'Open Garden' Lets Your Nexus 7 Access The Web Through Your Phone's Connection

[Babyfacemagee]

If you're like me and you take your Nexus 7 virtually everywhere you go you've probably come across times when you wish you had 3G or LTE built-in to access the net while away from a Wi-Fi signal.   The most obvious 'fix' to this has been to use one of a multitude of techniques to 'tether' your Nexus 7 to your mobile phone and while this works for some, others have had difficulty getting this to work either because their particular provider or phone  has some kind of limitation or incompatibility.   Now for sure if you're willing to 'root' there are a plethora of options to solve most of these problems but a new app that recently has gained favor aims to solve it via a different way;  by letting you set up a 'peer to peer mesh network via bluetooth. 

Now I tried this myself and it was surprisingly easy to set up.   You have to install 'Open Garden' on both devices and once recognized they instantly connect whenever both your Nexus 7 and phone are within bluetooth range of each other.  Now to be sure ,speeds are not as fast as Wi-Fi and I'd estimate them as 'about 3G'.   This is plenty fast for most web browsing but it's a bit slow to watch your Netflix streaming on.  It worked fine for a 'Skype' session I had with my sister in New York so you might want to give it a try and see what kinds of speeds you can achieve.   

Now 'Open Garden' also supports 'Wi-Fi Direct'  but as of right now it isn't quite working as of yet on the Nexus 7(correction:  Wifi Direct does work but requires two Jelly Bean devices at this time)...but the developers promise it will be soon.   When it is, it could solve our problems with fast internet access on the go for good.   Or we could just pick up a 3G Nexus 7 when they start appearing (just a rumor, cough, cough).  We'd be interested in hearing the luck people have using 'Open Garden' with their Nexus 7s and different models of phones so let us know if you try it.  Link below and oh yeah...did I mention it's free??? 

'Open Garden' in the Google Play Store

[martyh]

Re: Open Garden.

If I don't use a phone, but rather a 4G network USB stick on my laptop (with bluetooth); will this work with the N7?

Cheers,
- martyh

[strollin]

Tried this with my Droid Razr phone and my N7 and my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.  Neither tablet ever connects to the phone to get internet access.  I press "Connect" on the phone and it displays "Connecting..." but when I press "Connect" on either tablet, after a few seconds I get a message saying "Could not connect". 

Both tablets can tether via wifi to my phone using FoxFi.

I

[Babyfacemagee]

They have a forum on the Open Garden site for any issues with the program.  Most seem to have luck tethering using Bluetooth with it versus wifi direct, but it depends on the phone.

[Tiny]

I know that the user ratings sometimes don't mean much, but FoxFi works for me and I'm not changing to a 3.8 rating that seems to have quite a few problems.

[Babyfacemagee]

If FoxFi works for you then obviously there's no reason to switch.   But this might work on different phones than you're using so it's another option to try in case FoxFi doesn't work.

[grampagadget]

I use PdaNet and FoxFi on my Droid Incredible 3G.  On the N7 I have the tablet version of PdaNet
I'm using Bluetooth to do it which was a very easy install.  I run PdaNet on the phone, select Bluetooth DUN Mode, which pulls up FoxFi and I check "Activate Bluetooth DUN". Then on the N7 I run PdaNet Tablet, then select "Connect".  The first time (only) you have to run "Configure."  It works like a charm!  I paid $15.00 for the PdaNet a couple of years ago and have been using it in Tether mode with a USB cord to my laptops. 

[RALIR]

In the last couple of days, I have tried a number of apps to try to tether my Nexus 7 (unlocked and rooted with Paranoid Android) to my unrooted Verizon Motorola Razr Maxx 4G phone without any luck. 
FoxFi seemed to indicate that it connected both through WiFi as well as Bluetooth, but no browser responded. I tried Chrome, Google, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile.

I tried Open Garden as well as Open garden Tether apps, no luck either. Ver similar to Strollin's experience.

If anybody has found a way to accomplish this, I would love to hear.  Only thing is that because I just got my Razr Maxx, I do not want to root it.

Thank you.

-RaliR

[RALIR]

Hi Everybody,

I take back what I reported in my post earlier.  About a couple of hours ago,  I posted my previous note,  I went back to try it one more time on The Open Garden. When I tried it this time,  both my phone and my tablet showed that they each were connected to the internet and also each other. At that point,  I disconnected the WiFi from my tablet.  The graphic then showed that my tablet was connected to the phone which in turn was connected to the internet.  Right now I am posting this note from my Nexus 7 tablet which is connected to the internet through the bluetooth to my phone which is connected to the internet through WiFi. The next stop is to are if I can concert through 3G or 4G connection.  Will keep you posted.

Regards,

RaliR

[RALIR]

Hello Everyone,

I am back to report that when I went back to the phone and turned off the WiFi,  my internet connection seems to be unaffected on the tablet.   In other words, we are in business. I went back to the Open Garden application on the phone and the graphic showed the Nexus 7 connected to the Razr Maxx which is connected to the internet.   Next time when I am out of the house,  I have to try this out patiently and report back to you.

I am pretty excited,  you can tell.

Regards,

RaliR

[radiocycle]

Glad it's working for you RALIR!  I can't seem to get my Virgin Mobile Moto Triumph to tether using any of the mentioned apps, at least as far as using it as a wi-fi hot spot.  The Triumph is known to be bad in this respect.

r

[LaurelRaven]

My personal experience was that Open Garden didn't work well for me.  It's been a while since I've tried Open Garden, though, so maybe it's gotten better.

FoxFi worked much better for me, and 1) I only need to install it on my phone, and 2) it works with any WiFi device (and at WiFi speed).

Just my two cents, your milage may vary.

[strollin]

Tried this with my Droid Razr phone and my N7 and my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.  Neither tablet ever connects to the phone to get internet access.  I press "Connect" on the phone and it displays "Connecting..." but when I press "Connect" on either tablet, after a few seconds I get a message saying "Could not connect". 

Both tablets can tether via wifi to my phone using FoxFi.

I

Tried again and am happy to report that it now works fro me.  I can't say why it works now when it didn't when I first tried it but it seems OK now.  Now I have another method of tethering my N7 to my phone.

[Scott99]

Is there an iPhone app ? Can't seem to find it.

[Tiny]

Is there an iPhone app ? Can't seem to find it.

I think you'll have much better luck finding the answer to this question on a Apple forum.  Try searching on iTunes.