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I have Ubuntu 10.10 on a laptop which does not have WiFi, due to which I cannot connect to wireless network through my laptop. I was wondering if I could connect my phone (Nokia X6) to the laptop via the data cable and surf the net on my laptop using the wifi on my phone.. Nokia X6 is a symbian S60v5 based phone.

Is it possible to achieve this?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

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I don't know about your Nokia, but the magic word is Tethering. That's what your mobile should support. I have an Android phone that can do this for me. – ott-- Jul 13 '12 at 11:06

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The use of a mobile phone for Internet connections from another machine is limited by both the phone and by the phone operator. It is not a feature or function of Ubuntu.

If your phone supports tethering and if your operator allows it on your tarrif, then you will be able to use it to allow an Ubuntu PC to access the Internet.

Most modern phones that allow tethering will do so over either WiFi and/or Bluetooth. Some phones will allow it over USB.

The easiest way by far for Ubuntu will be WiFi as there are no device issues to worry about - assuming you have WiFi set up on the Ubuntu PC.

For your speific phone, you need an add-on application called "JoikuSpot" to allow WiFi tethering. It is free.

Please do, however, check that your operator allows this in the terms of service otherwise you will be in danger of being disconnected or facing a large, unexpected bill.

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Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned in my question, I have laptop without WiFi component. I am able to access internet through 3G network of my mobile operator. However, I would certainly prefer WiFi network over 3G. Hence I am interested in knowing how do I access internet using WiFi network to which my phone is connected to. – Vaman Kulkarni Jul 13 '12 at 13:19
Oops, sorry missed that bit. The easiest solution is to get a WiFi "dongle" - A USB stick that gives wifi. You need a Linux friendly stick, I don't know what country you are in so I'm not sure what's available near you. This page contains some information out supported cards that should help. – Julian Knight Jul 13 '12 at 13:35
When you set your phone up using the mentioned software, you will get a named wifi network and a passcode - in Ubuntu, go to the network icon in the top bar, that's where you will see the network settings and where you can activate a WiFi network, the SSID is the name of the "network" you will just have created on the phone, select that and put in the password. That's it. – Julian Knight Jul 13 '12 at 13:37
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The one detail missing with this, is that every phone I've seen that was capable of tethering needed to have drivers installed in order to be able to tether properly. I suppose there are newer phones that might be able to tether now and either supply their own drivers, or be recognized as some generic USB modem... but the OS has to recognize the device, which typically requires driver support... which might mean that his phone will only tether with Windows, as they might not provide Linux drivers. – Bon Gart Jul 13 '12 at 14:41
That is why I said that using WiFi is easiest. The only drivers required are for the WiFi adaptor. You are right that it is more difficult to find Bluetooth/USB drivers that will support tethering. – Julian Knight Jul 14 '12 at 16:53

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