How to tether and use your phone as a modem: The costs, download limits & restrictions
April 6th, 2011
Tethering allows you to share your phone’s internet connection with other devices such as laptops. We investigate the costs, data limits and how to use tethering.
What is tethering?
Tethering means connecting your mobile phone to a PC or laptop as a modem and sharing your phone’s 3G mobile broadband service. This means you can access the internet from your computer on-the-go wherever you have a 3G signal – even when out of range of a wi-fi hotspot. You’ll need a phone which supports tethering such as the Apple iPhone 4 or the HTC Desire.
How much does tethering cost?
In order to use tethering, you’ll typically need to add a tethering “add-on package” to your contract. Depending on your network and tariff, it will cost between £5.10/month and £29.36/month to add tethering to your contract. The only exceptions are Three’s “The One Plan” which includes all-you-can-eat data with free tethering and O2′s new Pay Monthly tariffs where you can use your phone’s data allowance for tethering.
| Network | Amount of tethering data | Price per month |
|---|---|---|
| Three | All-you-can-eat data | Free on “The One Plan” |
| 1GB (Add Broadband Lite) | £10.21 | |
| 3GB (Add Broadband Plus) | £15.32 | |
| O2 | Free on new Pay Monthly tariffs since April 2011 Allowance comes out of standard data allowance |
|
| 3GB | £14.68 | |
| 10GB | £29.36 | |
| Orange | 500MB | £5.10 (min. 18 months) |
| 1.5GB | £10.21 (min. 18 months) | |
| 3GB | £15.32 | |
| 10GB | £25.54 | |
| T-Mobile | Mobile Broadband Plus | £12.50 |
| Mobile Broadband Max | £22.50 | |
| Vodafone | 2GB | £15 |
It is not possible to use tethering on a Pay As You Go tariff.
How much data does tethering use?
It’s difficult to know how much data you’ll actually use through tethering. It really depends on how you use your computer: the applications you use, the amount of photos/music/videos you download and share and whether your computer is configured to automatically download software updates (e.g. Windows Update). Applications such as tbbMeter can help to measure your data usage.
For example, I listen to a lot of online radio with Spotify, call friends using voice-over-IP applications such as Skype and view a fair number of videos on YouTube. My computer is configured to automatically download updates for Windows, Microsoft Office, Firefox and so on. Typically I use in the region of 1GB per day or 40GB per month. Clearly I wouldn’t be able to replace my home broadband connection with a mobile broadband connection through tethering due to the amount of data I use but it might be OK for occasional use.
We’ve got a detailed guide to data allowances and what they correspond to in terms of every-day use on your phone. Whilst the figures should be similar for computer-based browsing via tethering, please be aware that things aren’t so simple because of differences in how efficiently different applications use data and differences in background data usage (e.g. software updates).
In our opinion, “The One Plan” is by far the best tethering tariff. It comes with all-you-can-eat data with no download limits so there is no need to worry about how much data you’re using or what additional charges you might incur. You’ll get 2,000 minutes, 5000 Three-to-Three minutes and 5000 texts too. The One Plan is available for £25/month as a SIM-only contract and from £25/month with a new phone. For £35/month plus £99 upfront, you’ll get a brand new 16GB iPhone 4S with the capability for wi-fi tethering.
What are the different methods of tethering and how do they differ?
There are two methods of tethering:
- Tethering via a USB cable. This involves connecting your phone to your computer using a USB cable. You’ll need to install the relevant drivers on your computer to use USB tethering and you’ll need to carry the USB cable with you whenever you want to tether.
- Tethering via a personal wi-fi hotspot. With this newer method of tethering, your phone will create a personal wi-fi hotspot over which it’ll share your 3G mobile data connection. You’ll need to instruct your computer to connect to the phone’s wi-fi hotspot. You won’t need to install any drivers on your computer but your phone will need to run iOS 4.3 or later, Android 2.2 or later or another supported operating system.
The benefit of tethering via a personal wi-fi hotspot is that you can connect all kinds of devices such as tablets, games consoles, e-book readers and laptops over the same 3G connection. Tethering via a USB cable is more complicated and requires a laptop with the necessary drivers installed. One benefit of tethering via USB is that it will extend your phone’s battery life: your phone will charge via the USB port whilst tethering.
How do I use the tethering functionality on my phone?
If you’ve got an iPhone:
- Enable USB tethering (iTunes 8.2+). Go to Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering in the iPhone menu. Toggle the “Internet tethering” switch to ON. You’ll need iTunes 8.2 or later on your computer to use USB tethering.
- Enable wi-fi tethering (iOS 4.3+). Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot and toggle “Personal Hotspot” to ON. You’ll need to provide a password for the wi-fi hotspot.
If you’ve got an Android smartphone:
- Enable USB tethering. Connect your Android phone to your laptop via the provided USB cable and choose the tethering option. You’ll need to have the relevant drivers installed on your computer.
- Enable wi-fi tethering (Android 2.2+). In your phone’s menu, go to Settings > Wireless and network > Portable Wi-Fi hotspot/Mobile AP. Tick the “Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot/Mobile AP” option. For security reasons, please make sure you set a password for your wi-fi hotspot (select the “WPA2 PSK” security setting).
Remember to turn the tethering feature off on your phone once you’ve finished using it. This will extend your phone’s battery life and prevent you from accidentally using the tethering feature next time you connect your phone to your computer.
Do I need 3G reception in order to tether?
It’s possible to tether whilst in a 2G (GPRS) reception area too but you won’t be able to make or receive any calls whilst using the tethering service. Downloads are also limited to dial-up speeds (60kbps) on 2G. For an optimal experience, it is better to use tethering in a 3G reception area.
What are the alternatives to tethering?
As an alternative to tethering, consider a dedicated mobile broadband USB dongle. Your mobile broadband service does not need to be on the same network as your primary mobile phone and it is possible to pick up a mobile broadband dongle on a Pay As You Go plan.
If you’re looking for a standalone mobile broadband plan with wi-fi tethering, check out Three’s Mi-Fi and Vodafone’s Mobile Wi-Fi (reviewed) accessories.
I’m using tethering without a tethering package. Can my mobile phone network tell?
Yes. Tethering without a tethering package is against the terms and conditions of your mobile contract. Whilst it is technically possible to use tethering without a proper tethering package (e.g. by jailbreaking your iPhone), it would be incredibly easy for your mobile phone network operator to tell. For example every time that you access a webpage from a browser, your browser will send a “user agent” string – this identifies the browser and operating system that you are accessing the website from. For example, my user agent is “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:2.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0″ which identifies that I’m using Firefox 4.0 on Windows Vista (Windows NT 6.0). It is incredibly easy for your mobile operator to use this string to determine that you’re tethering against their terms of use.
We strongly recommend against tethering unless you have a tethering package on your contract. Chances are that if it’s a one-off to send an important e-mail, your mobile operator won’t mind. But using tethering regularly without a tethering package is probably not a good idea.
Where can I get a tethering package?
You can add a tethering package to your existing mobile phone contract by getting in touch with the customer services department of your mobile phone network. You may find it good value to switch to Three’s “The One Plan” – accounting for the fact that tethering is included and that there are no download limits, it’s probably incredibly good value compared to your current plan. We’ve got a detailed review of all-you-can-eat data on Three.
| About Ken | |
 | My mission is to demystify the world of mobile technology for general audiences and to communicate how mobile technology can enhance every aspect of our daily lives. I've been maintaining the Ken's Tech Tips website since 2004. I have experience communicating mobile technology and presenting new mobile products both online and offline, including at various trade shows and events. You can check out my profile or drop me an e-mail. |
- How Tos & The Basics , Mobile , Mobile Broadband , Pay Monthly
- Comments(2)
Your articles on 3's 'The One Plan' has both converted me and saved me from getting the Galaxy S on 100mb per month. Will be sining the contract next week. Thanks man..now just have to figure out how to use the phone ¬¬
I've been on Orange's Racoon 30 plan for the last 2 years with added 500mb free internet on an HTC Touch 3G with Windows Mobile. I had no idea tethering was frowned upon and this has made up almost all of my internet usage over the contract period (granted, not a great deal, but I do use it to connect my personal laptop when I'm away from home and sometimes when I'm out in the field at work to avoid hogging one of the few dongles).
I've never incurred any additional charges for this data usage.
I have a new phone due tomorrow, but now am thinking I should go with 3 instead.