Free wireless tethering approaches for Verizon Bionic
This is not much benefit for those of you who were not grandfathered into the unlimited phone data plan. But for those who are, or will be, grandfathered, this will not only save between $30 to over $100/month (for "hotspot mode" additional charges), but also give you unlimited tethering bandwidth rather than Verizon's new overly restricted (and over priced) data packages....
Remember, these actions could brick your phone, or trigger punitive actions from your provider, so proceed at your own risk.
As usual, you should probably back up everything, probably including your "ROM". One tool is the free version of Clockwordmod ROM Manager available in the Android Marketplace.
Performed using OpenSuSE 11.4 64 bit.
Verizon Motorola Droid Bionic
Android 2.3.4
This will likely quit working with newer versions of Android and/or a Verizon OTA (Over The Air) update. But it works for now.
The original instructions recommend purchasing and using SQLite to make the changes. There are a number of other options, here I will specify using the free Android app "DB Browser" to make the changes.
DB Browser method
1. Install DB Browser
2. Run DB Browser.
3. Select Connections.
4. In Search filter type "settings" (without quotes). Hit the Search icon next to the "Search Filter" text field. You may be asked to grant root permissions, you MUST grant them for this to work. You may need to hit the Search icon a second time (I noticed sometimes I did not get any results the first time). There will (probably) be 4 listings, 3 of them as settings.db. Beware that two look identical. Carefully select the one listed exactly as:
settings.db
/data/data/com.motorola.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
5. Click on "Connect to this DB". You should now see "settings.db (active)" in blue above the listed database.
6. Now click on that database and select "Explore Data Base"
7. Click (or click and hold Then click on the pop-up selecting "See Properties".) the "Tables" listing. Note, I had trouble initially with nothing showing up. After a couple of reboots, this worked.
8 .Click on "settings"
9 .Select "See Data"
10. Scroll until you find "entitlement_check" (on mine it was _id #147 (also note there is an _id 148 "usb_entitlement_check". You will see that the #147 entitlement_check is set to the value of 1 (one). This needs to be changed to 0 (zero).
11. Click (and hold) this line (147), and select "Edit Row"
12. Select the "Value" field, and change from 1 to 0.
13. Click the "Done" text near the top, and then "Yes" when the popup prompts you to save changes.
14. Exit DB Browser app.
15. Now reboot the device (may need to do so twice).
16. Now run the Mobile Hotspot App.
17. Enable The Hotspot (note this will turn off Wifi client mode on the device).
18. Configure your Wifi network name and password.
19. Select Broadcast channel or use default.
20. Click "Save".
21. Connect with your client devices via wifi to the Bionic.
Note: You can view connected devices under the Hotspot app by clicking on "Manage Devices".
Note on my phone by default the "Client (DHCP) start address" was "192.168.42.2".
Note: If it does not work right away, try changing the Client (DHCP) start address to something like 192.168.1.2
SQLite Method (optional)
The original directions recommended purchasing SQLite for Android. If you have SQLite, then follow these instructions instead:
Steps Summary:
1. Need Rooted Droid:
2. Need either SQLite (purchase on Android Marketplace) or free alternative "DB Browser" by Alex Arguello (more techie, also available on Android Marketplace).
3. Using DB Browser, select “Settings Storage” with “com.motorola.android.providers.settings”, there’s TWO of them select the one with the tools icon
4. Select settings.db
5. Select "settings".
6. Hit menu button then "Set_filter".
7. Type "check" and OK.
8. Set value of "entitlement_check" to "0"
9. You MUST reboot the Droid.
10. Run Mobile Hotspot App.
11. If it does not work right away, try changing the Client (DHCP) start address to something like 192.168.1.2
12. Enjoy!
References
Useful as of October 13th, could change at any time: http://droidbionicroot.com/droid-bionic-tether/how-to-get-free-wifi-tether-mobile-hotspot-on-your-droid-bionic/
A free alternative to paying for SQLite: DB Browser by Alex Arguello (Android marketplace).
Old information, but useful: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182940
Old but other useful information: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=988936