Update Feb 2 2010: Reports say that the latest iPhone 3.1.3 allows this to work again but ONLY on factory unlocked iPhones. Thanks to Éamonn for the heads up!
O2 Ireland users: O2 have now enabled tethering for users as detailed on their forum. Simply connect to iTunes on your computer and click ‘Check for Update’ and accept the new carrier settings file when prompted. Tethering will now work for you!
This evening I got internet tethering working on my iPhone 3G running the latest 3.0 iPhone build. This means I can now use my iPhone as a modem on my laptop or any machine (with iTunes 8.2 installed) when I’m out and about. Here’s how I did it.
How to install:
If you view this page actually ON YOUR iPhone all you need to do is:
1. Select your operator below & install the profile when prompted:
Three Ireland Contract
Vodafone Ireland Contract
Vodafone Live! Ireland
AT&T USA Contract
O2 UK Contract
O2 UK Pre-Paid
T-Mobile UK Contract
Virgin UK Contract
Three UK Contract
Vodafone UK Contract
Rogers Canada
Fido Canada
Note: Do this at your own risk!! I have only tested this on my own device (3G O2 Bill Pay iPhone) and cannot guarantee it will work with yours.
2. Restart the iPhone.
3. Once it restarts, go to Settings > General > Network and turn on tethering.
Done. Now connect your iPhone to the computer. The computer will automatically detect a network connection on the USB port. It just works.
On your Mac / PC turn off your Wi-Fi or unplug your Ethernet to check how it works.
Note: You will need at least iTunes 8.2 or greater installed on all the computers you want to tether with.
There you have it – Irish users get free text messages (O2, Vodafone, Meteor, Three + many others) on your iPhone and iPod Touch or on your Mac/PC with JSMS, and now you can use free internet tethering on the go.
Follow me on Twitter: @finbarrbrady
Use Jelly SMS to send free SMS messages
Now you have tethering!
Tuesday, 16. June 2009
Nice post Finbarr. very useful. Must give this a bash.
Tuesday, 16. June 2009
Nice, is there any way to backup the O2 IRL settings on the phone first before applying the update? Or will a Restore roll back to original settings? Just to be on the safe side.
Tuesday, 16. June 2009
Good point Luke. I’ve just added it to my post above.
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
This works great over USB, just plug iPhone into Vista laptop and you have internet, no messing it just works. Excellent work Finbarr.
Although I cannot get it to work over bluetooth due to Vista not having a driver for my iPhone bluetooth? Windows eh…
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Thanks finbarr – it is working perfectly with both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Thanks a million for this, much appreciated!
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
I can’t select the .ipcc file when I try to do this. I checked the info on the file, and its extension is in fact .ipcc (and not .zip or something like it with the extension hidden).
Also, as an aside – does this work for O2 in the London area?
Otherwise cheers for a great post.
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Anyway of getting this stuff to work on a Sim free IPhone on the Vodafone network?
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
The problem is Vodafone IE don’t have a carrier settings file so I’m afraid not for now
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Daniel can you try once again running all the steps. Are you on a Mac or PC?
If you still have the issue can you outline the steps and the exact problem.
Do you mean will it work on an O2 UK SIM? – No. It should work ok on a O2 IE sim in London provided you have roaming but it might cost you a fortune depending on your O2 data plan.
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Thank you for responding, Finbarr.
I was getting stuck in step 5. I just couldn’t select the file, it was “greyed out” (for lack of a better term). However, equipped with Google, I found that running the following command in Terminal got me to load up the ipcc file:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE
So I was able to get past step 5 and continue all the steps. After restarting the iPhone, however, setting up tethering still forwarded me to a web site where I could sign up for the data plan, rather than just “turn on tethering” as step 9 expected me to.
I think I’m stuck at step 9 now because, simply put, I’m not a part of O2 IE, living in London. So if anybody else reads this and is in London, and you get it to work, please post how you did it.
Thanks again, Finbarr.
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Looks like you forgot to run step 1 first time around.
The carrier settings file I posted will only work with O2 Ireland as it contains server names etc which can only be used with an O2 Ireland Sim card.
I’m sure someone in the Uk can get it working soon.
Good Luck!
Wednesday, 17. June 2009
Right you are, Finbarr. How I missed step 1 is beyond me, I fail at following directions.
I found the proper file here for the UK here:
http://drop.io/o2ukipcc/asset/o2-uk-ipcc
And following your directions, got it to work. Right now, I’m posting this comment using tethering.
Thanks!
Thursday, 18. June 2009
This is amazing! Works really well and superfast too! I can’t help but wonder if o2 will cotton on to what s happening? Although I won’t be downloading anything more than I do using my phone on my laptop will o2 be able to tell I’m tethered?
Logic says no, but I’m not sure if safari or if windows has a specfic tag line when making requested from the servers??
Am I just paranoid?
Thanks a million though!!
Thursday, 18. June 2009
Did the easy way for AT&T above. Seems to be fine but when I went to setup MMS using someone else’s suggestion, I noticed that my “Cellular Data Network” option was missing from General -> Network. Do you think this was caused by your carrier upgrade file? Not sure… Maybe the AT&T one needs to be tweaked a bit.
Thursday, 18. June 2009
If the file comes up as o2_ie.picc.zip on a Mac, then do the following
1. press Return on your keyboard. This allows you to edit the file name….
2. The remove the “.zip” section of the name. Press return again
3. confirm to wish rename the file .ipcc instead of .zip
this might solve some of the problem above… One poster did mention this happened… Thats because .ipcc is a compressed file containing other things (like a .zip file) so OS X renames it to reflect this… i think
Thursday, 18. June 2009
Could not have been easier!!! Thanks a million. Just browsed to the page on the iPhone. Clicked on the link for “O2 Ireland Contract”, followed the steps and it works perfectly on my Vista machine… Thanks again
Thursday, 18. June 2009
SimonB,
You got the us AT&T connection working? Did you ever get the mms working?
Thursday, 18. June 2009
I tried the download method and I get an alert to say that I have to contact O2 to enable tethering blah blah…. Any ideas?
Thursday, 18. June 2009
I got uk o2 working. Mms kicked in today.
Friday, 19. June 2009
What does “Option + Click on the “Check for updates” in the iPhone screen.” mean? When I click the “Check for update” button in iTunes on the PC, it just says “The version of the iphone software (3.0) is the latest version.
Friday, 19. June 2009
I figured it out. I downloaded the file on the iphone. Now it says “to enable Internet tethering on this account contact o2″. Any ideas?
Saturday, 20. June 2009
I just used my phone to come to this site, clicked the link and it’s all great.
Saturday, 20. June 2009
Hey! Thanks for that! I’m a prepaid 3 customer and tethering works great on Win xp! But I cant send MMS…any ideas?
Saturday, 20. June 2009
I tried this and the Tethering features does turn on on my iphone. The Blue Tooth or USB page does not get the message as to which method to use. It just shows the two options and it does tell me tethering is on.
I cannot get my Laptop with Vista to see the iphone. Hardwired or not. I followed the steps above and did the automatic upload. That part all worked fine. Can anyone guide me further?
Saturday, 20. June 2009
Ah, new problem. After the download, my 3G internet connection away from the house doesn’t work either! I think this is a bust for FIDO.
Tuesday, 23. June 2009
Ok, silly question time
What advantage is tethering? What does it offer?
Thanks.
Tuesday, 23. June 2009
It lets you connect to the internet from your laptop while you’re on a train for example!
Tuesday, 23. June 2009
Your tethering article and download works perfectly on an iphone 3g on O2 Ireland Pre-Pay perfectly with my MacBook Pro!
I note that it also should be possible to do the same using Bluetooth, but although I have successfully paired iPhone and MacBook Pro to other items, they refuse to pair between them (they see each other but pairing fails). I wondered if you might have any ideas?
Keep up the great work by the way – it’s appreciated.
Friday, 24. July 2009
Tethering just stopped working after I did the new Itunes update and a synch. Boo. Back to my slower than iPhone three dongle. Im really annoyed
Monday, 27. July 2009
Has anyone gotten it to work perfectly with AT&T in the US?
Wednesday, 5. August 2009
I’m tempted to sign up with 02 Ireland for an i phone on a pay monthly contract (if they ever get any in stock) but for me tethering is the deal maker/breaker because it’s expensive enough without having to pay to tether on top. So….
Does this work on O2 ireland with 3.01 installed?
Is there any way that 02 can tell you are doing it?
Thanks
Wednesday, 12. August 2009
Hi, Anyone know the Network setting for the Mac? Installs fine but the mac is asking for some network preference settings, I specifically need DNS Server, Search Domain & maybe IP Address, Subnet Mask and Router. Or am I looking at this from the wrong angle?
Thanks
Wednesday, 12. August 2009
Hi Anthony.
Yes you don’t need to do anything on your Mac. Just browse to this very blog post on your iPhone and then click on the profile for your provider! Simple!!
/Finbarr
Wednesday, 12. August 2009
Since there is no sign of 02 getting any iphones in I’m tempted to buy an unlocked and jailbroked iphone from ebay uk and use it with my present 02 sim card. But I’d love to know that the tethering will work with the recent 3.01 software update and am still intrigued to know whether 02 can tell that this is going on (other than from the data usage patterns which would be different with a tethered laptop than just an i phone). Great blog! Mike
Thursday, 13. August 2009
Hi Finbar.
I think it may be a setting on my mac. When I activate tethering (USB plugged into iPhone & Mac) the network preferences open up on the mac. Ethernet 9 (or something similar) is added to the preferences automatically, however the status is not connected and the settings are blank.
Did you have this problem or did it just work! Maybe I’m missing something.
Thanks
Thursday, 13. August 2009
Hi Finbar,
Got tethering working from my iPhone to a Vista PC, but still no joy on the mac.
Very odd, Any idea about the Mac’s network settings?
Thanks
Thursday, 13. August 2009
hi Anthony. Tiger or Leopard? Tethering doesn’t work on Tiger as far as I know.
Friday, 14. August 2009
Hi Finbar,
Got it working. I was not saving changes with the new port was automatically created on the Mac (Network Preferences). Once you press apply and wait a few moments all will work.
Thanks for your help
Anthony
Thursday, 10. September 2009
I want to confirm that the update to 3.1 does stop the Tethering!
Anybody know how to downgrade to 3.0???
Jeff
Thursday, 10. September 2009
I believe the 3.1 update breaks this – I got my iPhone yesterday and took the 3.1 update last night.
I’ve tried the O2 Ireland Contract settings above but do not have tethering available on my iPhone
Any suggestions on other ways to enable this ?
Thursday, 10. September 2009
Hi Peter,
Afraid not at present. We might have to wait for O2 to enable it.
/Finbarr
Saturday, 12. September 2009
Can’t you just modify this app and make it run on the new version?
What are the technical issues?
Cheers
Saturday, 12. September 2009
Apple have closed the loophole
Friday, 23. October 2009
Doh!.. x-o
Updated iphone and got this tethering working great! Then upgraded the iPhone to 3.1 without knowing that it breaks the tethering update… ahhh…
Any updates available for this? Anyone know if youcan roll back an iPhone firmware update…
Thursday, 5. November 2009
Im on pre paid o2 ireland and i did this twice and it still hasnt worked
please help..
Tuesday, 17. November 2009
This dosent work any more. Thanks for the ipcc file though.. It saves my life.
Friday, 12. February 2010
Thanks for the Update, just installed 3.1.3 and tethering is there. Using it right now. my Iphone was fresh out the box from Vodafone UK this morning.
Friday, 12. February 2010
Working great on Virgin UK with iPhone 3GS Version 3.1.3 factory unlocked.
Thank You so Much
Monday, 15. February 2010
Just did it on a jailbroken at&t iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 on UK three pay as you go with mac running leopard! Works a treat! Thank you sooo much!
Friday, 19. February 2010
just tried it on fido in canada and does not work. fyi
Friday, 19. February 2010
I have an AT&T 3gs with 3.1.3. I can’t get it to work. It’s not unlocked and I don’t know what do to to enable tethering. Could you help me?
Sunday, 21. February 2010
You will need to talk to AT&T about tethering on a contract iPhone.
Sunday, 21. February 2010
As it says in the article, it will only work on a 3.0 iPhone
Thursday, 25. February 2010
Brilliant. Just got this working on 3 UK over Bluetooth with my Macbook. Thanks so much.
Thursday, 4. March 2010
Arrrh,
I can see the US AT&T profile in general but the network settings does not have “Internet Tethering”
iPhone 3.1.2