Tethering Questions

[Kahroo]

Ok I don't have internet at home and the only way to use my laptop us go to the library. And that is just annoying sometimes. I found out I can tether this phone and I have been doing that so far.

On my phone I sometimes use Pandora. And when I am out I have eBuddy running and I always have Twitter running.

But on my laptop I have been IMing and playing Minecraft with my BF. And I have used 7.5GBs so far. I hear there is a Data Cap after 10GBs but I was wondering could I get in serious trouble for doing this? Like could they bill me hundreds of dollars if they find out?

 

[mmarz]

Ok I don't have internet at home and the only way to use my laptop us go to the library. And that is just annoying sometimes. I found out I can tether this phone and I have been doing that so far.

On my phone I sometimes use Pandora. And when I am out I have eBuddy running and I always have Twitter running.

But on my laptop I have been IMing and playing Minecraft with my BF. And I have used 7.5GBs so far. I hear there is a Data Cap after 10GBs but I was wondering could I get in serious trouble for doing this? Like could they bill me hundreds of dollars if they find out?

Nope. You won't get into "trouble" (what could they do? you don't have a contract and you pay in advance). What they do do (hehe) is throttle your downloading once go passed their limit. The throttling lasts for the remainder of your billing cycle. Once you start on your new month, your data usage is reset to zero and the throttling removed.

 

[Kahroo]

Nope. You won't get into "trouble" (what could they do? you don't have a contract and you pay in advance). What they do do (hehe) is throttle your downloading once go passed their limit. The throttling lasts for the remainder of your billing cycle. Once you start on your new month, your data usage is reset to zero and the throttling removed.

Oh that is so helpfull. THANK YOU SO MUCH! ^__^

 

[whyaphoenix]

delete

 

[Kahroo]

im using tethering right now at a hotel. half bars and im getting a 70KBs download speed. quick enough for me. hard to use 10GB a month unless your watching netflix, in which case you can use 10GB in a single night.

Well I am playing Minecraft, IMing, And some Flash vids. That is all. But I think it was Pandora/Minecraft that wasted all my data.

 

[mmarz]

Well I am playing Minecraft, IMing, And some Flash vids. That is all. But I think it was Pandora/Minecraft that wasted all my data.

You should consider getting the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go package. It provides no minutes, costs twice as much ($50), and has a data cap 1/4th the size (2.5gb). Gotta love marketing.

There are a ton of programs in the android programs market that will monitor your total network traffic for you. That way you'll know when you are about to hit the cap and get throttled. BTW, where did you get the 10gb number?

 

[Helgaiden]

there was a post on howardforums about a guy who tethered and downloaded like mad to see when Virgin began throttling him. He said at around 10gb his speeds were throttled. When he called VM customer care, they verified that number.

 

[Starman97]

For extreme cases, they may ban the handset. I see people selling VM phones on ebay with 'Bad ESN' , and it's not like they can ban you for not paying your bill since it's prepaid. The only thing I can think of is that you are not profitable to them due to excess bandwidth usage and they TOS you.

 

[mmarz]

I would think the bad esn phones are stolen. I've never heard of someone being "banned", only deactivated because their account balance went to zero.

 

[Kahroo]

So say I used 11GBs of Data this month, I would be fine?

 

[Bigtuna00]

So say I used 11GBs of Data this month, I would be fine?

Virgin Mobile USA

"unlimited access to Downloads (VirginXL) and the mobile Internet (but not unlimited downloaded content)"


Virgin Mobile USA

"If your plan includes data services, such services are provided solely for purposes of web browsing, messaging, and similar activities...You may not use the data service...for tethering your mobile phone to a personal computer or other hardware"

So, no, you would not be "fine".

EDIT: note I'm not saying do or don't do it. I don't really care what you do. But don't argue it's "ok" as it's clearly forbidden in the Terms of Service (this is directed at the entire thread, not the OP).

 

[Desmock]

Obviously if the company doesn't offer the service either for free or for a fee, then you probably aren't supposed to do so. Common sense dictates this.