I have seen quite a few forum post about tethering and how to root your phone to enable wireless tethering etc..but my question evolves around the "wired" Epic tethering capabilities. Whenever I plug my phone into my computer it gives me the 3 choices:
1. Charging
2. USB
3. Tether
When I select tether I can't seem to make it work.
Does "wired" tethering work on the Epic 4G?
I have an Epic 4G and I too get those options upon plugging it into my computers. I'd assume that wired (USB) tethering would work with such programs as PDANet (that doesn't require you to root your device). I've not tried it, and I think you'd need to have the Samsung drivers installed (given you're running Windows XP/Vista/7). If you're on OS X I have no idea how that'd work. I'll try it and report back.
EDIT: So I've tested PDANet and it is possible to get wired (USB) tethering functional and working on Windows (32 bit and 64 bit) as well as on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. (Note: I've only tried this on OS X, as I assume the process will be the same or similar on Windows.)
Follow what it says here:
http://www.junefabrics.com/android/
You'll need to install PDANet on your Epic 4G as well. it's free from the Market, and it will ask you to pay eventually, but it's free to use as long as you don't visit secure sites (such as your bank for example). Basically anything with https:// will not be accessible unless you pay the one-time fee of $18. That may seem like a high price tag, but consider that Sprint wants to charge customers an additional $30 to use official tethering. This eliminates that additional cost. Also follow them on Twitter (listed on their site there) and @ reply them with any issues.
With all that said, I think that the "Tether Mode" option will only work if you're paying for the above mentioned "official" tethering method from Sprint given you're paying for it. If not, then I have no idea what that option is meant for.
Also, I know this isn't exactly what you were going after, but if you've rooted your Epic 4G like I have, there's a WiFi tether solution that works quite well called WiFi Tether for Root Users. It works quite well on many Android phones.
Found here:
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
Be sure to select version 2.0.5 pre9 on the right under the featured downloads section. Download it to your SD Card (at the root, no pun intended, would be best). Then, open up your apps and go to "MyFiles" and find the .apk file that you just downloaded. Make sure your phone is set to accept Unknown Sources for program installations. It'll complain otherwise and tell you where to turn it on. If not, you'd go to Menu ==> Settings ==> Applications ==> and tick/click Unknown sources.
I hope this helped. Post back here if you need help and I, and others I bet, will help you as best as possible.
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