Tethering the Touch Phone - Using it as a Modem for your Laptop

If you look at the screen capture of the Bell Touch below, you'll see the Comm Manager displayed. This application controls the communication aspects of the phone.

At the bottom left, you'll see the Wireless Modem option. This is the Bell application that allows you to use the phone as a modem for your laptop or PC, otherwise known as 'tethering'. This is what I have been doing with all my phones for the last 10 years, paying through the nose for it.

As I mentioned before, the Data Connection icon above it is not normally on when ActiveSync is functioning (Bell disables it so you can't surf the net from your laptop).

So why is it on now, as well as ActiveSync?

It's because I'm at the office and my laptop is connected to my cable modem. My Touch actually will automatically connect to the net via my cable modem via ActiveSync, if my laptop is hooked up via WiFi! So in this case, I can use my remote control to surf and configure my browser with the bookmarks I want to use frequently, which is good, but beyond that there's not much point to using it if my laptop is connected anyway. 

Unfortunately, the tethering option is not included in the 'unlimited' data plan from Bell that costs just $7 per month. I guess the assumption is that if they charge for tethering, it will keep people from using too much bandwidth, since there's only so much you will want to do on the phone itself, without tethering.

There may be some merit to that, but frankly, in my case, I'm going to do what I'm going to do because I have to, tethered or not. So, the lack of tethering inclusion in the plan is just a big inconvenience for me, and I'm sure hoping there will be a policy change around this. Yes, I can lessen the inconvenience somewhat by using a laptop with a remote control program, but it's still a nuisance to have to do it that way.

When you connect with the tethering program, the data packets are tagged differently from normal, allowing Bell to distinguish between on-device use and tethered use. You'll see a corresponding charge on your bill for any data transmitted while you are using your phone as a modem.

There are other programs you can install and use to tether your laptop, such as PDAnet and USBmodem that probably don't insert the packet tagging, but you might be in violation of the Bell TOS (Terms of Service) if you use them. I'm staying clear of these as I don't wish to have the Bell Police show up at my door and take my phone away.

If their policy changes, I would be inclined to use the USBmodem program because it apparently doesn't require the hassle of connecting first with Activesync or Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC), and it is reported as being the fastest. It also apparently disables the Touch internet access while tethered, so it doesn't cause the connection to drop when the Touch mail program automatically checks for new messages. It is also a cross-platform product that works with Ubuntu (Linux) and Mac, and can also connect in wireless mode via Bluetooth.

I've read that PDAnet is very easy to install and use, but you have to manually change the mail program setting on the device (while tethered) so that it doesn't automatically check for new mail, otherwise the connection will be dropped. Also, it requires the use of ActiveSync, unless you connect wirelessly via Bluetooth instead of using a USB cable with ActiveSync.

NEXT: Using mobile bandwidth: how unlimited is unlimited?