[Android General] coreywjackson:
Hello everyone! Here's a nice little guide on how to tether your phone and use that ability to power a home internet network. I have done tons of trial and error to get this working with bits and pieces from numerous forums and google research. This has been working flawlessly for me and it's a "set it and forget it solution".

The reason why I wanted to do this is because I live in a rural area with no high speed ISP. My only option was to use a data capped satellite ISP that is extremely limited in ability and expensive. Without further ado my guide to achieve an unlimited, data cap free, tethered home network.

What you need:

Android phone you're willing to dedicate for full time use

Computer with windows and LAN port you're willing to dedicate for full time use

Wireless Router

A nice USB cord for your phone

A nice CAT cable

1) First thing to do is look around for an unlimited data (4glte preferred, no tethering plan needed) cellular plan. I know there are a few out there but I decided on MetroPCS due to the coverage I get and the price ($60 a month, no contract). I opted for just a sim card as I had an android phone laying around.

2) Make sure your android is unlocked if it's not on the same network you are trying to use. My phone was tied to AT&T and I had to call them to unlock it. Most carrier will do this if the phone in good standing. Meaning paid off. Or root it.

3) We will need to find out where your equipment will sit to receive the best speeds. I recommend putting your phone in "field test mode" and walk around the house. The lower number the better. I also ran a speed test in certain locations to give me a rough idea of what speeds I would be getting. If you are really serious about this set up there is equipment out there to boost cell signal in your house. I like WeBoost.

4) Download your tethering application. I have tried multiple apps but only one worked perfectly but with different hardware you might have other results. Clockworkmod Tether ($4.99) and PDAnet+ ($7.95) worked alright but I had issues with it talking to my router and clients so disconnects where frequent and frustrating. I ultimately went for EasyTether ($9.99) and it has been working fantastic. Mind you when using Clockwork and PDAnet I would be getting a DL speed of 6Mbs when my phone was 13Mbs. I don't know what would cause that but with EasyTether I am getting speeds very similar to my phone with no speed loss.

5) All three tethering applications require you to install a sister program on your computer to work. So install that on your "slave" machine. They are all about the same process, install an .exe and drivers for your phone.

6) Test that everything is working. The tethering application will have instructions on how to USB tether your phone. We need to check that it will give your slave machine an internet connection. Simply open a web browser and see if it is working.

7) Great! Now your are connected and able to surf the web! But wouldn't it be great if you could use this on all your devices? This is where the router comes in play.

8) Now I don't know what router you are using but mine is an ASUS RT-N56U and the principle should be the same. Plug your router into power and reset it with the button on the back (10 seconds). Unplug from power. Connect the CAT cable to the WAN port of the router (the one that usually connects a modem to the router) and the other end to the LAN port of your slave machine. Plug power to the router and allow it to boot up. Now on your slave machine go to Network and Sharing Center, View status on the tether connection, properties, sharing, check Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection, select the Home networking connection as the router. With everything done correctly you should be getting an internet connection to the router.

9) Now this is all fine and dandy but there are some settings in the router you can configure to make it more reliable. Our cases could be different but this is what has worked for me. I'm no networking genius by any means so my setting could not mean anything. In my experience things would work for a few mins but streaming to chromecast or connecting a mac to wireless mysteriously cut all connection. So here are my settings.

Disable MAC Filter

Disable Wireless Scheduler

Enable IGMP Snooping

Enable DHCP Server

Disable DHCP Routes

Disable Multicast routing (IGMP Proxy)

WAN Connection Type-Automatic IP

Enable UPnP

Connect to DNS Server automatically-NO

DNS Server1 8.8.8.8

DNS Server2 8.8.4.4

Everything else is default

I don't know about the NAT for all you gamers out there but I am sure there is some router configuration you can do. If anyone has ideas on how to achieve this please chime in.

10) Congratulations! You have now set up a home network with your phone and can use it like any other ISP. If you experience any issue with this process let me know and I will get back to you with an answer. I have had to do a lot of trouble shooting to get to this point.