# nexus 7 Bluetooth tethering



## rzm1986

Is there any way to connect to my galaxy nexus?
I have foxfi on my galaxy nexus and connect my computer to it no problem but can't figure out how to connect the n7.
Galaxy nexus is rooted with AOKP milestone 6. N7 not rooted yet. Any tips? And the reason I want Bluetooth and not wifi is because I work in a building where unknown wifi signals are suppressed. Thanks!


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## dch921

I just tested and it worked on my Galaxy Nexus to Nexus 7 via Bluetooth.

I used the built in tether app under settings->more->tethering and mobile hotspot. Once I turned on Bluetooth tether on the Galaxy Nexus, I went to the N7 and turned on Bluetooth. I double checked t make sure the options said for Internet sharing on each device for each device. Then from the N7 I simply clicked on the Galaxy Nexus name, it said connected and I check that I did have inernett address. Not sure if it matters but I did have WiFi turned off when I tried it.


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## Walter White

That's pretty cool! I'll have to try that. Sounds like it will be better on my battery using my nexus.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## rzm1986

Yup. Turning off WiFi on N7 is the key to getting it to work. I had it on before. Thanks!


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## Briankbl

What is the benefit of Bluetooth tethering over regular Wi-Fi tethering?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Belly v3.4!


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## dch921

Briankbl said:


> What is the benefit of Bluetooth tethering over regular Wi-Fi tethering?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Belly v3.4!


Maybe battery life but not sure. If I ever use tethering I usually just use an open wifi network to make it easy but with Bluetooth since the devices are paired with each other that becomes your security. Couldn't say its any better then wifi tethering but could have it benefits.


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## nhat

Bluetooth still allows your phone to connect to other WiFi networks, you'd be sharing your data plan instead of WiFi.

I've run into a strange situation. My devices (GN, N7, and Xoom) connect to my laptop but not each other. They see each other and will prompt me to pair them but no connection is made.
GN is running imnuts' butternutz rom with his kernel
N7 is running EOS rom with poitee's kernel
Xoom is running EOS rom with whatever kernel is packaged with it


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## nhat

I flashed both my N7 and GN back to stock (JRO03D and IMM76K, respectively) and I still have the same issue; pairs but won't connect to each other, but they'll connect to my laptop.

Anybody else experiencing this?


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## drose6102

Got my Gnex running jelly and I tether my 7 to it with Bluetooth, works great. Then get tablet talk and you can sync and text message from your tablet. Almost tempted to use my 7 all the time and just keep the gnex in my pocket.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## doobie711

Bluetooth tethering is working great natively on my galaxy nexus with the glitter ROM (shameless self plug). But really though, works great on my rom,. I've been watching transformers in HD for the past hour or so while waiting at the dealership.


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## doobie711

I'm still waiting at the dealership. Onlive streaming was working flawlessly, as was downloading mass effect infiltrator.


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## nhat

I don't understand why none of my devices will connect with the stock factory images...gonna try flashing the binaries from Google's site to see if that helps any.

Edit: I gave up on trying to connect my devices over BT. Tablet talk works over your WiFi (not WiFi direct) so I'll just stick to that and hope I have no issues with connecting other devices (car head units and controllers) over BT. If I do, i'll give the binaries a try.


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## thedanks

i have blutooth tethering and wifi tethering working fine... modaco v5 on the nexus 7 and aokp m6 on the galaxy nexus.
on 4g, bluetooth tethering speeds were about 1000-1200kbps and on wifi, tethering speeds were more like 20,000kbps so while you may be saving battery you are hugely sacrificing speed.


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## HemiDroid03

All well on my end.

BT tethering and WiFi tethering via my GNex running the latest CM9 nightly. Do it.


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## martinhy

bluetooth tethering is surely much much much power saving than wifi tethering. when i keep the bluetooth tethering idled but connected to my ipad. the battery drops only around 20% for six hours but abt 2 hours for wifi tethering.

im using stock jellybean with an OTA update from 4.0.2 but i cant hold the bluetooth tethering connection persistantly and the connection drops once the screen of my nexus turns off. ive tried to flash custom kernals (franco kernal) and different basebands (XXLF1) but the problem cant be fixed. is this problem fixed by the cyanogenmod team or AOKP ROMs?

its very frustrating cuz my old ZTE Blade's ICS from Cyanogenmod works perfectly but it fails once i switched to nexus.


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## bjrosen

FoxFI doesn't work on Jelly Bean, I'm using WiFi Tether on my rooted GN. It works fine with my Nexus 7. I have Vicious-JB-4.1.1-V1 on my Verizon GN, the N7 is stock and unrooted. Bluetooth tethering doesn't seem to work, maybe I've missed a step. Here is what I did to try and tether my N7 to my GN,

1) On the GN I went to Tethering under Settings and enabled Bluetooth teathering
2) On the N7 I made the device visible under Bluetooth and searched for devices, none were found.

Is there an APP required? How do you pair two Jelly Bean devices?


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## bjrosen

I figured out what I had done wrong, the missing step was to make the GN visible to all devices, when I did that I was able to pair the GN with the N7. Performance is not as good as WiFI. I don't get great performance from Verizon at my house however the N7 to GN to Verizon via WiFI did better than the GN does directly. What sucks is the N7 to GN to FIOS via bluetooth. Here is the table,

GN to Verizon Mobile, 2.8MBits
GN to FIOS via WiFI, 37MBits
N7 to FIOS via WiFI, 36Mbits
N7 WiFI to GN to Verizon Mobile, 7Mbits
N7 bluetooth to GN to Verizon Mobile, 1.7MBits
N7 bluetooth to GN to FIOS, 140Kbits


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## martinhy

foxfi shares Internet through Bluetooth DUN but the builtin bluetooth tethering shares through Bluetooth PAN, so the tethered client connects different to the phone.

some people pointed out that by using Bluetooth Keepalive app (a paid app) can solve the problem since it poses a partial wakelock to keep the phone CPU running when a bluetooth connection is established.


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## nhat

Digging this back up. Just received a Motoactv for my birthday and decided to try to connect it to my Galaxy Nexus over BT. The Galaxy Nexus sees the Motoactv, both show the same Pair Key, but the Galaxy Nexus will not connect or won't maintain a connection. Not an hour earlier, I connected the phone to two different cars with BT head units without issue. I seem to only run into this issue when trying to connect to another Android device. The same issues arise no matter which rom or kernel I use on the Galaxy Nexus, stock or modified. I've tried to connect the phone to a Xoom, N7, and now the Motoactv.

CN:
Android to car pairs and connects for phone and audio
Android to android pairs but BT icon remains gray with no connection


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## zvogt

Briankbl said:


> What is the benefit of Bluetooth tethering over regular Wi-Fi tethering?


My employer has a strict policy against ad-hoc Wi-Fi hot spots. And the policy is policed. (The frequencies involved run a risk of interfering with the equipment in the shop areas.) Bluetooth tethering is allowed.


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## kauthor47

I'm curious about this - I'm tempted to use it but I'm afraid the big red machine known as Verizon will slap me in the face with tethering fees for using the native function, even if it's bluetooth. I'm using AOKP Jelly Bean build 1, so I don't know if that has any tethering circumvention built into it or not. Anybody know?


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## zvogt

If Verizon wants you to pay, and you haven't, the stock ROM will throw a pop up preventing you from tethering until you sign up. Using a custom ROM gets you around that scenario, and as far as I know Verizon is in the dark and cannot come after you after the fact. They don't police it, they let that pop up handle that work. You should be fine.


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