How to Share Unlimited 4G Data with Your Router

Unlimited 4G plans are now being offered by US wireless phone carriers. Not only these plans are cheaper but they are also convenient. Yes, unlike before when you have to turn your WiFi hotspot which only gives you limited range and drains your phone’s battery.

How to Use 4G Unlimited Data for Your Home Internet Connect?

There are two ways to connect your 4G unlimited data for your internet connection and they are the following:

1. Tether your phone to your router using your USB cable. This method will also keep your phone charged. Take note that this method will only work through your carrier’s official tethering method. Aside from that and in addition to that, you could connect your router to a VPN. This way, you could prevent your mobile company from checking your non-mobile streams
2. Another method is by tethering your phone to your computer with the use of a USB. After which you could share your connection through your router via an Ethernet cable.

Tethered to Routher vs. Phone Hotspot

We highly recommend that you tether or connect your phone directly to your router instead of using your hotspot feature. This way you will have a better connection and aside from that, here are the other reasons why it is better that you connect to your router:

1. Flexibility- this means your routing ability. When you use your own hotspot, you do not have any control on your routing settings. However, through the use of your router, you could customize features like DNS settings, port forwarding, VPN protection and QOS bandwidth.
2. Range- hotspots have only limited range. This means, you will not be able to provide or cover an entire house.
3. Possibility to get around hotspot data caps- though you have unlimited data plan, mobile service providers would still usually put a cap on your usage. This means the word unlimited does not really mean that you could use your data connection unlimitedly.
4. Battery Life- If you use hotspot every day, this could cause for your battery to die fast.

Best Router for 4G Phone Tethering

1. Asus

Asus is one of the most popular brands. They offer high quality electronics and their routers are not exception. All of their routers come with ASUSWRT firmware which has the ability to connect your 4G phone. It also has the ability to share your data connection with other android devices.

The ASUSWRT is priced between $80 to $300. Though this option is not cheap, a lot purchase it due to its reliability and efficiency.

Other Great ASUSWRT Routers:

1. RT-AC88U
2. RT-AC68U
3. RT-AC3200

How to Tether Phone to ASUS Router?

This method works for NATIVE USB option on Android Phones.

To connect your phone to ASUS router, all you have to do is to follow the steps below:

1. Go to ASUSWRT’s control panel.

• Open your browser.
• Go to your local IP address of your router
• To be sure of what is your IP address, open cmd.exe then, type ipconfig
• Scroll down to see connection method
• Look for default gateway i.e 192.168.2.1
• Copy and paste the IP address on your browser
• Sign in

2. Choose USB application settings

• Go to the left side of the control panel.
• Click General
• Click USB application. This will prompt the settings to appear.
• Click 3G/4G section. This will load the tethering settings

3. Connect your Phone through USB

– Connect your USB data cable to your phone and your router.

4. Enable USB Mode

• In the USB Modem/USB Tethering screen, change WAN Type to USB.
• Tap USB Mode On
• Choose Android Phone as USB device
• Click Apply

5. Enable tethering on your phone

• This step differs depending on your phone model.
• If your phone plan does not have tethering, you could set it up through option 2- EasyTether, Foxfi/PdaNet

6. Confirm your internet connection

• Take note that it could take a while for your router to recognize your internet connection.
• To confirm your internet connection, go to your network map and you will see your WAN status. If it says Connected, you are good to go.
• If not, all you have to do is to make sure your WAN is set to USB mode.
• If you are using Dual WAN, you will need to set one or to use USB.

7. Use VPN

If you are into streaming videos, watching and browsing Netflix, YouTube and the like, and you tether them on your PC, this will cause your browser to pass information with its each data packet. This means, your mobile data 4G provider will be able to see it and will know which packets are going to a connected device and which ones are going to your mobile device. If this happens, your videos will slow down and will throttle or buffer. However, if you wish for this not to happen, all you have to do is add and use a VPN. This way, your data mobile provider will not be able to read packet headers.

Share Tether with Router

If your mobile plan does not have an official tethering feature, you could use this method.

This method works with the following apps:

1. Clockworkmod Tether

2. PdaNet+

3. Easytether Pro

The mentioned apps are known as workaround apps and take note that they do not use official Android tethering support but rather they work as USB file transfer apps. This means, they create virtual internet connection and they transfer your data back from your phone app to your computer app and vice-versa.

To make this work, you will need to install a software on your computer and tether your phone to your computer. Then, share your computer’s connection with the use of your router and an Ethernet cable.

What You Will Need to Do This Method:

1. Working tethered connection
2. Router
3. Second Device
4. Ethernet cable

Steps:

1. Connect your PC Ethernet to your router

• Plug your Ethernet cable to your PC’s LAN or Ethernet port.
• Connect it to your router’s WAN port

2. Start USB tethering session

• Disconnect your WiFi of your computer
• Open your tethering app
• Start USB tethering session

3. Open your Network Adapter settings

• Go to Control Panel
• Go to Network and Internet
• Then to Network connection
• Click change adapter settings
• Locate your connections through Ethernet/LAN connections and Your tethered connection

4. Set Up Connection Sharing

In setting up connection sharing, there are two ways to do this and they are through the following options:

Option 1- Network Bridge

• Click 1 of the two connections you would want to share
• Hold CTRL
• Click other connection
• Select both simultaneously
• Right click on highlighted connection
• Click bridge connections

Option 2- Connection Sharing

If option 1- network bridge does not work, you could try connection sharing option. All you have to do is the following:

• Right click on tether connection
• Click on properties
• Click “sharing” tab
• Click allow other network users to connect
• Choose the name of your Ethernet adapter

5. Verify connection sharing, if it is working

To verify all you have to do is:

• Go to control panel
• Right click on tethered adapter
• Click status
• Verify IPv4 connectivity: Internet
• Repeat this process for the Ethernet adapter. This should say Internet under the connection status.

Tip: If your Ethernet connection does not show your correct status, disable your firewall.

6. Connect the Router

• Plug the end of the Ethernet cable to the router
• Go to your router’s control panel. This could be seen on your router’s manual.
• Ensure that your WAN type is set to WAN.
• Wait for your router will reset or reboot it.

7. Test your Router’s connection

• Go to your testing device
• Sign into your router’s wireless network
• If you could access your internet, then your connection is good to use.

How to Use a VPN with Your Tethered Connection

1. Run the VPN on your router – most routers support this step and the ASUS router is perfect for this.
2. Use VPN software on individual devices- install VPN software on your device.
3. Run VPN app on tethered phone

Best VPN for Tether Connections

For VPNs, to be considered as best, they should have the following features:

1. Fast
2. Affordable
3. Stable

Top 3 Recommendations:

1. Private Internet Access – very stable, does not keep logs and is priced at $3.33.
2. IPVanish – Very fast and comes with very useful features. It is cheap as well with its price at $6.49/month
3. VyprVPN – well known for its outstanding software and offers very fast connection.

Troubleshooting Tips:

If you are having some problems with the guide mentioned above, here are some tips that could help you address it:

1. Set a static IP for your Ethernet Adapter

• Go to network adapter settings
• Right click Ethernet adapter
• Click properties
• Scroll down to the bottom
• Make sure your IPv4 connection is ticked
• Click IPv4 connection
• Click properties button
• Change your settings from automatic IP address to static
• Enter a new IP address on subnet
• Change the 3rd number block
• Set subnet mask to 255.255.255.0
• Leave default gateway blank

2. Make sure your firewall isn’t causing problems- turn off your firewall for a while

3. Make sure your tethered connection is active- recheck your USB tether