Using the IPhone for Unlimited Proxy IPs

One of our premier free tools is LinkSleeve, a distributed link-spam prevention tool that handles up to hundreds of thousands of spam requests a day. In working to improve the tool, we often need to check from numerous IP addresses as we intentionally try to flag our comments in the system. However, those of you familiar with the need for regular proxies are most likely aware of the shortcomings of both public proxies and web proxies. However, we recently discovered a very useful method for acquiring new, temporary IPs for fairly trivial data transfer. We would not recommend using this method for large data transfers, as tethering is not available on all iPhones. The process is rather simple.

Jailbreak Your Iphone

Head on down to Iphone Dev to jailbreak your iPhone. Be forewarned, this may void warranties, yada yada. We take no responsibility if you brick your phone.

Install SBSettings and PDAnet

We recommend installing both SBSettings (for rapid 3G toggling) and PDANet (for tethering) through Cydia, the software repository available once jailbroken.

With PDANet you will need to install their connection manager on your computer if you wish to tether via USB [Instructions]. There is also a very nifty method to tether via an Ad Hoc wireless connection [Instructions]. With this method you can connect multiple computers to the same iPhone!

Start Tethering

Connect your iPhone to your computer once you have installed PDANet. You will need to toggle tethering on at Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering. You should now be able to access the Internet through your iPhone’s 3G connection.

Use SBSettings to Quickly Renew IPs

Open SBSettings on your phone and toggle 3G off and on. Each time you turn 3G off and on, the cell phone tower will assign you a new data IP.

That is all there is to it. If you need to vary User-Agent, there are tools in Cydia to help with this as well.