Can’t decide whether to get the iPad with or without 3G? It looks like AT&T will soon be adding tethering, but you can already share your iPhone’s 3G data connection using a $10 app called MyWi.
All you need to do is jailbreak your iPhone — a painless, two-minute process that unlocks the iPhone’s full potential, including turning it into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot using MyWi.
Jailbreaking iPhones is ridiculously easy, (here’s how to jailbreak the iPhone OS with Spirit). Once you’re done, you get Cydia, an alternative to the iTunes App Store, and countless apps that Apple’s app police in Cupertino have not blessed. Cydia has all kinds of cool underground apps, including countless iPhone themes and even an iPhone sync to hook the iPhone to iTunes sans the USB umbilical cord.
All that seems immaterial when it comes to the ultimate app, MyWi from Rock Your Phone. It turns the iPhone into a personal WiFi hotspot. Hands down, it’s the best reason to jailbreak the iPhone.
You’re already dropping about $30 a month for your AT&T data plan, so why not share the bandwidth with your iPad, laptop or even desktop? It couldn’t be easier, even if you’re a Luddite. The cost is just $10.
All you do is install the app through Cydia and launch the app. Nearby WiFi-enabled devices will detect your iPhone’s WiFi signal. The signal will show up in your gadget’s WiFi index with the same name as your registered on the iPhone. Join it and you’re connected to the Internets.
Changing the name of your iPhone hotspot network is as easy as pie, and you can also add WEP security with ease.
Basically, it works as fast as your iPhone’s 3G connection.
The only drawback is that it sucks the life out of an iPhone battery.
In our tests with an iPhone 3G, a fully-charged iPhone battery lasted about an hour with MyWi enabled. That time span included checking our web e-mail, wasting time on YouTube and perhaps even streaming some, uh, saucy videos.
You can even make or receive telephone calls with the WiFi enabled.
If you need a reason to jailbreak your iPhone, MyWi is it.
