PdaNet Updated to Mask Tethering Usage, Great News for MyWi Users

Talk about good timing. Alex just shared his experience lamenting AT&T’s strict tethering policies, and not so much as an hour later we learn that PdaNet has been updated to mask tethering.

While a lot of you may be more familiar with MyWi when it comes to tethering, PdaNet is the forerunner to MyWi, and still has quite the loyal following today.

Even if you are a MyWi user, this is wonderful news, because it means that the developers of MyWi shouldn’t be too many steps behind when it comes to implementing similar features in their tethering app…

As Alex already pointed out, AT&T isn’t using bandwidth as a means of gauging whether you’re tethering or not; their detection methods aren’t that elementary.

Instead, it seems as if AT&T is identifying the type of packets that are hitting their network, and if they detect them as coming from anything but an iPhone, red flags are raised, and text messages warning the perpetrator are automatically dispatched.

Immediately I wondered whether or not MyWi could implement some sort of packet masking feature, but it seems as if I was late to the party. PdaNet is already there, and they hit the dance floor hours ago.

Their 5.01 update includes the following changes:

  • Adds an option to hide your tethering usage.
  • Now allows multiple WiFi connections.
  • Rewritten to give you the max performance possible. Also fix a few crashes from previous releases.

The good news is that a similar update to MyWi can’t be too far off.

Personally this doesn’t really effect me, because I’ve already decided to go the Personal Hotspot route, and pony up $20 extra bones a month to the folks at AT&T, but that’s another debate for another day.

Do you use any tethering service with your iPhone; Personal HotSpot, MyWi, PdaNet, etc?

What has been your experience so far?