Tethering iPhone 3.0-->

UPDATE: This recent release (beta 2 of iPhone 3.0) is much more buggy than I would like. Though I get a lot of cool features it’s almost too buggy to be worth it now that I’ve spent some time with it. It’s a beta release for sure… be warned. I can’t get it to work with my usb hookup to my car stereo any more…. have to use aux hookup )-: and further it crashes ever so often. A few apps don’t work very well or at all. Use extreme caution because you cannot downgrade once you have upgraded to 3.0.

If you have an iPhone developer license this is easy because you can just add your phone to the dev phone list in your account and download the beta version of iPhone 3.0. Then you apply a simple carrier update and you’re good to go. Sure, you have a 5gb cap that you should keep a close eye on but you can have internet everywhere with nothing but your iphone and laptop. Here’s a good tutorial for mac users:

http://www.myappleguide.com/blogs/iphone-world/2280/how-tether-iphone-3g-over-att

I’m currently using bluetooth on my phone to tether with my macbook pro. If you are using windows you are on your own. If you are not an iPhone developer there are ways to get the 3.0 OS and hack your iphone to get it on there. You might have to jailbreak. I heard that 3.0 has been jailbroken already. Use google and you can find it.

Be very careful of your cap on data transfer as AT&T will charge you for overage (for real). Go to Settings -> General -> Usage on the iPhone to see what your current data usage is. Second, tethering swallows your battery whole! I suggest pluggin the phone in to your computer even if you are using bluetooth. The connection seems reliable… every once and a while I have to reconnect to the network.

Lastly, the iPhone OS 3.0 is a bit buggy at this point. I’ve had to restart my phone now and then and their are quirks in some apps. It does have copy & paste and I love that because now it feels like a real tiny computer. It has a universal search, a search for contacts and a search for email… love that too. Now it has landscape mode for sms and for email. I’m sure there are some other features but those were the most noticable. For an early beta it’s not too bad. I have the second release of the beta. Overall, I think 3.0 will put the final death blow on it’s competitors. Apple, I’m waiting on a 32gb version and some updated hardware this summer!