UPDATE (Jun/05/2009): in the following update, I elaborate on
1. connecting via both PAN and DUN over Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi p2p) in Windows 7 (which is the same as in Windows Vista)
2. Symbian (Wi-Fi) news
3. Windows Mobile (Wi-Fi) news
4. what you should go for on the iPhone
1. Creating Bluetooth connections under Windows 7 (and Vista):
1.1 Creating DUN connections (everything but the later Windows Mobile phones)
As you will see, it's much easier and logical than under Windows XP. First, right-click the Bluetooth icon and select "Add a device".
Enter the auto-generated pairing number on your phone:
You'll be notified of a successful connection:
After this, the drivers will be installed. It's no problem if only the modem driver is found:
After this, right-click the Bluetooth icon and select Show Bluetooth Devices. Right-click the just-added phone and select Dial-up Networking / Create a dial-up connection:
Then, select "Standard modem over Bluetooth link":
After this, enter at least the pseudo dial-in number (in the screenshot, *99#) and make sure you give it a meaningful name (in the screenshot, T-Mobile BB):
After this, you're set: everything will work as expected. You can quickly access the connect icon by clicking the networking / wireless icon on the taskbar; just click the added modem connection(s) and select Connect:
Now, let's take a look at doing the same with BT PAN-based connections.
1.2 Creating PAN connections (newer WinMo phones with Internet Sharing)
First, right-click the Bluetooth icon and select "Add a device".
Don't be afraid of your device listed as a "Bluetooth Keyboard" - just click it and do the pairing (enter the auto-generated PIN on your phone). Don't be afraid of some drivers not being found either; the BT modem will be found, and that's all we need:
As with the simple BT DUN case, right-click the Bluetooth icon and select Show Bluetooth Devices. Right-click the just-added phone and select Connect Using / Access Point:
Before clicking this, make sure you do start Internet Sharing on your phone in BT PAN mode, though. The connection will be automatically initiated; after the initial home / public / work selection (common with all the other connection modes), you'll be directed right to the internet.
Note that, as opposed to the BT DUN (or, Wi-Fi) cases, you can only initiate a BT PAN connection from here; that is, Show Bluetooth Devices. BT PAN networks aren't listed in the traditional connectivity list; it only lists "real" modem connections (including BT DUN) and Wi-Fi networks.
1.3 Cancelling the default connection
I also need to speak a bit about cancelling the default connection. You may have noticed upon creating dial-up connections like BT DUN (NOT Wi-Fi or BT PAN ones) you're always asked about connecting via them if you don't have network connection and a program (for example, Skype) wants to connect to the net.
To get rid of these very annoying connection requests, (on Windows 7 / Vista) go to Network and Sharing Center (e.g., via Open Network and Sharing Center after pressing the wireless icon in the bottom-right bay). There, click Change adapter settings. Right-click the icon of your connection and select Cancel as Default Connection:
2. Symbian S60
I've also tested the latest
Joikuspot Premium (2.5 for Symbian) and
WalkingHotSpot [WHS] (3.0 for Symbian and 3.1 for Windows Mobile) versions.
On Symbian, Joikuspot 2.5 behaved pretty good. I no more had problems with connecting to IRC (as opposed to version 2.0); all my tests worked OK. Furthermore, now, if you download the Premium version, it offers a two-day trial mode. That's very nice! It's 100% working with the iPhone as a client; this must mean it's also compatible with the two iPod Touch versions. It's (still) incompatible with WinMo clients though (not a big problem). The only problem I've found was the constantly high power consumption (around 1.8-1.9W, using an UMTS / HSDPA network), even without any connected client.
WHS 3.0, still on Symbian, is still somewhat better in supporting some much rarer protocols. For example, in the IRC test, I could DCC a file to the client using WHS but not to Joiku. Also, not only the iPhone, but also the WinMo clients were able to use its Wi-Fi connection. Note that it still has the "four clients only" restriction - that is, if you want to connect to the internet with more than four clients. Nevertheless, JoikuSpot, particularly with its price having fallen to 15 Euros, is a very good (and cheaper) alternative.
There aren't notable differences in the power consumption of the two applications and, as has been emphasized, they're also compatible with Apple's Wi-Fi-enabled iPod Touch and iPhone devices. Neither of them offers the Access Point mode any more. (Not that it'd work - no wonder this has been removed.)
3. Windows Mobile
I've thoroughly tested the new versions of both
WHS (3.10) and
WMWifiRouter (1.35 build 850) on my HTC Universal with both the some-month-old Tomal 8.70 and the brand new
Tomal 8.90 ROM.
WHS didn't really work using the Tomal 8.70 firmware; upon trying to connect to cellular network, it always displayed an error dialog (W002: Unable to connect, please check network settings). This may have been a misconfiguration issue. Under the Tomal 8.90 ROM, everything went just fine.
WMWifiRouter has received an ever nicer GUI in the meantime. It worked flawlessly. The only problem I've run into was my IBM Thinkpad t42p running Windows 7 RC1: under neither ROM version would it connect without connecting my iPhone 3G to the access point first; Windows 7 just displayed an error message of it being unable to connect. With the iPhone 3G connection being active, Windows 7 connected just fine. After having connected, I could safely disconnect my iPhone 3G; Windows 7 remained connected.
I've also tried to connect my Nokia N95 v30 first to see whether the Windows 7 connection is accepted when I use it for connecting first. It didn't work.
Note that this isn't a Windows 7-specific problem. I tried connecting to WMWifiRouter from my Windows 7 build 7000 (the first public beta) from my HP TC1100 - it worked flawlessly.
Of the two apps, WMWifiRouter is definitely the more capable. However, I still liked WHS better, simply because I could see all the time the state of the connected devices and the amount of data transferred. (Note that the latter is also displayed by Joiku on Symbian.)
3.1 Problems with the HP TC1100 under Windows XP TE
The peer-to-peer connections seem to be pretty unstable on my TC1100 running WinXP Pro Tablet Edition - it continuously disconnects after 3-4 minutes. (The same happens with both Windows Mobile and Symbian apps.) I haven't had problems like this under Windows 7 build 7000 running on exactly the same tablet. If you run into the same problem under XP TE, consider running another OS - at least when you must use any of these apps.
3.2 ICSControl
Note that I didn't want to play much with
ICSControl 0.21, which hasn't been updated in the meantime. Just a quick tip: if it doesn't work (that is, nothing happens when you start the connection from inside ICS), then,
ipsnat.dll may be missing from \Windows (like on the Universal). Make sure you install ICSControl by downloading
THIS CAB file instead of the single EXE file linked to from the first post of the thread.
4. iPhone
The Apple iPhone can not only function as a client utilizing both Symbian and WinMo phones via p2p Wi-Fi connections - it can also act as a real modem. Unfortunately, in order to make this work, you must jailbreak your phone. You can download both applications from
Cydia.
4.1 iPhoneModem 2.2.0
I don't really recommend this solution unless you absolutely can't afford the recommended one,
PdaNet (see below). Unfortunately, you get what you pay for.
The commercial version ($9.99; PayPal) of this app supports e.g. running in the background. The trial version is useless: it displays a registration screen every 3-4 minute and, at the same time, disables modem functionality. It needs a desktop-side client (unlike PdaNet in Wi-Fi mode) to run to e.g. configure proxies and create the network.
It isn't a full solution but a proxy-based one, unlike PdaNet. Currently, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS proxies are supported; this means for example IRC won't run on a notebook using it.
4.2 PdaNet 1.52
This modem app should be the one to go for.
It's able to work over both Wi-Fi and USB. With Wi-Fi, it's able to serve not only desktop Windows and OS X clients, but also ones that are able to create p2p networks on their own. They include Windows Mobile clients. This means you can even access the Net on your Windows Mobile-based handheld if it only has Wi-Fi, using an external iPhone.
Currently, its only restriction is that, directly, only one client can use its Wi-Fi at a time, unlike with all the Symbian- and Windows Mobile-based solutions, which allow for four or even more clients at the same time. Note that you may be able to further share the net on the notebook or desktop computer it's connected to; I haven't tried to find out how this can be done. One thing is certain: if you try to connect to an already-connected p2p network between PdaNet and a notebook (or any other client), the previous client will be kicked off and the new client will be the one to have access to the Net.
It also supports USB mode (unlike iPhoneModem 2.2.0), which really helps the phone: Wi-Fi network sharing quickly eats thought the battery, which isn't the case with USB connection. After the desktop side client (PdaNet Desktop) installed, it minimizes itself to the desktop tray; you can quickly access it there (and exit / disconnect when the connection is not needed). Note that not any desktop-side app is needed when operating in Wi-Fi mode.
As with iPhoneModem, it also needs a desktop-side, pre-existing p2p network. There's no desktop-side client (unlike with iPhoneModem) to create this; however,
the online tutorial dedicated to this question explains creating a p2p network on the desktop very well.
It can also run in the background - that is, you can safely press the Home button while running the app and continue for example browsing the web or playing. It uses little CPU time when running in the background.
The unrestricted trial is usable for 14 days; the regular price is $29. A bit steep, but, taken into account how much better it is than the proxy-based iPhoneModem, it's well worth the price.
Note that PdaNet has clients for all the mobile platforms (except Symbian S60), not only the iPhone. You won't want to get the Windows Mobile one (as opposed to the iPhone one) as all it does is simplifying connecting via the traditional methods. No Wi-Fi access point modes or anything like that. That is, stay away from the Windows Mobile version: if you need Wi-Fi, both WMWifiRouter and WalkingHotSpot are far better. And, if you need Bluetooth or USB, you can safely use the built-in, already-existing support in the operating system.