Using Internet on Home Computer Question

[irisheaven]

Is there a way to connect the Droid X to your home computer to use the internet, without having to buy Verizon's mobile hotspot device that costs an additional $20 a month?

I would like to cancel my home internet service if I can use the internet on my Droid for my desktop. I would like to be able to use the bigger screen to surf the web & also so I can print things out.

thanks,
Sarah

 

[carguy]

I believe you can use a usb cable to connect your Droid to your computer. Haven't tried it myself, but I understand the speed will seem quite slow.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[KHeeney5]

You'd have to root I believe.

 

[kevinkar]

I think you are asking two different questionsj:

1) Can you use your phone to access the internet from your desktop PC and drop your home internet service? Yes, it's called tethering and officially costs an extra $20/month presumably due to the additional use of the 3G network from the PC (if you are rooted you can do this "free" but I think Verizon might eventually figure that out.

However, your home internet must be pretty crappy for you to want to use 3G as 3G tends to be slower than or about DSL speed. Nowhere near as fast as a "regular" cable modem would provide. Indeed, when I'm home I turn on Wi-Fi on the phone because accessing internet over my router/cable using WiFi is much faster than 3G.

2) Can you view your phone screen on the PC so that web browsing is more comfortable? There may be but I don't know of a way to do that.

 

[dtsig]

And you can Print using PrintShare and a wifi/bluetooth printer

 

[1KDS]

you can check out PDAnet, it allows tethering without root, if your data consumption goes up greatly (which it will if it's your sole net connection) vzw may catch on.

 

[WallyIAm]

Edit: I deleted my entire post for being woefully uninformed. Better answers are above.

 

[irisheaven]

I do have a wireless router. So would that be better to use? if so, how do I go about setting that up?

Thanks,

 

[kevinkar]

Sarah,

If you have a wireless router, that's the best way to get onto the internet using your phone at home. It's MUCH faster than over the 3G network. It's pretty simple but, if you've never set it up before, it could be confusing.

You need to find your router's manual and follow the instructions on setting up the wireless features. Every router is different and there are tons of websites with step by step instructions. If you have the manual, just follow it. It's too involved for me to type a step by step guide here.

Once you have your router set up to provide wireless access to devices such as your phone, laptops, etc., you then need to go into the Droid X's settings for wireless and turn that on, enter in the name of your wireless network (SSID) and the security info (WPA2 password/passphrase) and connect.

Once it's on you'll see the blue Wi-Fi signal strength meter in your notification bar and the 3G indicator will disappear though the phone network signal strength bar indicators will remain. Then, open a browser and start surfing on the phone. Loading apps from the Market is much faster too.

If you have troubles, just Google your router and read some pages on setting up wireless.

Sorry for not having step by step instructions but you should be able to figure it out.