Wifi thethering.

[victormolina15]

okay so i heard that verizon can find out if you wifi thether or not? but i mean the GB plans are not coming any time soon so why should we be scared? or is there a way verizon can see that your using so much data?

p.s i heard unlimited data on verizon is actually just 5GB.. can anyone proove this?

DROID X.

 

[Verapakill]

I herd the same thing about the 5gb being unlimited because no one can use more then that on their phones.

 

[lornaevo]

There is a data cap of 5gb but I don't think out applied to phone.

 

[Adiliyo]

data on the smartphone plans is unlimited, i've look at all the fine print and there's no mention of any cap.

now weather they throttle you after 5GB is another story. personally i haven't used that much data and i really doubt i will unless netflix releases an android app.

 

[Racer38]

I just got my phone 2 days ago and when I was doing my online upgrade there is a $20 a month fee for wireless hotspot. I didnt get it ...

 

[jdbower]

There's a "soft" limit of 5GB but it's apparently not enforced rigorously (I've never been there so I can't comment). But Verizon distinguishes between tethered and non-tethered traffic rather than bandwidth used, they most certainly have the technological ability to look at your data stream and see which packets originate from the phone and which from a tethered device (if you're bored you can research deep packet inspection, OS fingerprinting, or any number of other techniques).

Verizon to date seems to be turning a blind eye to the practice of rooting your phone to tether, but it's a violation of your ToS and could be construed as theft of service so be aware that worst case it could lead to backbilling for your usage or even criminal charges. Is it likely? Probably not, but for me the $20 a month is worth it.

 

[WAldenIV]

There's a "soft" limit of 5GB but it's apparently not enforced rigorously (I've never been there so I can't comment). But Verizon distinguishes between tethered and non-tethered traffic rather than bandwidth used, they most certainly have the technological ability to look at your data stream and see which packets originate from the phone and which from a tethered device (if you're bored you can research deep packet inspection, OS fingerprinting, or any number of other techniques).

Verizon to date seems to be turning a blind eye to the practice of rooting your phone to tether, but it's a violation of your ToS and could be construed as theft of service so be aware that worst case it could lead to backbilling for your usage or even criminal charges. Is it likely? Probably not, but for me the $20 a month is worth it.

Google included wi-fi tethering with Froyo. If the carriers don't provide the vanilla OS updates to the end users and want to milk more money out of them, I'm all for rooting to gain free wi-fi tethering. It's too bad Google is powerless to prevent bloatware and lousy carrier customizations.

Besides, you are paying $30 a month for unlimited data. If I want to use my phone directly or another device, I've already paid for "unlimited" data. It shouldn't matter to the carrier. They are simply greedy.

 

[Bond32]

They aren't greedy. You agreed to their terms when you signed on with them. I mean im all for free wick tether too but I don't use it because id rather not get caught. If they catch you legally you could be facing finacial charges.

 

[WAldenIV]

They aren't greedy. You agreed to their terms when you signed on with them. I mean im all for free wick tether too but I don't use it because id rather not get caught. If they catch you legally you could be facing finacial charges.

I doubt that wi-fi tethering is in the standard terms of service. I did not sign any paperwork agreeing to pay extra for wi-fi tethering.

And, YES, they are being greedy. Just read about the CEO of Metro PCS (I believe). Read about the profit margins and cost of maintaining the cell networks. The major carriers are all greedy SOBs.

 

[dvader]

They aren't greedy. You agreed to their terms when you signed on with them. I mean im all for free wick tether too but I don't use it because id rather not get caught. If they catch you legally you could be facing finacial charges.

Yes they are. selling you "unlimited" service and then charging you another fee on top of that for the same bandwidth IS greedy.
whether someone agrees to terms or not is irrelevant to them being greedy and double charging you for the same bandwidth.

 

[GivenToFly]

In the United States there is no such thing as greedy. It's called capitalism. Verizon has a product, you want that product, they can charge whatever they want for it, no matter what it costs them to implement it or maintain it.

It's not greedy to charge extra for tethering. The $30 you pay for unlimited data is for your handset, not your computer. Being able to tether and share that data package with a computer is an extra feature, therefore they will charge extra for it. Not greedy, just smart business. If you don't want it, don't pay for it.

In all actuality, Verizon isn't greedy at all. Of all the rooted people using WiFi Tether, and non Rooted people using PDA-net, I've not heard a single person that has gotten in trouble with Verizon. If Verizon were as greedy as you label them, they'd be going after all these people, or shutting down the apps, or something along those lines. Instead as stated above, they are turning a blind eye to a lot of this. I've even heard stories of people being told BY VERIZON to use a program like PDA-net on their X because wired tethering isn't compatible.

 

[Bond32]

Well said GivenToFly

 

[Adiliyo]

they are giving you unlimited data for your handset, which i'm sure they've calculated an average amount of bandwidth the most users will consume on their phones, and then generated a price that keeps the feature profitable.

by tethering your pc to the phone, you are going to consume more data than they anticipated. which they then feel they can charge you extra for.

i don't like it either, and i have admittedly used wifi tether to connect my laptop for quick web usage at hotels, but i don't use it often enough to justify paying.

in the end it's their network, if you don't like their practices, there are other networks, but they are all run by money oriented people.

 

[dvader]

I disagree.
you are paying xxx amount per month to use a wireless "data pipe"
which they sell to you as "unlimited"
I am paying them for a service and that is "unlimited" data packets down that pipe.
if those packets are red, blue or green, it really doesn't matter.
they are still "data packets" traveling down a "wireless" data pipe.
It's overstepping in my opinion, to try and charge you for the wireless data pipe from your laptop to your cell phone.
if you go to Google on your phone or on your laptop, it's the SAME EXACT data packets across that "wireless data pipe"
the request is either initiated from your phone via your touch screen, or from your laptop via your keyboard.

it's the same request, same data, same bandwidth.
they are double charging you..
which I personally view as greedy.
yes, you can say, it's capitalism, it's business, etc etc..
and I do agree, if they can charge me for picking my nose and get away with it, then more power to them.
that doesn't mean i have to go along with it.

I will also note, i have never once used wifi tethering. on my phone.
however next time i'm in a situation where i need to (rarely) i will.

 

[jdbower]

And when you stream NetFlix HD movies to your computer it's the same as initiated by your phone. Oh wait... Or downloading a 200MB Windows update, or any number of other things you can do with near-infinite hard drive space and assumed cheap bandwidth. Your phone, on the other hand, is designed intentionally to streamline data.

if you go to Google on your phone or on your laptop, it's the SAME EXACT data packets across that "wireless data pipe"
the request is either initiated from your phone via your touch screen, or from your laptop via your keyboard.

Actually no, there's something called a User Agent ID, when Google sees you're on a mobile phone it serves up mobile content for you. Google is pretty streamlined, but a lot of pages on a PC are filled with Flash bloat and huge graphics that get thoughtfully stripped out for a small phone screen.

I do agree that it would be nice if Verizon removed tethering from their options, instead charging $30 a month for some bandwidth cap (1GB? 2GB?) and $50 a month for unlimited (or their 5GB soft cap) because packets are packets and distinguishing between tethered and non-tethered only encourages theft of service from greedy customers who want features for free. But their math is correct. The average smartphone user will use xxMB per month and the average tetherer will use yyMB per month with xx much smaller than yy and this is why they charge different rates.

 

[dvader]

Actually no, there's something called a User Agent ID, when Google sees you're on a mobile phone it serves up mobile content for you. Google is pretty streamlined, but a lot of pages on a PC are filled with Flash bloat and huge graphics that get thoughtfully stripped out for a small phone screen.

that's splitting hairs.
but you can request "full version" pages on your mobile device.
so it would be the same in that case and not all sites have both sets of content. you only get 1 web page.
also we can do flash on our phones now.

 

[tntdroid]

I used wifi tether today for the first time. Was at work and had no internet but needed something on my laptop. Worked great. I see why they would want to charge more but for someone like me who would only use it once in over a year with my droid or X is not good. Some take full advantage of it and they should pay for it. Put a cap on the data to limit the use not charge us so much. We pay 30 a month for unlimited data. I hear its more like 5mb then they slow u down. Im fine with that cause I wont get to that. Last month I hit 2mb and if I did the tether i might hit 5. Data is data we should not have to pay double for it. Tether should be free and we pay for a data cap. Maybe with the coming data plan changes this could be done.

sent by me on my X

 

[Eliteslave]

There is a reason for the tethering fee and data cap usage. Verizon has something called a 3g USB / MIFI, to get these items Verizon had to invest alot of money into R&D of these items. Now from a business stand point would it make a lot of sense if you allowed the smartphone user to willy nilly tether around? No it wouldnt reason being is then people wouldnt see the need to purchase and pay for the wifi devices that they poured money into. Thus it boils down to poor business management decisions and what they think they can get away with. hopefully they realize that smartphone users shouldnt have to have xtra blah blah to get tethering.

Sent from my DroidX using Elitetalk 2.0

 

[Jeremy.Stahn]

Verizon charges extra for these services as another form of income. The data plan that comes with the devices is explicitly for the Devices themselves per the contract which is why they have the "Tethering" option to connect your computer to the internet using your phone as a modem. So they are, in essence, charging you for use of a modem and limiting the amount of total usage. The limit is set due to network constrictions that cant support all the data usage and even those who are on the Grandfathered or old Unlimited plans have the 5GB cap. Perhaps once Verizon goes 4G there will be more data usage allowance. Used to work for Verizon via WDS Global ***shoots self in face*** so i had to explain these things to people all day. In the end its just more revenue for Verizon.

 

[Jeremy.Stahn]

Also Verizon doesnt have a way of looking at where you are specifically going on the internet or how you are connecting. All they can see are the connections and minutes of use that are recorded in the system as well as how many KB, MB and GB that were used during that time frame.