Tether, Would you..................

[Ricky Babalu]

With all this talk about Carriers losing $$$$$ because of Illegal use of Wireless Tether. Would you be more inclined to purchase the service if it were priced accordingly? Furthermore, what if they offered the option to activate it on a "as needed basis". Say I have a business trip next month and I need to have "Wireless Tether", I could activate it from my phone for that month only.

Here is a suggested pricing model:
1GB: $5
2GB: $8
4GB: $13

I certainly would make more use of this service option if offered at a fair price.

 

[tntdroid]

Nope. Don't think we need to. We need to drop unlimited and pay for a chunk of data and use how we want.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[RHChan84]

Yea I would if it was price accordingly.

Keep the $30 unlimited plan the way it is if you have data plan for the phone only. But drop it to $25 for a promo deal if you add a tether plan.

Add the $25 and then
$10-2gb
$20-4gb
$30-6GB
$40-8GB
$50-10GB

Or

$30 device and tether 1GB tether total
$40 device and tether 2GB tether total
$50 device and tether 4GB tether total
$65 device and tether 6GB tether total


Something along those line.

Right now, it's $50 for unlimited phone and 2gb tether. If they upped it then I would do it. 2GB is not a lot for me.

 

[bstmstrxellos]

You can activate tethering for only one month, at least you can with Verizon, you just have to make sure you go online to cancel the feature.

I do agree that the pricing is too high.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

 

[untappedalloy]

Is it really illegal? Google would not allow an illegal app in the marketplace. They will allow a bunch of other stuff! But when it comes to breaking the law, I don't think they're ok with that. Now, if verizon's service was cheaper would I use it legitimately? Why pay if you could get it for free (and legally)? It's like getting great value food at walmart.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

It is along the same lines as what happened to music. Too expensive and people looked for ways to beat the system. Along comes Itunes, Amazon, and numerous others offering $0.99 songs: less hassle, much easier, and legal.

 

[bstmstrxellos]

Is it really illegal? Google would not allow an illegal app in the marketplace. They will allow a bunch of other stuff! But when it comes to breaking the law, I don't think they're ok with that. Now, if verizon's service was cheaper would I use it legitimately? Why pay if you could get it for free (and legally)? It's like getting great value food at walmart.

It's not that its illegal, but for most carriers, tethering without an approved tethering plan violates you terms of service and you could get your service terminated but still be responsible for the rest of the contact.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

 

[untappedalloy]

It's not that its illegal, but for most carriers, tethering without an approved tethering plan violates you terms of service and you could get your service terminated but still be responsible for the rest of the contact.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk

I see... So in their contract it's illegal. As long as it's not illegal illegal I see no problem with it.

 

[roberte1342]

I tether my iPad when out of wifi range. The way I see it I am already paying $30 for 5GB of data. I have owned the X since launch and have never exceeded 1GB. Probably because there is wifi where I spend most of my time. It is those intermittent times where I need data on my iPad and I cannot justify paying additional service charge just because it is a different device.
VZW's terms of service prohibit unauthorized tethering and penalties/fees will likely occur when they feel like enforcing it. But I highly doubt any laws are being broken. The most they can do is terminate the contract and demand the ETFs. Nobody is going to jail.

I ported my number to Google Voice last week which caused my service to terminate and be reinstated at the same time. During the reinstatement part they verbally read the unauthorized tethering portion of the ToS and asked if I agree. So it appears they are tightening the screw some and I imagine one day I will fire up my iPad and be greeted with a VZW tethering plan signup page like back in the days using my Centro and PDANet. In those days you could sign up for one day and cancel the next. It would charge $10 for the month and then prorate a credit the following month for the unused days. If it comes down to it I'll do the same thing.

 

[jdbower]

I see... So in their contract it's illegal. As long as it's not illegal illegal I see no problem with it.

Illegal in their contract mean that they can pretty much do whatever they want if you do it, from terminating your service to backbilling you for every byte you send using it. As long as you're OK with the potential for a 5-figure bill there is no problem

 

[xelhabb]

The carriers are making millions not losing it. There are far more sheep lining up to pay for tethering than rooting wolves out there my friends. The income loss for free tethering is completely and utterly negligible. If VZW or any other carrier wanted to put a stop to rooted tethering it would have been sooooo done yesterday.

Dead horse issue now.

 

[greydarrah]

No way. Even if you are a single person on your own plan, you're spending over $800 per year. I've got 5 phones on my plan and spend over $3,500 per year. Charging me more for stuff like VZ Nav or tethering is excessively greedy. At my dollar level, I honestly feel like they should be giving me a new phone of my choice for free every 12 months, but that's not going to happen...and neither is my paying for tethering.

 

[LMO]

Absolutely not. We should be able to use our "unlimited data" any way we'd like since we're paying through the nose for that. Unlimited should mean unlimited!!! And this includes texting (or at least it should include texting, Verizon!) Texting is still data and should be included in the data plan. Data is Data. Unlimited is Unlimited. Tired of the nickel & diming.

 

[Arelunde]

Absolutely not. We should be able to use our "unlimited data" any way we'd like since we're paying through the nose for that. Unlimited should mean unlimited!!! And this includes texting (or at least it should include texting, Verizon!) Texting is still data and should be included in the data plan. Data is Data. Unlimited is Unlimited. Tired of the nickel & diming.

+1 for this, especially for the texting being an extra charge. I can't even imagine what people are paying with a tablet!! Add that you still have to have a cell phone with a tablet and.... Holy Moley!

 

[cyberchief]

I am surprised nobody has brought this up before... for those paying for unlimited minutes... does that also mean you should be able to tie as many phones as you want into that to use those unlimited minutes? That is essentially what you are doing with the data... tying numerous devices in to use the data... I, for one, don't buy into the whole "its unlimited, so its mine" excuse.

I paid for mobile hotspot for the first month and a half.. until I heard about free tether. I rooted and downloaded the tether program. Lauched it once just to see that it worked... and in 3 weeks, never used it. After the recent activity about the carriers tracking, etc... I uninstalled the tether program and, again, added the 3G mobile hot-spot feature. I don't use it often enough to warrant it... but then again, my job pays for most of my bill.

 

[davidnc]

Im not paying for wireless tether I use it free .I never use all my minutes up.I pay vzw enough for minutes I dont need but still have to pay for to be on the plan I am .
Soooo I feel me using wireless tether kinda evens it out,
and I dont tether that much.

sent using TaPaTaLk

 

[eric6052]

I don't have much use for wireless tether. I would add the feature if im on vacation or traveling otherwise I have wifi at home and use my phone when im out.

 

[spunkmeijer]

I don't use it enough to justify the price. My monthly plan is already pricey, I don't need to give verizon more of my hard earned money.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[xelhabb]

I am surprised nobody has brought this up before... for those paying for unlimited minutes... does that also mean you should be able to tie as many phones as you want into that to use those unlimited minutes? That is essentially what you are doing with the data... tying numerous devices in to use the data... I, for one, don't buy into the whole "its unlimited, so its mine" excuse.

@ Cyberchief,

I would counter with this. If someone pays for unlimited data, why does it matter how that data is accessed. Either via a phone browser or mounting the phone to another device to access it? Either way, the consumer is simply utilizing a service they are paying for.

If you pay for unlimited data, IT IS YOURS. That's not an "excuse", that's a rather salient and self-evident reality of commerce. If carrier's feel consumers are exploiting the offer of "unlimited data" then maybe they should charge more.

Now I would be on your side if people were creating hotspots and letting multiple users access the data. If the user was using the hotspot as a primary internet access portal, they should pay for tethering as well. However, if one user is occasionally accessing data with a rooted phone, I am not seeing one bit of a problem with it.

Just my two cents.