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I want to use my Android phone to connect a desktop (windows 7) PC to the internet via Wi-Fi (ie, not muching though my Data plan). Is this possible with the various tethering options out there?

The reason I ask is, most suppot wi-fi the other way around, ie, the phone is the wi-fi hotspot, and the internet connection comes over the phone network. I want to connect to an existing wi-fi network, and share that with the PC.

Background - for various reasons our office LAN network is b0rked and very slow. The office WiFi network on the other hand is happy and fast. But my desktop PC is wired only. If I can use my phone as a wifi dongle/modem/adaptor, and connect to the office wifi, then I'll get a much faster connection.

Edit: I've got an HTC Desire HD, I haven't rooted it so far.

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This does depend on what phone you've got, and what version of the OS you're running. Froyo has a lot more options for tethering in it, including sharing some of the phone's connections over USB to a PC. – GAThrawn Nov 25 '10 at 17:48
any luck finding the answer? – kzh Jul 25 '11 at 22:54

2 Answers

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PDANet claims to be able to do this. Other phones, such as my Sidekick, do this out of the box.

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I get an error download unsuccessful this content not supported on this phone. I'm using sanyo zio android 2.2 – Xitcod13 Sep 30 '12 at 10:06
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I have got this working and tried it today on my Micromax A70 , it'a Android Froyo 2.2 phone , and It is damn easy , read my full post on my tech blog ,

http://techstroke.com/use-your-android-as-a-wifi-dongle-wifi-adapter-to-access-your-home-wifi.html

Well , if you people dont like visiting external links then here it is , just connect to a wifi network on your phone as you normally do and then when you are connected go to your tethering settings and enable usb tether , now you would be able to use you mobile as a wifi dongle , plain simple !

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Answers that require the reader to go to some other site are not an answer at all. – Al Everett Dec 6 '11 at 13:40
This is a nogo on Motorola Atrix 4G. Network settings shows an internet connection, but then it fails to use it. Windows diagnostics blame inability to detect proxy settings. Windows does fine if I disable wifi on phone and instead use network. Phone does fine if I use wifi. Windows does fine with wifi (other) dongle. – Adam Oct 12 '12 at 21:04

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