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USB tether to MerlinWRT on Asus RT-N66U

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TomH

New Around Here
I have a phone I'd like to usb tether to my RT-N66U and I'm having trouble. Using the built in tethering app it seems to begin the process of registering but during that time the USB tethering of the phone shuts off. I've looked into the EasyTether app and there is a way to install the app onto an OpenWRT router. Is that something I can look at for Merlin? Should I just flash over to an OpenWRT firmware and try? I'm open to any suggestions and would love to get this running. It runs great when wired directly to the computer, but nothing connects when trying to share through usb to the router.
 
I haven't done any change related to tethering, so it's unlikely that switching to my firmware will help, unless Asus did change something since their last RT-N66U firmware release.
 
In theory, Asuswrt (and Asuswrt-Merlin) should already support generic Android tethering. At least it's advertised as being supported by Asus.

If it doesn't work, take a look at the packages available in Entware, maybe what you need would be there.
 
In theory, Asuswrt (and Asuswrt-Merlin) should already support generic Android tethering. At least it's advertised as being supported by Asus.

If it doesn't work, take a look at the packages available in Entware, maybe what you need would be there.
First of all. I love your mods for Merlin. Thank you!! I use it everywhere I need routing now. The feature you have created set shows you have a comprehensive understanding of what we really need to have these routers do. I have USB tethering working just fine on my RT-AC86U running Merlin. I live in the country, and mobile wireless is ALL THERE IS!!!:) So USB tethering works fine if you have a data plan with unlimited/non-throttled access...which doesn't exist any more. After several gig of data transfer the standard built-in USB tethering will throttle to the point that the network is unusable. The beauty of EasyTether is that it bypasses the throttling that is present in the built-in USB Tethering. I can create a workaround to get my phone to pass through a PC with Easytether and then Ethernet connect that device to the router WAN port, but it's a lot of hardware, and I don't mind doing it for myself, it's too much investment for other users in similar situations. It would cheaper for others to use their phones if Easytether were built into Merlin as an option (and I could get a bunch of hardware out of my window:)) http://www.mobile-stream.com/easytether/drivers.html
 
The beauty of EasyTether is that it bypasses the throttling that is present in the built-in USB Tethering.
I can't see an explanation of how it does that. If it's doing it using the usual technique of modifying the TTL value there's already an option for that in the firmware.
 
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I can't see an explanation of how it does that. If it's doing using the usual technique of modifying the TTL value there's already an option for that in the firmware.
Couple of points note...First of all, my phone never throttles on direct phone use (using chrome on the phone), but it always throttles after 2GB of usb or WiFi tethering. Throttling tether use in my carrier is done in the phone. I know this because if I factory reset my phone, it will reset the tether counters (drastic measure so I haven't done it much.) I have noticed that when I browse the internet from computers, the browser history is updated on my phone. EasyTether is making my computer's browsing look like it originated on the phone so it takes advantage of the unlimited phone use which is never throttled. I do lose a few features...for example, I can't ping through it. But the advantages WAY outweigh the downsides.
 
I don't see this happening. There isn't a version available for AsusWRT and it's commercial software with no source code available. On the other platforms the code is supplied as a pre-compiled binary executable (easytether-usb).
 

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