Right now as I write this blog post, I am uploading a 200MB video to YouTube on my virtual machine Windows XP(via USB Broadband) while using my main OS Windows 7 for the blog post (via Palm Pre USB Tether).
Now I officially carry three different mobile WiFi hotspot devices including a regular Sprint USB Broadband card, a USB/WiFi tethered Palm Pre, and a USB/WiFi tethered Nexus One.
So why so many devices?
I am a little frantic about this very website going down so I need to make sure I am on at least two different networks plus I need a backup mobile internet just in case something happens. (I’ve also realized that having two smartphones lead to longer back-up devices for mobile surfing. Now, I never run out of batteries.)
While playing with my multiple options at my parent’s house where their DSL is bad, I figured out a way to maximize my mobile WiFi connections by using a virtual machine such as VMWare.
Basically this is how it works:
1. I connect my Palm Pre/Nexus one to my main OS Windows 7 with either USB or WiFi tethering.
2. Then I connect my USB Broadband modem to my Windows XP virtual machine running on VMPlayer.
*Note: You can also try different combos such as connecting USB Broadband to your main OS then connecting USB tethering to your virtual machine. One thing though, virtual machines don’t have WiFi by default so keep that in mind.
The reason why I use this setup is because sometimes I need to upload a huge YouTube video and while I do that, I can’t do anything else on my computer.
By having my virtual machine hooked up into an extra mobile cellular WiFi, now I can upload YouTube videos and still enjoy the full efficiency of my smartphone tethering.
Also, you can even open up more virtual machines to hook up more mobile WiFi devices. I won’t really need to do that but just so you know. (e.g. If you are uploading a lot of video files, then you can have multiple virtual machines uploading a file each and distribute load among your mobile hotspot devices)
Of course, I wish there was some way to actually use the power of all three mobile devices I have into just one OS, then I could effectively use 3 times the download/upload speeds, which could rival a 4G connection. Well, I am sure there’s a way to do that, that’s my next goal.
P.S. Oh yeah, I just finished writing one of the first blog posts on how to unlock your Nexus One. Over the next couple days, I should have a full step-by-step guide on how to install Cyanogen rom on your Nexus One and also install the Android WiFi tethering app. I know a lot of you can do that already but for those of you who are not so computer-literate, I will make a more easier/detailed guide you can follow at NexusOneHacks.net.
