I know from personal experience that the ability to tether a device can not only be of great benefit, but also occasionally life saving. If you aren’t familiar with the art of tethering then you can think of it as the ability to share your devices cellular data connection with your PC, Mac or a tablet. This is extremely useful when travelling and have no access to a Wi-Fi network, or if like me you have a Wi-Fi only iPad.
The ability to tether has caused an uproar with some networks due to the excessive drain it places on their resources, and some even require an additional charge per month to allow users the tethering luxury. However, this has been widely met with fury with users due to the belief that they pay on a monthly basis for a cellular data allowance which should entitle them to use that allowance in whatever manner they choose. In some cases networks have actually imposed a charge upon users who they have deemed to be frequent tethering users.
Very similar to the ongoing cat and mouse game between Apple and jailbreakers, a developer named capslock666 has come up with an application known as ‘reverse tethering’ for Android-powered device which are rooted. Reverse tethering, as you might expect, is the opposite to tethering and allows users to browse the internet on their mobile devices using the ADSL of your PC or Mac.
Although in the early stages, the development of the reverse tethering application is looking promising with only a few bugs needing to be ironed out before it is ready for prime time. It is also worth noting that the reverse tethering functionality will only be available for rooted Android users who are using the Windows operating system. For non-rooted Android users, the developer does have an alternative, albeit more labor intensive solution (found here) which is limited to surf only.
Information regarding the reverse tethering tool can be found here including full installation and technical instructions. The tool has been tested by the developer on around twenty Android devices but is always willing to accept user information on alternative devices.
Will the reverse tethering tool prove to be an effective piece of software in the battle between the networks and power users? So far it looks promising, but to remain relevant the developer will need to iron out the more prominent bugs.
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