I bought the beryl thinking its USB 3 port would not only allow me to connect my iphone (and instantly tether) but also to charge it at decent speed at the same time.
I have discovered it cant do this.
Basically my beryl isa router in the car. I get unlimited 5g data with my carrier. The plan was to get in the car connect it to USB and away i go. With knowlege that the iphone is automatically feeding the Beryl internet but then charging it effectivly too.
I have tried a powered USB3 hub connected to the beryl and then the iphone connected to the USB3 hub, this actually works - however after a short while i get a the âtrust this computerâ message on the iphone looping constantly.
The reason why iâd need USB tethering is because iOS wireless tethering is unreliable and i do not want to mess around turning tethering off and on etc.
With USB tethering it just works.
Any ideas on how i could improve or work around this?
Iâm aware itâs not intended as a charger. But the concept of getting in the car and plugging in an iPhone to a Beryl works. Itâs just the charging that I wish I could improve.
Apple wonât allow wireless charging whilst also connected to a cable, so canât do this either.
If the phone is left there as a hotspot device itâs possible the battery going bad wonât be noticed. I just had an S8 in a Lifeproof case give me a bit of a surprise when I opened it to discover the battery was well on itâs way to âspicy pillowâ stage (aka starting to bloat). Had I not been replacing it with something else we might not have noticed it until TOO LATE.
Most phones arenât designed for 24x7 duty cycle. The heat generated from this may impact the life of the device. Some phones are worse at this than others. Check that the phone youâre hoping to use for this is up to the task.
Phone antennas are generally not as great as what youâd get from a device with an external antenna.
Some tethering gets interrupted if the phone reboots, requiring manual intervention. Which is no big deal unless youâre expecting the setup to be âhands offâ.
Many phone plans do not support using a phone as a router. Sure, the phone is capable of it, but the carrier may decide to drop or throttle your connections if itâs detected being used for a router. It doesnât always happen, just check how your carrier handles this before getting your hopes up.
I make these points not because using a phone this way is a bad idea, for some situations it can be pretty handy. But not all.
thatâs been my experience also, several splitters donât actually seem to pass power to the phone, and others donât seem to pass the phone to the Slate.
Iâve seen some comments elsewhere about the voltage being an issue, and that if itâs âtoo lowâ the Slate doesnât end up being able to pass enough to a connected device. At some point I think I changed the 12vdc-USB buck converter thatâs powering the Slate, and itâs possible this replacement isnât up to the task. But then Iâm down a whole other rabbit hole finding a 12vdc-USB adjustable power supply thatâll suit the install.
It may depend on the smartphone and USB adapter. I have an Android Samsung S21+ 5G smartphone and the Y splitter cable tethers and charges with both my GL-AR750S Slate and GL-AXT1800 Slate AX.
check out 8086 consultancy on tindie⌠he is uk based and makes quite an array of cheap, very useful little adapters and pcbs that should be integral to all of our devices; unfortunately the pedestrian consumer isnt aware and only a small tech-dork niche need them enough to appreciate and use themâŚ
there are uUsb and usb-c power data splitter / mergers, dual power ups/fast switching adapters, and moreâŚ
i am not paid by ^^^^^ , i am just a satisfied customer that appreciates his ability to see gaps where i see gaps and to create sensible solutions.
you could usb c power split to phone, and use 2 dual power adapters for the router and phone, running the 2d power input of each into a dual port power bank or similar configurationâŚ
Like I say, I had some success using a 12v powered USB hub. However there was then a continuous loop of âtrust this deviceâ messages on the iPhone.