There’s lots of drama lately about applications being pulled from the App Store. There’s all kinds of ideas why some were pulled. Some were pulled, brought back, pulled, brought back, and pulled. Unlike PhoneSaber, which is rumored to come back with Star Wars official branding, NetShare will likely never come back unless AT&T changes some things. NetShare allows your iPhone to share it’s cellular data connection over WiFi. I decided to see what I could do about getting a refund. Here’s what I did:

1. Opened the App Store in iTunes.
2. Over on the top right under quick links I clicked “Account”
3. In the middle I clicked “Purchase History”
4. I found the NetShare app in the list and clicked the arrow on the left of that item.
5. I clicked “Report A Problem” on the right hand side of the item
6. I send this email: this application was removed, I would like a refund please

I received this email in response:

Dear Douglas,

I’m sorry to hear that the application you recently purchased has been removed. I can understand how this would be disappointing for you. My name is (name removed), and I will gladly offer assistance.

You will see a store credit of $9.99 in three to five business days. You may need to sign out of the iTunes Store and then sign back in before you see the credit in your account.

Thank you for choosing the iTunes Store, Douglas. Your satisfaction is a priority for us.

Sincerely,

(name removed)
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please Note: I work M-F 1:00-9:30 PM EST

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you.

I received this yesterday and I already see a refund today in my iTunes of $9.99

So I was really bummed out when I heard that NetShare got booted from the App Store. So I was going to write all about it and I decided on a whim to check the App Store and it was there! I bought it right away just in case something happens again. (good thing I did, they pulled it again) For those who don’t know, NetShare shares your 3G or EDGE with your laptop through WiFi.

The app comes with a guide on how to connect your iPhone with your Mac but no guide for Windows. There’s also a really good Mac guide over at appleinsider.com. I’m using Windows (unfortunately) so I went looking for a guide. I found lots of info over at macrumors.com like how to get Firefox to work, how to route all network traffic through your iPhone, and what I was really looking for… a Windows XP guide which even has a video walkthrough which is posted below. I even found a video guide for Mac and Vista.

I did test this out and I even downloaded the program to let my entire computer run off the proxy. It’s called Proxifier and you can download it at proxifier.com. It’s available for Mac and Windows for $39.95 and a 31 day trial. I downloaded the mobile version so I can use in on any windows computer. If you find a better solution, let us know.

I’m actually writing part of this article using this connection. It’s a touch slow but I am on EDGE (3G not available where I live yet). I did do a speed test on speakeasy.net. The highest I got on the NetShare was about 130KB/sec down and 35KB/sec and speakeasy showed 370kbps down and 31kpbs up. A downfall is you have to have the app open all the time so you can’t use any other apps and it will drain your battery pretty fast using WiFi and EDGE and have the screen on and it gets pretty warm. We’ll probably use this is the car the most so we have car chargers. We also have two 1st Gen iPhones that don’t have service anymore and I tried to get them connected too but it didn’t work. Overall it’s worth the 1 time fees to have tethering for my iPhone.

Click here to download NetShare via the App Store.

NetShare Mac Video Guide

Watch “NetShare Mac Video Guide” from your iPhone or iPod Touch

NetShare Windows XP Guide

Watch “NetShare Windows XP Guide” from your iPhone or iPod Touch

NetShare Windows Vista Guide

Watch “NetShare Windows Vista Guide” from your iPhone or iPod Touch