USB tethering and rooting phones

[pfarber]

So I have an S4 unlocked and use a prepaid phone carrier. So for about $50 I have access to the net via my phone, but they charge EXTRA to tether (what good is 5Gb of data via a phone browser? Even though I do stream videos its a phone.... ok resolution and sound.

So what's a nerd to do? Well, you root the phone so you can actually use the software that's on it! That's right... Android can tether out of the box, save for a config file that says FUCK YOU.. PAY MORE! Tons of tether apps exist but most will not work unless you have root access. Rooting a phone is not horribly complex; took me about a day to read up on it and 1 hr to actually root/upgrade/tether.

So in the end I have an S4 rooted and am tethering via USB (but I can also tether via wifi and bluetooth) through wifi... I can also tether via cellular... but wifi is free. It solves the issue of not having a wifi card for the laptop and I can also plug an internet t.v. into it and tether THAT.

So yeah.. pinging google is 60ms.. a bit slow, but its over USB<->wifi.. I can live with that.