For all you out there willing to shell out a few bucks for the convenience of hassle-free iPhone tethering (”tethering” is a method that allows your laptop to use your mobile phone’s wireless data connection to surf the web, check email, etc.), a new iPhone application has hit the AppStore… again.
NetShare, the iPhone application that allows you to tether your iPhone or iPhone 3G to your computer with a simple button-press, went live in the AppStore yesterday. Then it disappeared. Now it’s back again. Whatever the reason for the mysterious disappearance, NetShare seems to be back online and ready to do your iPhone internet connection share bidding.
NetShare allows you to use your iPhone or iPhone 3G as a wireless modem for your computer. The application sets up a SOCKS5 proxy, which essentially allows your computer to tunnel through your iPhone’s data connection to access the web. Unfortunately, email clients and instant messaging programs won’t work through the iPhone tether. The SOCKS5 proxy is only good for serving up data to your computer’s web browser (Safari, Firefox, etc.).
Sure, you could save yourself $9.99 and follow IntoMobile’s step-by-step tutorial to manually tether your iPhone 3G, or iPhone running the iPhone 2.0 OS, to your laptop or desktop computer. But, if a $10 isn’t going to faze your wallet too much, the convenience of NetShare might be worth the outgo.
Find NetShare here. (iTunes link)
IntoMobile’s step-by-step iPhone 3G tethering tutorial
[Update]
NetShare is gone, but jailbroken iPhones and iPhone 3Gs have an alternative tethering option that’s just as easy as NetShare. PDA Net makes it as simple as connecting your iPhone and your laptop via an ad-hoc WiFi network and enabling PDA Net’s WiFi router feature. Find PDA Net here.