MyWi 4.0, the jailbreak app that turns your iPhone into a glorious WiFi access point, was updated a little while ago with a few major improvements and a major price increase to go along with it. The app has also been split into two products: the older MyWi, and the iOS 4-compatible MyWi 4.0.
I can ‘t guarantee that it ‘s a good way to work around tethering plan costs on your phone plan, but MyWi 4.0 is a very convenient, if initially expensive, way to use your iPhone data plan the way you want to.
Activating WiFi Tethering allows up to four devices to connect to the iPhone over — you guessed it — WiFi. However, the app also allows you to tether your iPhone to your Mac or PC via USB. I described both processes in a little more detail in my original MyWi review.
Pairing the iPhone with my laptop was a cinch over WiFi and USB, and my 3GS never felt like it was overheating (something that used to happen when I tethered Windows Mobile devices).
You ‘d think there ‘d be a remarkable speed difference between the two, but I found both tethering methods to be almost equal in speed. USB tethering held up 3900 Kbps as oppose to 3300 Kbps over WiFi, but upload speeds were almost identical at 340 Kbps (measured in Downtown Toronto using DSLReports.com).
Major changes
Status Bar icon ” MyWi used to indicate its status by means of a gigantic, pulsing blue bar at the top of the screen, which looked a lot like the one you see when using the phone or voice recorder in the background. This bar is still available as an option, but the new default alert is a very small icon that sits in the status bar. Developer Intelliborn claims that this status bar icon uses 10-15% less battery because it is 100% less pulsating-y and gigantic (I played with their wording a little bit).
Live Data Counter in the app ” the data counter used to be a part of the gigantic pulsing blue bar, but you can now find it right within the main view of MyWi 4.0. If you ‘re on a particularly tight data plan but still insist on attempting to tether, I highly recommend you keep the MyWi app on-screen so you can keep track of your usage down to the second. You ‘ll even be able to see how many devices are currently connected to your iPhone, and for how long (this info is buried one or two menus deep).
WiFi Signal Strength ” I didn ‘t fiddle with this setting all that much because my iPhone was sitting right beside my MacBook Pro, but if you plan on sharing with three other friends in a room, or you ‘re in an area that ‘s saturated with wireless networks, you may want to crank the WiFi signal strength up to max. Just make sure you bring a charger for your iPhone.
No More Bluetooth Tethering ” I honestly doubt anybody will miss this feature that much, but I haven ‘t been able to find the option to tether over Bluetooth, which was available in previous versions of MyWi. This change isn ‘t explained in the app description, and I imagine some customers might take issue with a feature being ‘removed ‘ (though you can still natively tether via Bluetooth, of course).
USB Bridge Mode and flexible tethering – This was a feature I didn ‘t end up testing since I don ‘t have any free WiFi account to use outside home, but you can actually set your iPhone to share its WiFi connection, as opposed to simply sharing your 3G data. This is useful for situations where your iPhone is given free WiFi access, but your laptop isn ‘t.
Conclusion
You already have to pay your carrier far too much for your data and tethering costs, and purchasing or upgrading to MyWi 4.0 is comparatively cheaper over the long haul, since the money you pay now should last you at least a year (until the inevitable MyWi 5.0 update). However, that doesn ‘t mean that MyWi 4.0 isn ‘t a little overpriced.
I see this update as half iOS 4 compatibility and half a streamlining of the UI. If this were an Apple operating system, we might call it Snow MyWi, but that was one of the cheapest upgrade prices I ‘ve ever seen.
To put it bluntly, I do think the $10 increase in price is steep for a handful of interface changes and iOS 4 compatibility (I ‘d be happy paying $5 to upgrade, and $15 to purchase outright), but without another app stepping up to take a shot at WiFi tethering, I doubt this price will come down any time soon.
So let ‘s put it this way: MyWi 4.0 is expensive, but it ‘s really your only option for WiFi tethering on iOS 4, so if you can get yourself over that initial price hump, the software works so well that you won ‘t have anything else to complain about afterwards.
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MyWi 4.0 is available through the Rock App store for $20 outright, or $10 if upgrading from MyWi 3.x. You will need a jailbroken device to install this software.
My copy of the app was provided by Intelliborn for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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TAGS: intelliborn, iPhone tethering, jailbreak app
