Tether your Android Phone

Want to tether your Android phone to your laptop or netbook for glorious internet wherever you get a cell phone signal?  Well, you’re in luck, there are three ways to do it. The first, involves ‘rooting’ the phone, to load an unofficial add-on.  But don’t worry, the other 2 ways are easier.  Read on and find out which one is for you.

Method 1: ‘Root’ phone to add the unofficial Tethering App (Free, but Geeky)

The Android Wi-Fi Tether app turns your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot but you have to gain root access to your phone, a multi-step process that uses an unofficial Android add-on which, if applied incorrectly, can brick your phone.  BEWARE:  You can brick your phone doing this, geeks only!

If you’re up for it, or just foolishly brave, the  Android and Me blog runs down how to do it.  There are a few steps involved, including unlocking your phone’s bootloader, flashing a recovery image, and flashing an add-on to the default Nexus One firmware. Here’s a video of the process:

This method is free, and it makes your phone act as a Wi-Fi hotspot that any computer can connect to. The cons: you can seriously screw up your phone if something goes wrong.

Method 2: Use Proxoid App to Tether your Android Phone (Free, No root)

If you don’t want to risk your phone using method one, but are familiar with the command line and know what a proxy is, then the Proxoid Android app can tether your phone for free (method 3 costs $30).    The Proxoid app turns your Android device into a proxy server that your can use to access the internet.

Proxoid is free in the Android market, but to get it working you have to install the Android SDK or device drivers onto your computer, tweak some of the settings, and finally configured your browser to use those proxy settings whenever you want to use your tethered connnection.  Here are the installation instructions.

Then, to connect via Proxoid, you tap to start the proxy server on your phone.  The, on your Mac you enter a command in the Terminal and on Windows you run a batch file to start the tunnel, then, finally,  you set your web browser to use that proxy and you’re online.

Pros:
-It’s free.
- No root required, no risk of bricking.

Cons:

- You’ve got to install the Android SDK
-  You have to set your browser to use the proxy server each time you want to tether.

Method 3: Tether Android with PDAnet ($30 app cost, no root required, easy!)

The third,and last method, uses the PDAnet Android application.  It lets you tether your  Android phone using an app on the phone plus some software you need to install on your laptop/netbook.

PDAnet costs $30 if you want to access https ports (which the free version blocks).   Then, to connect to the internet via the phone, you tap a button to start the PDAnet app on your phone, and then click “Connect” in the PDAnet software on your computer.

Pros:
-Risk-free, easy to use, and requires minimal setup. (

Cons:
-It costs $30.