How to Tether an Android VPN Connection a.k.a How to Bypass Operator Tethering Block

ClockworkMod Tether Application

The problems this solves

• I cannot tether my VPN connection on my Android Phone to my laptop/PC
• My mobile phone network detects and prevents  me from tethering

Limitations/Drawbacks
Before you even start reading this you should know about the limitations of this solution.
Note: I have only tested this solution for a few hours. I will post an update later with my thoughts on how well the solution works.

• This will only work for Mac, Windows and Linux computers
• You are connected via USB not WiFi, that is no wireless tethering!
• It requires you to use an encrypted VPN connection
• The full version of Clockworkmod Tether costs 5$ (still way cheaper than getting a full blown tethering plan with your mobile phone operator)

Background
When I am out and about I want to to be able to connect to the internet via a VPN and tether my 3G connection to my laptop. This doesn't work on Android phones by default for some reason. As soon as you activate the VPN the tethered device refuses to get an internet connection. I am not sure why and I think it should be sorted in Android (solving that would render this blog post meaningless and that would actually be a good thing).

As soon as I turn off the VPN on my phone I can tether without any problems. Wired and via WiFi. This means that I lose the security benefit of the VPN and even worse my mobile phone operator cuts me off within minutes because they detect that I am tethering and want to charge me a huge amount of money for me using this function a few times per month.

This really frustrated me and I just had to find a solution.
After trying loads of tethering apps and settings I came up with the working solution below.

The Solution
The solution is based on an encrypted VPN connection. I am using www.astrill.com as the VPN. To tether the connection to my Windows laptop I am using ClockworkMod Tether (no root). This seems to be the only tethering solution that is stable and offers what it promises. What is great with ClockworkMod Tether (no root) is that it basically just tunnels any connection active on the phone straight to the computer. This means that it works with a WiFi, 3G or any other internet connection the phone has. The VPN secures and encrypts the connection and one benefit with this is that your mobile phone operator cannot packet sniff the data to check for browser agents and similar things. To the operator the connection looks like any other encrypted VPN traffic and therefore it allows it through instead of blocking the traffic.

The Setup
1. Download and install ClockworkMod Tether (no root) on your phone. Follow the instructions for how to install the Windows/Mac/Linux software on your laptop. Just follow the instructions and you should be fine.

2. Sign up for a VPN connection with www.astrill.com(I am sure it works fine with other VPN suppliers but since I am running Astrill I will give you the instructions only for that VPN). They have a free trial if you ask in their chat support. Follow these instructions for setting the VPN connection up on your phone. The instructions are for ICS but it is basically the same on Jelly Bean. Now activate the the VPN connection on your phone.

3. If your phone is not already connected to your computer with a USB cable please connect it now.

4. Start the application called Tether that you now have installed on your Android phone. Activate it by tapping the USB symbol on screen.

5. Start the program called Tether on your PC(you can find it in the start menu under Clockworkmod on Windows).

6. Now click the start button in the application on the computer. You should see log entries starting to appear.If everything works fine the USB symbol should turn green and the text should say "USB tether is running"

7. Now try to access a web page on your computer. You should be able to do so without getting blocked for tethering. You are now using a secure tethered connection on your computer.

 ClockworkMod Tether (no root) is free for 14 days and then it costs 5$ to buy.

This solution is great if you are using tethering occasionally. If you are using it all the time you should really buy a proper tethering contract with your operator.

If you have a better solution for how to get something like this working please let me know :-)