Unless you are one of the few who have upgraded to Froyo, or you have rooted your Android phone, chances are, you are still not able to tether using your Android phone. Those who are seeking a solution, PdaNet is the easiest way available to provide tethering to your Mac or PC. PdaNet allows you to, without rooting your phone (and thus keeping your warranty intact), share your phone’s data connection with your computer, enabling you to go online on it through your phone and its data plan. Obviously, this requires a data on your wireless plan for your phone, but if you’ve got an Android phone, in all likelihood you’ve also got data, so let’s move forward!
The first step is to head over to www.junefabrics.com/android/download.php. Download the installer for Windows, or for Mac. If you’re in Windows, once the installer has finished downloading, just run it and follow the onscreen instructions to complete installation.
On a Mac, download and run the installer, then reboot your computer when prompted. After rebooting, you should see the PdaNet icon in your Mac’s menu bar.
The next step, in either case, is to launch the Android Market app on your phone and download PdaNet Free Edition.
Next, on your phone, go to Menu -> Settings -> Applications, then Development and check “USB Debugging“. This allows the operation of certain parts of the Android OS while your phone is plugged in to your computer. Once you have enabled USB Debugging, you can launch PdaNet on your device.
In PdaNet, all you need to do is touch “Enable USB Tether”. Now, you’re ready to plug your phone in to your computer. When you plug your phone in to your Mac, you will see the menu icon change to active, rather than having a red “x” in the lower right corner. Click the icon, then click “Connect,” and you’re online! On the PC, the process is nearly identical. Enable USB Tether in PdaNet on your phone, plug the phone in to the USB port on your computer, and click “Connect,” which is in the right-click contextual menu of the PdaNet icon in your Windows System Tray.
Once you’ve clicked “Connect,” you’re connected to the internet! You may want to wait a few seconds before opening your browser, just to make sure everything is all set, but once you do that, you should be able to start your browser and have everything working perfectly! Open your favorite browser and start surfing, bring up iChat or Aim and chat, or shoot off a few emails, all while on the go, with no wifi!
Remember to get back to us in the comments with your experiences with the app, as well as with any others you find useful for tethering or similar purposes!
Frankly, Colin is a big geek about the things in which he’s interested. From tech to science to the business behind it all…When Colin get’s in to something, he really get’s in to it. Mac’s and Android phones are his forte, but you name it and he probably uses it. He’s an avid pilot and is also deeply interested in the industries that encompass his technical and well, sort of nerdy hobbies. He is open to any and all communication, so feel free to shoot him an email with comments, questions, suggestions or corrections at any time! Visit him at ColinScattergood.com or ItsTechKnowledgy.com.
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