Tethering to Android

[guy.joseph]

Hi

Ok, well I'm very new to this! I'm looking at buying an Android tablet.

I've got a few criteria but the these two are biggies:

• Can I buy one of the mini USB bluetooth dongles and connect it to a tablet? If so do I need a specific make/model/firmware/hack to get it to work?
• By using this dongle, can I connect to my phone (T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream) in order to connect to the internet/messaging/GPS?

I would be up for spending some time tinkering with it, but I want a tablet with a decent community to help me out!

Please ask if this a) didn't make sense or b) you want to know more!

Many thanks

Guy

 

[jkane]

I think it depends on a lot of things! Like brands of both the tablet and the phone.

I am trying to connect a HTC Desire from USCellular to an Archos 101. No luck so far. First, USCell is still at 2.1 which means hotspot is not available yet.

As is, I can not get the two to talk. I have played with some temporary root applications. I got the phone to talk wifi, but in adhoc mode only. Android does not support adhoc yet. So, no joy there! There is another root hack to turn it on on the tablet. I have not completed tha step yet. Mabye later today.

USB and Bluetooth are both no-go's for me at this point. Not sure if 2.2 on the HTC phone will help. I have heard it might, but no guarantees yet. Even so, when USCell does that, they offer an extra fee to use it. :-(

 

[probbiethe1]

Two answer your questions simply no you cant. like jkane said you cannot connect an android device to an adhoc network without some hacking and that might not even work. jkane is also right there are some phones that when they get 2.2 they have a native wifi hotpsot option but not all and its mostly custom roms that offer it so if you want your tablet to tether to your phone i recommend upgrading from the g1 to a nexus1 and that will solve most of your problems

 

[Fozzer]

I think it depends on a lot of things! Like brands of both the tablet and the phone.

I am trying to connect a HTC Desire from USCellular to an Archos 101. No luck so far. First, USCell is still at 2.1 which means hotspot is not available yet.

As is, I can not get the two to talk. I have played with some temporary root applications. I got the phone to talk wifi, but in adhoc mode only. Android does not support adhoc yet. So, no joy there! There is another root hack to turn it on on the tablet. I have not completed tha step yet. Mabye later today.

USB and Bluetooth are both no-go's for me at this point. Not sure if 2.2 on the HTC phone will help. I have heard it might, but no guarantees yet. Even so, when USCell does that, they offer an extra fee to use it. :-(

JKane
If you have root use a app called Wifi tether for root users it then turns your desire into a mobile wifi hot spot and your tablet will connect with no problems. I was using this for months untill I got the 2.2 update.
You can not get it through the market so either go to the web site direct ( google it ) or if you are uaing appbrain from the market you can search and download it from there.

Sent From Android 2.1 Telechips 800 Mhz Tablet

 

[guy.joseph]

Two answer your questions simply no you cant. like jkane said you cannot connect an android device to an adhoc network without some hacking and that might not even work. jkane is also right there are some phones that when they get 2.2 they have a native wifi hotpsot option but not all and its mostly custom roms that offer it so if you want your tablet to tether to your phone i recommend upgrading from the g1 to a nexus1 and that will solve most of your problems

Hi

Wow guys thanks for so many helpful replies!

The phone is currently at 1.6, but I believe it can be upgraded to 2.2. Are you saying that the tethering in 2.2 is an infastructure based network (ie. it can be connected to by another android device?) because that might solve my problem!

Sounds to me like the guys at PDANet need to get together and create an android client software, as well as an android server!

Cheers

 

[probbiethe1]

fozzer i think thats 100 percent correct wifi tether for root users can be downloaded from the market also it only turns your phone into an adhoc network which android tablets wont connect to, unless you have a phone like the evo 4g that wireless tether actually can turn it into a wifi hotspot. but fozzer you said it was working for you what phone were you using when this worked?

 

[jkane]

That is what I am using. It appears to be only adhoc. I jsut went out to their web page and got the latest experimental. It still loads as a adhoc only. There is a setup howto that says to copy some files. I did not do that part. Maybe I'll try that next.

 

[tae254]

Like others have said it wont connect to your tether app on a phone rooted or non rooted because it can't connect to an adhoc connection. If your phone has 2.2 with the hotspot feature then you would be able to use that. If you are good at programing you can do some programing to your device to make it connect to adhoc but you have to be very careful because you can mess up the wifi all together.

 

[guy.joseph]

Like others have said it wont connect to your tether app on a phone rooted or non rooted because it can't connect to an adhoc connection. If your phone has 2.2 with the hotspot feature then you would be able to use that. If you are good at programing you can do some programing to your device to make it connect to adhoc but you have to be very careful because you can mess up the wifi all together.

Sounds like I'll be cyanogening my Phone up to 2.2 then!

 

[probbiethe1]

Well it still depends on your phone and the g1 can't do it

Sent from my ADR6300 using Android Tablet Forum App

 

[guy.joseph]

Well it still depends on your phone and the g1 can't do it

Sent from my ADR6300 using Android Tablet Forum App

I've seen a 2.2 ROM for it...

 

[gurgle]

As an alternate solution, IF you have a Archos 101 and your Phone allows DUN BT tethering. You can tether your tablet that way. This does not require rooting. But it requires BT 2.1 (Not Android 2.1) capability and you set up a DUN BT pairing. You still cannot do BT PAN capability to Phones. This would be optimal if you had BT 2.1 on both devices which allowed PAN capability

 

[jkane]

That was a waste of time! :-( The detailed instructions did not chagne the workigns of wifi tether work any different. Oh well! It is only adhoc until 2.2 and wifi hotspot is turned on. Anyhow, that's what I am gathering from all the reading I am doing.

There is one more solution. It involves rooting the tablet. I did that once, (temp kind with Z4). But uninstalled it. I may have to try again, but will try Visionary this time. It seems quicker and more stable, on my HTC anyhow. Then you have to edit some config files to make the tablet able to listen to Infrastructure Mode and not jsut adhoc. It looks like a simple hack. But it does require root to edit the files as they are on the Read Only file system. I am not sure if it restores them on reboot wchic would make this a useless hack as often as my tablet seems to need rebooting right now.

As for USB, and Blue Tooth, your phone has to support it or something. HTC supports USB, but with their drivers which only work on Windows. BT is an interesting animal too. The latest tablet update for Archos added that support better. I can see my phone, but it won't connect. It pairs, but won't connect.

Manual config of USB requires you to know the APN code. Some phone companies let that code out. Do a google search and you'll find stuff. USCell doesn't seem to have offered it to anyone who is releasing it. Although I guessed at a couple things, they did not work. So either I haven't guessed the right APN yet, or the BT function isn't supported yet. USCell does not sue SIM cards. That may also have somethign to do with it. I have not figured out exactly how that really orks yet.

Bottom line ... I think you need 2.2 on both your tablet and your phone. Even then, it's speculation, not fact that it will work. USCell has promised 2.2 since October, so any day now. <rolling eyes>

My latest plan is to use a netbook as a wifi AP. I can tether my cell to it via USB. Then set it up as an AP for the tablets to connect to. Not pretty, but it may work in a mobile situation for a while anyhow until another solution comes along.

 

[gurgle]

I have done what you describe. There is a PC app out there that will turn your WLAN PC NIC into a AP and not Ad Hoc. It is a tool sometimes used by Sec ppl and Hax0rs to imitate a real AP. I think it was/is called Connectify or something like that.

 

[Fozzer]

fozzer i think thats 100 percent correct wifi tether for root users can be downloaded from the market also it only turns your phone into an adhoc network which android tablets wont connect to, unless you have a phone like the evo 4g that wireless tether actually can turn it into a wifi hotspot. but fozzer you said it was working for you what phone were you using when this worked?

I was using it on both my rooted G1 and desire, in fact I'm at work now using Wifi tether to connect to my tablet

Sent From Android 2.1 Telechips 800 Mhz Tablet