Share network of Android mobile phone to the router (USB 3G tethering)

[TeHashX]

Posted on Asus RT-N66U FAQ
Should be included with 3.0.0.4.268 firmware (not yet available) maybe on v3.0.0.4.321 beta?


Using 3G/4G Tethering allows sharing the Internet connection of Internet-connected mobile phone with other devices connect to the router. Insert the phone with router through USB cable, connection of other devices connected to the router with the phone can be done over wired LAN/wireless LAN (Wi-Fi). The combination of Internet-connected mobile phone and the router thus act as a portable wireless access point for devices connected to it. Noticed that if you connect both WAN and the mobile phone, the default is using WAN to Internet while failover is the mobile phone.

Step1. Mobile phone settings (Android)
Before continuing, you will need to set up your mobile phone;
1. Setting up USB PC connection as Media device (MTP) mode.

2. Enable USB Tethering: Settings→More settings→Tethering and portable hotspot→Enable USB tethering

Step2. Router settings
Connect the Android mobile to the router; you will need to set up:
A. Connect LAN to your computer.
B. Update the firmware to version 3.0.0.4.268 or later.
C. Connect mobile device and router via USB port. When use 4G/LTE, using the USB extension cable to have at least 50 cm distance between the router and the mobile for best performance.

D. Now using your Android mobile phone as 3G/4G USB modem is working. Launch the setting page http://192.168.1.1, Network Map status is changed.

 

[got_milk]

That's really cool. I'm looking forward to playing with that when it releases.

 

[DTS]

Now that it is 2015, which Asus (or other brand) routers support this? When I checked the Asus FAQ for the RT AC87U it lists only 8 supported devices; none are phones. So, will a phone work anyway? Which is the best Asus router for this feature?

 

[RMerlin]

Now that it is 2015, which Asus (or other brand) routers support this? When I checked the Asus FAQ for the RT AC87U it lists only 8 supported devices; none are phones. So, will a phone work anyway? Which is the best Asus router for this feature?

That FAQ only lists modems. Android tethering is a separate feature, which should have been working for years now as the first post of this thread indicates.

 

[DTS]

That FAQ only lists modems. Android tethering is a separate feature, which should have been working for years now as the first post of this thread indicates.

Thanks...

Here are my core questions that remain unanswered. I've been reading a lot of forums, but I haven't been able to connect all the dots. I'm sure I'm just not seeing the forest for the trees ;-)

1. Which Asus (or other brand) routers support using a 4G phone as the WAN connection?
   
2. Will the RT AC68U support using a 4G phone as the WAN connection out of the box? Is it as simple as the first post of this thread (minus the firmware update)?
3. Same question for the RT AC87U...
   
4. Do all recent versions of dd-wrt support this?
5. What are the steps for getting this working with dd-wrt? (I assume you'll probably tell me that the last question belongs on the dd-wrt forum, but I already asked it there and got no reply.)

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

All modern Asus routers share the same firmware, so they will all have the same USB modem support, from the RT-N66U up to the RT-AC3200.

It's impossible to predict if your particular phone will work or not, as manufacturers tend to do a lot of customizations, and sometimes carriers themselves get involved in ensuring that a device cannot be used for tethering (as they would rather see you pay for a separate connection).

 

[DTS]

All modern Asus routers share the same firmware, so they will all have the same USB modem support, from the RT-N66U up to the RT-AC3200.

It's impossible to predict if your particular phone will work or not, as manufacturers tend to do a lot of customizations, and sometimes carriers themselves get involved in ensuring that a device cannot be used for tethering (as they would rather see you pay for a separate connection).

Thanks for answering. In my case I pay for tethering on my phone and it has that capacity without requiring any 3rd party apps. (It is a T-Mobile LG G3.) So I should be fine with any new Asus router. I'll pick one that has good dd-wrt support (maybe the AC68U).

Do you happen to know anything about enabling this functionality when using dd-wrt? Ultimately, I want to run dd-wrt if I can have the feature described in the first post of this thread.

I appreciate your replies. I'm not getting replies yet elsewhere.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for answering. In my case I pay for tethering on my phone and it has that capacity without requiring any 3rd party apps. (It is a T-Mobile LG G3.) So I should be fine with any new Asus router. I'll pick one that has good dd-wrt support (maybe the AC68U).

Do you happen to know anything about enabling this functionality when using dd-wrt? Ultimately, I want to run dd-wrt if I can have the feature described in the first post of this thread.

I appreciate your replies. I'm not getting replies yet elsewhere.

No idea, I haven't used DD-WRT for years (and I've never tried to tether a phone on any firmware at all - until recently my plan was giving me a mere 200 MB of monthly bandwidth anyway).

 

[pontus karlsson]

Sorry for grave digging such an old thread. I got a samsung galaxy s5 and according to this list. the previous models of galaxy have been supported for mobile tethering.
Do you guys think it would work to mobile usb tethering from a galaxy s5 with 4G to a "Asus RT-AC51U" as an example? or what router would you suggest that I get?

 

[kya kruu]

Do you happen to know anything about enabling this functionality when using dd-wrt? Ultimately, I want to run dd-wrt if I can have the feature described in the first post of this thread.



GuL

 

[wavelet]

Sorry for grave digging such an old thread. I got a samsung galaxy s5 and according to this list. the previous models of galaxy have been supported for mobile tethering.
Do you guys think it would work to mobile usb tethering from a galaxy s5 with 4G to a "Asus RT-AC51U" as an example? or what router would you suggest that I get?

Yes, I believe it will work. My usual Internet connection is through my landline phone line's VDSL, connected via VDSL modem to an Asus RT-N66U's Ethernet WAN port.
My landline is temporarily down, so I was looking for a solution, and got the above working fine, using my Samsung phone as the tethered Internet connection via the Asus's USB port. Since Asus firmware has changed in the last 3 years, it needed a lot of additional trial and error; I'm therefore attaching some relevant screenshots which will hopefully help others.

First the background details:
Phone: Samsung S5 Plus, model SM-G901F . This is a very small update to the S5, so I'm pretty sure there'll be no difference in how it works via the non-Plus S5.
Phone OS: Android 5.0.2 (Stock Samsung TouchWiz firmware)

Router: Asus RT-N66U
Router firmware: 3.0.0.4.378_9313

This is how I did it:
1) Plug phone using its standard micro-USB to USB cable into USB port on router (I think it doesn't matter which one)
2) On the phone Settings menu, Network Connections section, select the "Tethering and Mobile hotspot" subsection.
3) The "USB Tethering" setting, which is grayed out if you're not connected via USB, should now be selectable. Select it. It should look like this:

4) Physically disconnect the Ethernet cable to the router's WAN's port from the landline modem, if it was connected. I don't think this is supposed to be necessary, but it didn't work for me otherwise.
5) Open a browser to the router's main "Network Map" status page. Note that there are now two WAN connections listed on top, vs. one previously, and that one of the USB ports is showing an icon of a USB wireless dongle, with a "SAMSUNG_Android" device:

:
(continued in next post)

 

[wavelet]

(continued from prev. post):
6) Click the dongle icon. You will get the following screen:

7) Now press the "GO" button to setup the modem, you will see the following:

8) Now set it up like it says:
-- Set WAN type to USB
-- Set Enable USB Mode to ON
-- Make sure the USB Device is set to Android phone
-- I left the USB MTU setting alone.

9) Press the "Apply" button and wait until the router's done with the change.

As far as I can tell, once you're done using the phone as Internet tether and want to go back to the Ethernet-port WAN connection, there's no need to change anything in the router settings -- just unplug the phone from the router.
In fact, while I haven't tested it, the router is now supposed to support automatic failover switching between connections and even load balancing (click the "Dual WAN" tab in the above photo to see the options).

 

[greenflash]

This is the solution I didn't think of (my ADSL internet fails a lot in my area and was wracking my brain about the adequate USB dongle, the cost etc) and it's great!! Thanks a lot. Using it now with Nexus 6P over 4G. Awesome (my 4G is ten times faster than my 1.5MB ADSL.. Go figure!). PS: I'm writing connected via my phone 4G in my Windows computer!

 

[blautens]

Thanks - RT-AC66U - firmware 3.0.0.4.378_9533 - I had to perservere a bit more, but your documents helped. I set mine for Enable USB Mode - On, Android Phone, and left the USB MTU at 0.

My Samsung S6 only has choices for Hotspot or Tethering, and the Tethering option would turn itself off all the time (you couldn't even enable it if the cable wasn't plugged in). Also, I couldn't get the Dual WAN feature with failover/failback to work on the Asus router (which seemed awfully cool), and I also had to unplug the WAN Ethernet cable to get it to work.

The odd thing was that when I finally plugged in the USB connector in the bottom connector of the router, it finally stabilized and no longer turned off the tethering option on the phone.

So I'm left with a simple USB Android connection, but 12Mbs beats nothing at all during the Comcast outage I'm suffering through right now.

If only that dual WAN failover/failback with aggregation thing worked...reminds me of back in the day when I used to use an Astrocom PowerLink to aggregate 4 different links in and out - that thing was nice.

 

[lshizzle]

I have a Asus RT-AC5300 using my samsung S4 as a usb modem. It works great 90% of the time. I get random DNS issues though and with using USB as the wan option it doesnt give you an opyion to change the DNS. Id like to just use googles instead of verizons as ive heard they have issues sometimes. Im using verizon 4g and usually get 25mbps down and 20 up. Which for being in the middle of nowhere is pretty awesome. DSL around here gets 2mbps MAX. Any ideas???

 

[FMStark]

Trying to connect phone with a router so i can use all my devices, Came across this forum, My issue Panasonic tv wont accept usb wireless adapter since new, even the one they said will wont work (tried 4 different adapters), so only way to use smart tv is wired, i have come across Cradlepoint they make these kind of routers that have the failover over capability. Is failback meaning the same just stated differently? terminology?
Cradlepoint MBR1200B 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Wireless N Wifi Router
Based on this forum it appears Asus has some as well

@ Greenflash I am as well, Running Lg K7 Metro PCS cell, tethered (USB 1 connection) and hotspot (WiFi max. 8 connections) to be able to communicate, speed 8Mbps Down, 1.5Mbps Up, Using my cell saves me $$ over cable [U-verse limited to 18Mbp/3 to 4 Mbps Brighthouse 35Mbps with same up as Uverse], they {BH} have 150Mbps but the cost, friggin outrageous, i dont game so super fast speed is not a priority, convenience portability and now the capability of networking with older wired networked devices extends the useful service life of the devices as well added connectivity capabilities, this works if you are single, lol and hell yeah i am frugal!!!

One other tidbit streaming live events every other month, since Mar 2016 from an overseas site, via my cell's hotspot (wireless) to pc using HDMI port to the TV. Have a better pic/viewing detail and hardly any buffering compared to U-verse internet at twice the speed, Yes I stopped U-verse internet the next day

 

[Chrysalis]

(continued from prev. post):
6) Click the dongle icon. You will get the following screen:
View attachment 5595
7) Now press the "GO" button to setup the modem, you will see the following:
View attachment 5596
8) Now set it up like it says:
-- Set WAN type to USB
-- Set Enable USB Mode to ON
-- Make sure the USB Device is set to Android phone
-- I left the USB MTU setting alone.

9) Press the "Apply" button and wait until the router's done with the change.

As far as I can tell, once you're done using the phone as Internet tether and want to go back to the Ethernet-port WAN connection, there's no need to change anything in the router settings -- just unplug the phone from the router.
In fact, while I haven't tested it, the router is now supposed to support automatic failover switching between connections and even load balancing (click the "Dual WAN" tab in the above photo to see the options).

interesting, no wonder i cannot get it to work.

If I set my router to usb modem mode, I cannot choose the device type, instead it has boxes for entering apn details, which doesnt work of course as the phone it self handles the apn.

So it seems john's fork doesnt support usb tethering and it was a feature introduced in a later firmware.

 

[wavelet]

interesting, no wonder i cannot get it to work.

If I set my router to usb modem mode, I cannot choose the device type, instead it has boxes for entering apn details, which doesnt work of course as the phone it self handles the apn.

So it seems john's fork doesnt support usb tethering and it was a feature introduced in a later firmware.

I've only tried this with the stock Asus firmware, so sorry, can't help you there.
In general, I tend not to install custom firmware on any realtime/embedded device, esp. one I rely on all the time, unless I have a very specific reason for doing so, and there's a reasonable amount of feedback from the field saying the custom FW does what I want without drawbacks.

In general, relatively few people install custom FW, meaning these versions will have gotten tested a lot less than the vendor-provided ones, and rarely subject to full-coverage, rigorous testing.
I used to manage a QA group for networking products, so am familiar with the issues involved.

 

[Dominic1]

Is it also possible to achieve this objective by adapting the USB type connection to an Ethernet type connection ?
If so, would a USB to Ethernet adaptor work ?

 

[Benutzer]

I have a Asus RT-AC3200 using my samsung S5mini as a usb modem. Unfortunately I have some problems. For example I can not log in to ZWIFT. The account is unknown. If I connect the S5 mini directly with my pc, it works proper. With other devices I have similar problems. Minecraft don't start on the Playstation (If the cable discontected then the programm started)..
I set the USB-MTU on different values, but no differents. Does anybody have any idea?