^I agree... there's really two ways of getting Wifi tether... you pay or root. To be honest, rooting isn't that difficult if you take a moment to read up on it. Once you obtain root, flashing roms, kernels, and the like is nothing compared to the root process.
If you look at my sig, there is a link for some common knowledge terms. I would advise reading up on those, then get some hands on, at the end of the day, you'll feel really good about the whole process. If you do decide to go with unrevoked, comb through the forums and find members who have rooted with unrevoked and ask them if they'd be willing to help you. Almost any member of this forum who has experience will help you, but since the process is so simple, there really isn't a sticky for it.
The benefit of flashing ROMs is that it give you're phone a lot more capability than the stock format, in addition you sometimes get goodies that the devs put in.
The benefit of kernels is that the phone might perform 10x better or worse depending on the kernel. If you stick with the recommended kernels you'll be alright.
Don't be afraid of the process, just read, ask questions that haven't already been asked, and go for it.