How can I programmatically enable/disable 3G on android?

Hi Guys!

So I've been doing a lot of digging around the internet and the latest I can find (can't post links but google "Latest update on enabling and disabling mobile data programmatically" for stack over flow answer from a tear ago) is that if you want to turn 3G on and off from your app you need root access. Now I just tried to root my old phone with (kingoapp, one click rooting) and it won't get past the loading screen for the last hour so I'm not too keen on rooting any more phones!

My questions are...

Is this still the case? You can't enable/disable 3G unless you have root.

This is a personal project and the app does not need to be downloaded by other users so is there any way I can do this from the USB connection maybe?

Thanks