[47/365] iPhone 3.0 Internet Tethering & MMS on O2 UK

Image by Ben Dodson
As those of you that follow the many mac related blogs will know, someone hacking around in the code of the new iPhone 3.0 beta found that there was indeed built in support for internet tethering, the process of allowing you to use the iPhone 3G / Edge connection to provide network access to another device (e.g. a MacBook). Apple acknowledged that support was built in yet was dependent on network provider and therefore wasn’t available yet.

After doing a bit of research, I managed to find the IPCC file which contains the network settings for O2 UK (my network) pre-hacked to enable not only internet tethering but also MMS which still hasn’t been turned on by O2 (who haven’t replied to my emails about why it isn’t available yet). You can download the file at drop.io/o2ukipcc and getting set up is as easy as holding alt (or shift if you’re on windows) whilst clicking the "check for updates" button on the iPhone screen of iTunes. This will open a browse dialog box in which you need to choose the IPCC file that you just downloaded. Pressing OK will update your iPhone with the new network settings (takes around 5 seconds) and then after restarting your iPhone you’ll find the MMS options are all available (including a camera icon within the Messages app) and the Internet Tethering panel is now available within Settings -> Network.

This photo shows my MacBook successfully using the internet via O2 thanks to my iPhone connection. You can connect via either BlueTooth or USB but I couldn’t quite get the BlueTooth connection going so am using the standard dock cable in this photo. I’ve opened up iTunes so you can see the version number (and also that there is a new "Phone Number" section) and also Network Utility which shows the USB Connection transferring data correctly. You can also see the network is O2-UK on the iPhone and that there is no ethernet or wireless network enabled on the MacBook.

I found the speed to be very good at home with full reception of 3G but I don’t know how well it will fare under different circumstances (e.g. on a moving train) but I’ll try and find out tomorrow. It’s also debatable as to how long this particular hack will work once O2 find out about it but it’s interesting to see it working for the time being. Oh, and I don’t take any responsibility if you apply the hack and end up with a bricked iPhone that doubles as a paper weight, or if the phone blows up, sleeps with your wife, takes up a career in bank management, or any other number of wild possibilities.

If you have the iPhone 3.0 beta but are not on the O2-UK network, then you can learn about how to make your own IPCC file at gist.github.com/81465

Update 21st Mar 09: In order to get internet tethering working correctly, you need to have the 3.0 SDK installed on the machine you are tethering. This is because it patches some system files and iTunes to make it all work correctly (no tethering for you windows!). I’ve also done some tests out and about and can confirm that the tethering works fine when on a moving train switching between 3G, Edge, and GPRS. If you lose signal, it’ll just reconnect again automatically when it gets signal again. Also, with MMS in the UK, you need to get O2 to turn on your MMS settings as well as running the IPCC update in order to get the ability to send and receive. I found the best way was to email them as you can explain exactly what you want – the call centre staff don’t seem to understand about the 3.0 update!

Update 24th Mar 09: The above IPCC file doesn’t work for O2-UK Pay As You Go (PAYG) but luckily Scott Wilcox has made one available for download at http://media.tig.gr/download/o2_uk.ipcc – You install this in the same way as the file above. Please note that MMS on PAYG cost 35p and do not come out of your SMS allowance like the contract ones do.

Update 27th Mar 09: O2 have taken the strange decision not to enable any more accounts with MMS. I’m currently debating it with them and you can see it unfolding on the O2 forums – will update here when more details are available.

Update 31st Mar 09: Beta 2 of the iPhone 3.0 OS is now available from developer.apple.com/iphone/ for registered developers. Doesn’t appear to be any new features but will hopefully fix a few crashing bugs! I’ll post an update shortly as to if the IPCC file still works but my gut feel is that it should do.

Update 1st Apr 09: iPhone 3.0 Beta 2 still allows internet tethering if you use one of the IPCC hacks detailed on this page. Bluetooth tethering still doesn’t work but the overall OS is smoother and less buggy.

Update 2nd Apr 09: Just tried pairing my G4 Mac Mini with my iPhone via bluetooth and it worked first time with internet tethering! Seems to be that the new unibody macbooks don’t want to play with bluetooth but you may have some success with the older models. The key difference I noticed was that my macbook didn’t make me type a pin number into the iPhone to make it pair whereas the mac mini made the iPhone prompt me to type the pin displayed on the mac mini.

Update 14th Apr 09: iPhone 3.0 Beta 3 (9M2728) is now available from the Apple iPhone Developer site. There are a few new features mainly relating to the iPod application (e.g. better scrubbing through songs, more information on podcasts, etc) but mainly it’s bug fixes and stability improvements. Both MMS and Internet Tethering are still working on my iPhone (activated by O2) with the IPCC patch above applied.

Update 29th Apr 09: iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 (7A300g) is now available from the Apple iPhone Developer site. This version is slightly different in that it demands you install iTunes 8.2 beta which is also available from the Apple iPhone Developer site. There are several notices when installing about sending information to Apple to be verified which leads me to believe that they are cracking down on jailbroken or pirated copies. I’ve installed Beta 4 but had to do a full restore after the installation froze halfway through updating. There are not many new features apart from the ability to sync with Google Calendar (amongst others) and a newly designed "Store" section in Settings which just gives you information about your iTunes account. I assume this will be used for in-app purchasing. The only other interesting point about this release is that you can now sync notes with your mac although that requires OS X 10.5.7 which of course isn’t yet available – this suggests it will be available very shortly. MMS and tethering are still working for me after applying the IPCC update posted above (although it is subject to O2 activation although I’ve heard a few people have managed to persuade them to activate recently).

Update 6th May 09: It looks like you can now enable USB Internet Tethering by having iTunes 8.2 Beta installed – previously you had to have the SDK installed but this doesn’t seem to be a requirement anymore as they must have bundled the necessary usb->ethernet driver with iTunes. That’s good news for any windows users out there!

Update 7th May 09: iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 (7A312g) is now available for download. There are no major updates apart from parental controls but the bad news is that you can no longer perform the IPCC update through iTunes 8.2 beta thus meaning no more enabling of MMS or Internet Tethering. Boo! However, I always said from day one that this would happen so I’m kind of surprised it took 5 betas for them to stop that….

Update 7th May 09: Apparently you can keep MMS if you don’t use the latest beta of iTunes 8.2 but instead use the version that shipped with iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 – that way you can still sideload the IPCC file onto the phone and it will work. I imagine this will get patched with Beta 6 (in that it will require you to update iTunes) but this will keep people going a little longer. In other news, Apple sent an email to all developers stating that all apps now being submitted to the App Store will be tested on 3.0 and if they don’t work they won’t be going in the store. They also mention they’ll be removing existing apps from the App Store that don’t work with 3.0 – "After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store."

Update 8th May 09: It turns out that it is possible to enable MMS on O2 contracts without the IPCC file hack that was required previously. You can instead go to "Settings"->"General"->"Network"->"Cellular Data Network" on your iPhone and fill out the MMS section with the following details (note that you need to restart the phone after filling these settings in):

APN: wap.o2.co.uk
Username: o2wap
Password: password
MMSC: mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk:8002
Proxy: 193.113.200.195:8080
MMS Max Message Size: [leave blank]
MMS UA Prof URL: [leave blank]

Thanks to "squigles" on the O2 forums for pointing this out. Please note that you still need to have MMS activated on your account by O2.

There is currently no known way of enabling Internet Tethering on Beta 5 without either upgrading from a previous version that had the IPCC hack applied or instead using an earlier version of iTunes to load the IPCC file on.

Update 10th June 09: The WWDC announcement has been and gone and the iPhone 3.0 GM (gold master) is now available for download to iPhone devs. The final build will be released to the public on the 17th June 09 with the new iPhone 3G S following two days later in six countries (i’ll be posting pics and a review when I get my hands on it). Interestingly, in the UK tethering is being priced at around £15 for 3GB and £30 for 10GB but a few people have found a way around it for the time being (see comments below). However, I think this will be blocked by the carriers very shortly so looks like we’ll have to pay if we want Internet Tethering.

Update 18th June 09: Want to get Internet Tethering for free on O2 without the bolt-on? It looks like you do as this picture has had 5000 hits in under two days for those very search terms… so I’d best oblige you! Simply point Safari ON YOUR IPHONE at help.benm.at/uk.php and click the "O2 Vertigo" link – this will download all the settings you need for Internet Tethering to become enabled – just click the "Install" button and the APN settings will be entered for you. Now go to Settings->Network and marvel as Internet Tethering becomes an option screen where you can turn it on or off. If you are using a new macbook, please make sure to do a software update in order to get bluetooth updates that will make tethering via bluetooth work. Enjoy 🙂

Update 19th June 09: It looks like O2 are going to go legal with the Terms of Service with people who use the Internet Tethering work around described above. Get the details at www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-ph… – at the moment it sounds like scaremongering but it could develop into something more sinister. I’d recommend that people still use the tethering hack but try not to use too much data (e.g. email and website browsing is probably fine – streaming youtube or torrents isn’t)

As a side note, you can follow me on Twitter for these kinds of updates!

I recommend using the ‘all sizes’ option on the photo to be able to see all of the details clearly

Day 47 of 365