How can I tether my phone's Wi-Fi connection to a PC over USB?

Question

Today in my work the people from security are going to block internet access and only admit enterprise local pages. Luckily, there is a free Wi-Fi connection which I have access from my Motorola Milestone. Is there any way for me to tether the Wi-Fi connection over USB to my computer?

Answer 1

You can do this using PdaNet.

From KnowYourMobile.com:

To use your Milestone as a mobile broadband dongle, you will need:

• Motorola Milestone USB Drivers
• PDANet Tethering Software ($15.95 to buy right now, limited trial also available)

Step I:

• Tap the upward pointing arrow on the Milestone's home screen to get to the app menu
• Tap the Settings icon
• Tap Applications
• Tap Development
• Check the box for USB debugging

Step II:

• Install the PDANet software on both your PC and Milestone -- when installed on the desktop, it should automatically install the USB driver for you but if it doesn’t, you will have to use the driver you downloaded above.
• Connect your Milestone to your PC via USB, then launch PDANet on your device Click on "Turn PdaNet On" on the Milestone Right-click the PDANet icon in the taskbar on your PC, then click Connect

Answer 2

Assuming your computer doesn't have a Wi-Fi card already and you're not rooted, I would probably just buy a USB Wi-Fi card. You can almost certainly buy one for less than the cost of PDANet.

If you are rooted, Cyanogenmod has had built-in tethering in the Wireless & network settings menu for a while now. You can enable USB tethering and connect your phone to the hotspot to essentially have it act like a USB Wi-Fi card.

For my other tethering needs that aren't covered ROM-covered (e.g. Bluetooth network tethering) I've preferred Android Wi-Fi Tether, which is free, although I don't know how well it works on the Milestone.