How to get a file from web -> 3G iPad -> wifi MacBook (where there’s no wifi station)

A quick post this: whilst traveling in Europe I was in the usual situation where I had 3G (barely) but no wifi station near me.

I was trying to download the latest jquery libraries to do some testing on my MacBook Air whilst on the train: but how the hell can I get a file from jquery.com via my 3G iPad to my MacBook Air? There is no Personal Hotspot option on the iPad (unlike the iPhone).

Here’s the solution I found, and if there’s a better way please tell me.

First of all, setup!

  1. You need the GoodReader app on your iPad to download the file and serve it to your MacBook Air over wifi.
  2. On the MacBook, use the Create Network option to create a computer-to-computer network option and then on the iPad you go into wifi and connect to your MacBook Air.
Next you get and serve the file:
  1. Use GoodReader app on the iPad to browse and download the file (I needed a file from the jquery.com website over the 3G network)
  2. In GoodReader, use the wireless icon to create a temporary webserver on the iPad.  This creates an IP and a Bonjour URL you can use in Safari, such as http://Mr-Luvva-Luvva-iPad:8080
  3. On the MacBook Air, browse to the IP or URL and you can get your files!

Gotta be an easy way, but that’s what my head scratching worked out whilst mobile.

3 Comments

  • Mo
    Posted 14 June, 2012 at 09:12 | Permalink

    Genius thinking chief! It’s about getting there hard and fast the way you know it:)

  • Mike Smith
    Posted 14 June, 2012 at 12:42 | Permalink

    Might be slightly easier if you have an old fashioned cable and run iphone explorer (now called iExplorer) on the mac. You’d still need the 2-step process to get it across, but not that fiddling about with wifi.

  • Posted 17 June, 2012 at 15:59 | Permalink

    Yes, but I was a passenger in a car on the M6 at the time! I’ll check out iExplorer though :)

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