Reverse Tether using Bluetooth PAN to iOS Devices

Maybe it's because I'm trying to do this with an iPhone (4S), but the 10.7.3 update doesn't fix it for me. Each time I try to connect from the Mac, whether it's from the Bluetooth pref pane or the Bluetooth PAN interface in the Network pane, I get this error: http://d.pr/n8PM

When I try to connect from the phone, I get an error saying "Connection Unsuccessful, 'name_of_laptop' is not supported."

The odd part is that the devices let me pair them, but they refuse to go any further.

I HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE IT WORK (at least in my case)

So my issue was, my iPad would pair with my MBP, but wouldnt 'connect'. I stumbled upon a way to make it connect though!

(Assuming you have internet sharing with Bluetooth PAN enabled)

1. Pair your iDevice and Mac (Turn Bluetooth on for both devices, setup Bluetooth device, etc.)

2. Now go to Bluetooth Preferences. You should see your iDevice in the list of devices.

3. Click on the iDevice and then click the gear at the bottom of the list (next to + and -). There will be an option called "Update Services."

4. Click "Update Services" option AND press the the "Device" that is your computer on your iPad under the list of devices in SystemPreferences/General/Bluetooth. (Ex. on the iPad, under system preferences/general/bluetooth I have a list of 2 devices, Apple Wireless Keyboard and MBP. I press MBP to attempt to connect using the iPad)

5. For some reason, Updating Services makes the two connect. You'll get the two linked rings in the top left corner next to "iPad" or "iPod" or "iPhone."

Hope this works for you!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3574 for availability options.

As far as wireless tethering goes, the only way I know of doing it is to create an adhoc network between your device and your PC/Mac, then bridge the connections.

Note the following.

Ethernet sharing is supported on virtually all modern devices. If receiving ethernet on one and you want to wireless to [one] other use ADHOC. Note the following for Adhoc on windows. Terminating the connection terminates the ICS - Internet sharing connection - meaning you have to manually restart the service and connection., or reboot, before you can connect again. This applies to both devices.

2nd option is to create a wireless network. Give it a name SSID and a password which should be of at least WPA or WPA2 (ipad required) strength.

Bridge your Ethernet to PC with your outgoing wireless network. There are security considerations in making a bridge in this fashion.

1) Make your Ethernet side of it a Public network (change from private) or work) Note tha on windows machines you cannot make a bridge if one of the connections is a managed network - see your systemnetwork help for details.

2) Ensure your firewall is on and only allowing traffic for the required ports required for apple/itunese/mail/etc See apple support for details or consult the Internet Port Authority [IANA] which has virtually a full listing.

3) If your firewall gives you the ability to set machine connection restrictions then use them - windows firewall on Vista and win7 support this, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc875811.aspx gives full details on setting up. Third party firewalls will have similar ways to achieve the same.

4) Check available services to be shared on your network, internet is shared by default with ICS turned on, and the Windows Firewall service needs to be running, even if the Firewall itself is Off (as in using a third party program such as Norton, Avira, Kaspersky, etc)

Each of these will give you options on how to set port or machine ID sharing options. Make sure you use them since bridge networks with an internet connection are basically open networks, even if you need to establish the network connection to start with. The internet side of the connection is an open network.

5) Make sure all security updates are in place and up to date, and minimise file share and public folder exposure if using this technique.

Regards. Ct

iAM_Sheldon wrote:

I HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE IT WORK (at least in my case)

So my issue was, my iPad would pair with my MBP, but wouldnt 'connect'. I stumbled upon a way to make it connect though!

(Assuming you have internet sharing with Bluetooth PAN enabled)

1. Pair your iDevice and Mac (Turn Bluetooth on for both devices, setup Bluetooth device, etc.)

2. Now go to Bluetooth Preferences. You should see your iDevice in the list of devices.

3. Click on the iDevice and then click the gear at the bottom of the list (next to + and -). There will be an option called "Update Services."

4. Click "Update Services" option AND press the the "Device" that is your computer on your iPad under the list of devices in SystemPreferences/General/Bluetooth. (Ex. on the iPad, under system preferences/general/bluetooth I have a list of 2 devices, Apple Wireless Keyboard and MBP. I press MBP to attempt to connect using the iPad)

5. For some reason, Updating Services makes the two connect. You'll get the two linked rings in the top left corner next to "iPad" or "iPod" or "iPhone."

Hope this works for you!

I want to share Wifi Internet connection from MBP via Bluetooth PAN to iPhone 4S.

I get this error on step 4:

And since my only option is to "Forget Device", my MBP disappears!

Is there a specific order for step 4? Do I press both simultaneously?

This error screen grab didn't show up in my previous post:

Connection Unsuccessful

"MBP2011" is not supported

Forget Device

As far as I can tell, this method of Internet sharing (setting up a Bluetooth PAN between iOS device and Mac running OS X) works fine for iPads, but not iPhones. (According to http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110612232450787, it also works for iPod Touches; that article does not mention iPhones.)

I'm able to pair both my iPad and my iPhone to my MBP, but only the iPad is able to actually join the PAN. When I click the MBP in the Bluetooth preferences on each iOS device, the iPad joins the PAN; the iPhone says "connection unsucessful" then forces me to "forget device".

I'm using the current OS versions on all devices (iOS 6.0.1 on iPad mini and iPhone 4S; OS X 10.8.2 on MBP.)

I don't know why the iPhone would have less PAN functionality than iPod or iPad, but it appears that it does.

I was just testing this and with 2 different iphones I could not get the connection to work. I have succesfully been able to share my hotel's wifi over bluetooth with an iPod touch, another Macbook and an WiFi only iPad.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has been able to get it working with a Cellular+WiFi iPad. All devices are running the latest OS X 10.8.2 and latest iOS 6.0.1

Yeah, that worked fine for me (Cellular+WiFi iPad). I was able to connect an iPad 2 (Cellular + WiFi) and an iPad mini (Cellular + WiFi) to the PAN with my MBP. But not the iPhone 4S.

Note that both iPads were the cellular-capable model and had the US SIM installed but had "cellular data" set to "off" in settings. I doubt this matters, but just in case.

I have the same issue. I really need to share my wi-fi to my phone via a bluetooth PAN. Why should it work with my iPad but not my iPhone? There is no reason I can think of, technical or otherwise.

APPLE! Please provide some feedback on this issue!

with Moutain Lion 10.8.2 I made it work by setting the bluetooth pan to static ip address instead of DHCP in Network preferences on the MacBook. The static IP should be like this (on my MacBook it's named en2, it varies):

en2: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

ether 20:c9:d0:84:80:4e

inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255

media: autoselect (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)

status: active

originally this 192.168.2.1 is assigned to an interface called bridge0, but that never really works:

bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

ether ac:de:48:b0:7e:15

inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255

Configuration:

priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0 maxage 0

ipfilter disabled flags 0x2

member: en2 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>

port 12 priority 0 path cost 0

After I assign this static ip 192.168.2.1/255.255.255.0 to the bluetooth pan , I can ping 192.168.2.2 ( which is my phone that is connected to the MacBook to access internet sharing through WiFi)

$ ping 192.168.2.2

PING 192.168.2.2 (192.168.2.2): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 192.168.2.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=194.351 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.2.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=9.369 ms

Th funny thing is that bot USB camble and PAN bluetooth don't seem to be working.

Using Mountain Lion 10.8.3 and iPhone 3GS iOS 6.1.3

Things used to work once with Apple products, at least computers… at least before iPhones and iPads showed up…

I'm running 10.8.3 Mountain Loin and I have this issue too. When I paired with my ipad for the first time, the internet worked but later the internet didn't work.

Yes that happend to me too.

I FOUND HOW TO FIX IT! On 10.8.3

1. Pair with your idevice

2. Go to prefences and network

3. In network, add Bluetooth PAN and bluetooth DUN and apply

4. close and open prefences agian

5. go to sharing

6. in internet sharing put

Share your connection from: WiFi

To computers using: Bluetooth PAN

7. apply and your done

(iphones may not be compatible with this)

I FOUND HOW TO FIX IT! On 10.8.3

1. Pair with your idevice

2. Go to prefences and network

3. In network, add Bluetooth PAN and bluetooth DUN and apply

4. close and open prefences agian

5. go to sharing

6. in internet sharing put

Share your connection from: WiFi

To computers using: Bluetooth PAN

7. apply and your done

(iphones may not be compatible with this)

Yes, as said before, it doesn't work on the iPhone.