Does your iPhone have SOCKS?  No, not to keep its electronic feet warm (there’s a toasty iPhone dock to do that), I’m talking about network proxies.  It turns out that while AT&T and Apple decided you wouldn’t want to use your handset as a tethered modem with your laptop, enterprising modders have given you the choice.  It involves setting up a background SOCKS proxy server which funnels the iPhone’s EDGE connection through an ad-hoc WiFi link with whatever computer you’re using it with.

Now you’re still limited to EDGE speeds, which isn’t going to make heavy-duty browsing much fun, and it likely contravenes the AT&T terms & conditions of service (which, anecdotally at least, on this matter at least they’re not particularly stringent about), but if you need a quick burst of connectivity while you’re out and about, or to dash off a lengthy email that you’d rather have a laptop keyboard for, it should do the trick.

Using the same Jailbreak basics as the custom ringtone procedure, with the addition of a new Tethering program available for both Windows PCs and Intel Macs, the iPhone keeps both the EDGE and WiFi connections going simultaneously.

As with all of these iPhone hacks, you attempt them at your own risk – although rare in practise, there’s always the possibility that you’ll brick your handset.

[via jkontherun]