Tether your iPhone and your EeePC

If you own an iPhone in the UK, chances are that you are on an unlimited data contract with a rather large mobile service provider. Why not take advantage of that data connection from your EeePC. Unlike mobile 3G which requires a 3G datacard to use on the Eee, your iPhone and Eee can talk to each other using their built in WiFi connections. You will need to have your iPhone "Jail Broken" so you can install the required proxy software.

Start by installing TinyProxy on your iPhone, this can be found in the network section of the installer app. I think you will need the BSD subsystem too, I have.

Once you have installed TinyProxy, setup a new AdHoc wireless connection on your Eee. To do this choose "Network" from the internet panel, Press "Create", Choose "Local Area Network - Wireless", Press "Next" as the default card is the right one, Choose "Static IP Address" and press "Next". Enter "192.168.1.2", "255.255.255.0", "192.168.1.1". Press "Next". Enter "192.168.1.1", press "Next". Press "Next" again. Enter a SSID such as "EeePC", choose "Ad-hoc" and press "Next". Leave "Any" checked and press next. Tick "Enable encryption" and enter a WEP key. This will stop others stealing your (very limited) internet bandwidth. Then name your connection. I have called mine "iPhone", hit "Next". Then "Finish".

Cool, now start that wireless network by going into "Network" (you may already be there) choosing iPhone, press "Connection" > "Connect". After a dialog box, you should now be hosting a new wireless network.

On your iPhone, choose "Settings", "Wifi" > Select the "iPhone" network and press the ">". Press the "Static" tab and enter "192.168.1.1", "255.255.255.0". Press "Wireless Settings" to save your setup.

Back on your Eee, press Ctrl+alt+T and in the console enter "ping 192.168.1.1", hit return and you should see the ping replying. If not, check your settings.

Now to use the iPhone connection you need to tell Firefox to use the iPhone as its proxy server. Hit "Edit" > "Preferences" > Network tab > "Settings", choose "Manual proxy configuration" and enter "192.168.1.1" port "8080", tick "Use this proxy server for all protocols". press "OK", "Close".

Now, try google! If it does not work, make sure your ping is working, and if still no luck, reboot your iPhone, I had to a couple of times. I leave the ping pinging as a visual confirmation of the link between my toys.

You may need to leave your iPhone "awake" to use the connection, so modify the "auto lock" setting to suit you. The connection really is quite slow, but OK for emergency stuff.

I'm writing this on the train using my Eee and iPhone. Bloomin' marvelous!