Hero and Tethering

[jb4kats]

i know that there are lots of threads and posts all over the net, but I wanted to get a fresh reply from anyone who is familiar with tethering either with pdanet or the newest one EasyTether. i just purchased the new Sprint Overdrive and come to find out that 4g is not yet available in my area so i feel cheated so to speak that I am limited to 5 gig even though I know I wouldn't go over, but my connection through a mobile broadband would be only when I travel so spending $60.00 a month not to mention the price for the modem is not what I thought out very well so someone mentioned pdanet.
I was told that it was free for the beta and I wouldn't even mind paying for the program if I knew that Sprint wouldn't catch it. I will say this too, I was talking to a advanced tech support about the coverage and he even said that it was hard for sprint to monitor usage and he didn't even know of anyway they could except of course if someone was abusing it so my question is has anyone actually gotten caught tethering their phone using a 3rd party app?
I tried to even pay for tethering through Sprint but they have already begun to faze out tethering all to gether and it is no longer available, so would I be able to tether without being nailed as long as I keep my usage under the radar?

 

[markyflies]

I use PDAnet. Works great. I bought the paid version. The free one wont let you on any secure website. I travel weekly and only use the tether if the internet is to expensive in the hotels I stay in.
Why would Sprint care if you tether?
As a side note, I did compare the PDAnet to wired access at some hotels. I thought that
the PDAnet was faster.

 

[Chance Legstrong]

I used PDANet back in my Moto Q days and it worked just fine. Then I went to a BB and never really needed that particular app along with my work laptop...now, just 3 weeks into my new Hero and slowly getting used to it(typing) and i DL'd PDANet and it works great. I used it last week at a hotel that offered free wifi, but i was one of 12 teammates all trying to stream video of a bike race off that wifi connection and I just logged in via my PDANet tether and i was flying, barely any lag.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

You should be fine with PDAnet. I have wifi tether since I'm rooted which also works well.

 

[spatel9114]

Actually, I contacted Sprint about this, because they in fact DO charge for tethering. However, after a fifteen minutes conversation, I learned that before 2009, people who tethered were either charged per kilobyte or had to have tethering included in their plan (most of the plans were business plans as well), so pretty much a lose-lose. However, in 2010, Sprint changed it's policy, and with that, tethering charges were completely removed, no more plans, no more charging, no more tethering support what so ever. So, now, in order to tether, an unofficial app is required as supposed to the one that Sprint supplied with the tethering plans. PDANet is currently the best one on the market. So, basically I was told that they only way you will get charged now is if PDANet decides to charge you, NOT Sprint. So, it's free.

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

Actually, I contacted Sprint about this, because they in fact DO charge for tethering. However, after a fifteen minutes conversation, I learned that before 2009, people who tethered were either charged per kilobyte or had to have tethering included in their plan (most of the plans were business plans as well), so pretty much a lose-lose. However, in 2010, Sprint changed it's policy, and with that, tethering charges were completely removed, no more plans, no more charging, no more tethering support what so ever. So, now, in order to tether, an unofficial app is required as supposed to the one that Sprint supplied with the tethering plans. PDANet is currently the best one on the market. So, basically I was told that they only way you will get charged now is if PDANet decides to charge you, NOT Sprint. So, it's free.

There are some others who have stories of Sprint cancelling their service due to tethering illegally.

 

[notasimpleway]

There's an app in the market call EasyTether. It's faster than the other one. And it is cheaper.

 

[MrJoseSanchez8330]

U shouldn't pay to tether. I have the sprint hero and still tether my phone with out any extra charges. Its a function of the phone its self. Just Google it and you can fib out how. That's what I did and have been tethering ever since. Its not hard to do as long as u have the drivers for htc sync on ur computer.

 

[spatel9114]

U shouldn't pay to tether. I have the sprint hero and still tether my phone with out any extra charges. Its a function of the phone its self. Just Google it and you can fib out how. That's what I did and have been tethering ever since. Its not hard to do as long as u have the drivers for htc sync on ur computer.

Yeah, but Sprint can charge you since all data plans on Sprint don't include tethering. However, in my previous post, I explained that Sprint no longer charges for tethering. And interesting enough, I was just reading an article about how AT&T forced Apple to remove all tethering apps from it's App Store, so I guess Sprint could do the same with Google and force them to remove all tethering apps if too much data is being used to tether. However, I don't see that being the case as Sprint is very focused on 4G right now and tethering (with current phones, NOT Evo) will only use 3G, so I'm sure it's not a big concern of theirs right now, but I could be wrong.

There's an app in the market call EasyTether. It's faster than the other one. And it is cheaper.

Yeah, I actually starting using that the other day as apposed to using PDANet. Works very well, I think it runs a little bit lighter on the phone as well, so less slowdown. Also, it's only $9.95 on the Market compared to PDANet which is $29.99 off-Market.

 

[MrJoseSanchez8330]

Sprint has no way of knowing ur using it. As long as u have the unlimited plan I don't see a big problem. As long as u don't use the sprint app on ur computer they shouldn't bother u.

 

[Zerazac]

I have the unlimited data plan with Sprint and used PDAnet to tether on my Hero for about a month. Then I rooted my phone and now I can have wi fi tethering. Main reason why I tethered my phone. Both work great!

 

[GolpherZX]

I think the biggest thing is to tether responsibly (such a thing??). Use it for what you need to if you are on the road or something, but don't use it as a primary network connection. Use it as a standby, but this is just my own personal opinion. This is how I do intend to use the tethering option as I just got my phone rooted...

 

[steveh552]

I am going to use the teather for a week more than likely, only because I forgot to pay my internet bill with my last check and right now I am broke until payday again. This will allow me to do my college courses online still, I do not plan on using it all to often though, just as I needed it.

 

[spatel9114]

Remember guys, even with Sprint's Unlimited Data Plan, you only get 5 GB's worth of data that you can use, after that they begin to charge you again, so be aware of how much data you are using.

 

[GolpherZX]

Remember guys, even with Sprint's Unlimited Data Plan, you only get 5 GB's worth of data that you can use, after that they begin to charge you again, so be aware of how much data you are using.

Good call. That is where it is nice as a backup connection only... Then I would work on tweaking your OS to only go out to the net when necessary. Like turning off auto updates etc...

 

[Zerazac]

Remember guys, even with Sprint's Unlimited Data Plan, you only get 5 GB's worth of data that you can use, after that they begin to charge you again, so be aware of how much data you are using.

How can we tell how much data we've used? Log on to the Sprint account maybe?

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

How can we tell how much data we've used? Log on to the Sprint account maybe?

Exactly. If you go to the Sprint site, you will be able to see your data usage. Unless you are downloading movies or a lot of music, you shouldn't hit the mark too easily.