iPhone 3.0 and the MMS / Tethering thing

Recently Apple issued a major update for the iPhone. Here in South Africa Vodacom is the service provider that supplies iPhones to our market. But because Vodacom has limited resources and probably limited interest in the iPhone certain key features will not work unless you do some of your own software ground work.

Luckily you don't have to be a computer boffin or major geek to get these things working. The following instructions will set up MMS and Tethering on your iPhone. MMS is handy because you will be able to send contacts to other cellphones that support MMS as well as Pictures etc... The tethering option is handy because it voids the need of an internet dongle for your laptop, and you can connect your iPhone via Blue Tooth or USB and enjoy the internet at 3G speeds (Vodacom will charge you for the bandwidth used).

So here's what you do:

First connect your phone to your computer and check via iTunes that you have the latest software installed (version 3.0)

Once you have the correct software then disconnect your phone and using your phone's internet browser go to http://wan.to/iphone/ (you need to type that address into your iPhone's web browser) and download the package

This will install the settings for MMS and Tethering on your iPhone. You then need to go into settings and turn MMS and Tethering on now you should be good to go.To send an MMS select new message and then press the little camera icon on the left, or from within your contacts you can select "Share Contact" and send via MMS or in Photos when you tap the bottom left icon you will be given an option to MMS

Tethering is very simple on a Mac (I'm not sure how it works on PC). First make sure its on: Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering ON. For bluetooth use your Mac to search for a new cellphone > Pair your iPhone > Then select the bluetooth icon (in your main menu bar) > move your mouse down to your iPhone and click on "Connect to Network" (Look Ma no dongle and no cables - The iPhone can stay in your pocket, nice!). Or plug it in via USB - For me this way just works and you can even surf the web while the iPhone is Syncing to iTunes

Please note. MMS and Tethering will not work on the Older iPhone 1.0 it is only designed to work with the iPhone 3G and the new 3GS (The older iPhone was never officially released in South Africa, but some people have them, it can easily be identified by its silver back).

Thanks go to Brennan Babb for posting this information and the appropriate links on his blog: wan.to.blog

UPDATE: Since late 2009 Vodacom now allows Tethering without any special settings, so you don't need to install any patches, you just need to switch Tethering ON (In settings) and then you should be able to connect via Bluetooth or USB.