in.

You may have to adjust the idVendor attribute depending on your phone. You can check using udevadm.

Then create the corresponding systemd-networkd file:

This method works for any old Android version and requires neither root access nor modifications in the phone (it is also suitable for Android 2.2 and later, but no longer required).

It does not require changes to your browser. In fact, all network traffic is transparently handled for any PC application (except ICMP pings). It is somewhat CPU intensive on the phone at high usage rates (a 500 kBytes/sec data transfer rate may take more than 50% of phone CPU on a powerful Acer Liquid).

For Arch, you need to install the openvpn package. It is also required to have the Android SDK installed (which can be obtained here or from the AUR). On the phone, you need the azilink application, which is a Java-based NAT that will communicate with OpenVPN on your computer.

Once you have installed the Android SDK, in order to use the provided tools your phone must be properly set up in udev and your Linux user needs to be granted rights. Otherwise you may need root privileges to use the Android SDK, which is not recommended. To perform this configuration, turn on USB debugging on the phone (usually in Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging), connect it to the PC by the USB cable and run the lsusb command. The device should be listed. Example output for the Acer Liquid phone:

Then, create the following file, replacing ciri by your own Linux user name, and 0502 by the vendor ID of your own phone:

As root run the udevadm control restart command (or reboot your computer) to make the change effective.

Now run in your linux PC the adb shell command from the Android SDK as plain (non root) user: you should get a unix prompt in your phone.

Run the AziLink application in the phone and select "About" at the bottom to receive instructions, which basically are:

1. You will have to enable USB debugging on the phone if it was not already enabled (usually in Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging).
2. Connect the phone with the USB cable to the PC.
3. Run AziLink and make sure that the Service active option at the top is checked.
4. Run the following commands in your Linux PC:

You may need to manually update the contents of resolv.conf to

If you're running NetworkManager, you may need to stop it before running OpenVPN.

Android (from at least 4.0 onwards, possibly earlier) can provide a Bluetooth personal-area network (PAN) in access point mode.

NetworkManager can perform this action and handle the network initialisation itself; consult its documentation for more details.

Alternatively: pair and ensure you can connect your computer and Android device, as described on Bluetooth. then, substituting the address of the device (here given as AA_BB_CC_DD_EE_FF ), do:

This will create a network interface bnep0. Finally, configure a network connection on this interface; Android offers DHCP by default.

With this method tethering is achieved by port forwarding from the phone to the PC. This is suitable only for browsing. For Firefox, you should set network.proxy.socks_remote_dns to true in about:config ( address bar )