tethering without the extra fee?

[hockey4life0099]

so i plan on buying this phone without the extra tethering fee however i would still like to tether with the use of homebrew. will it be possible to to use a patched version of this service? (like how sprint users can use verizons own mobile hotspot app on palm pre)

 

[mqguitar]

Yeah I'm sure once you can root the device then you get something like tetherwifi from the android market. That's what I am doing with my hero and it works great. 3G is pretty good since I can stream netflix somewhat choppy if I don't let it buffer a bit. So I can't wait for 4g

 

[Complex Pants]

Barnacle Wifi Tether for Android - Communication

 

[letsgoflyers81]

I'm sure it'll happen. I don't begrudge Sprint for charging extra for a Wifi hotspot app to connect eight devices to a 4G phone, but I wouldn't pay for it. Even if it requires rooting, I have no problem getting an app to allow me to tether without an add-on to my plan, even if it's only one PC at a time. I just hope it'll do 4G under the radar.

 

[Bbold9700]

That's awsome I didn't know there was an app for that. I'm a newbie.

 

[deparson]

It would seem that HTC and Sprint may be incorporating some rather unique code at a rather low level that will 'provide network awareness' to the 'final consumer of packet data that passes through the device'.

In short, that would mean that the Evo (and other CDMA HTC units?) will provide hardware enabled tracking of where data is coming from and where it is going. There are a ton of details that are not known but this would clearly be in an effort to insure that carriers are paid for off-phone data use.

More to come I am sure.

 

[letsgoflyers81]

I don't doubt that Sprint would want to know whether a phone is tethered or not, and the phone may report this out of the box. But I've been using WM for years and POS before that. Those devices reported tethering, until there was an app or hack to get around it. I can't imagine Android being much different.

 

[vikingjunior]

Tether has an Android beta, there blackberry version is stellar.

Tether BlackBerry | BlackBerry Modem | Tether

 

[bp3dots]

Boy I love the entitlement attitude of "If I can steal this I will." Helps to explain why its such an uphill battle for business to succeed these days.

 

[letsgoflyers81]

Boy I love the entitlement attitude of "If I can steal this I will." Helps to explain why its such an uphill battle for business to succeed these days.

It's not that simple. If I'm paying for unlimited data, then what should it matter to Sprint if the data is being used by the phone or by a PC connected to it. If I watch a Youtube video, stream some audio, check e-mail, browse the web, etc and go through 100 MB of data in one day, what difference does it mate to Sprint? It doesn't make a difference, they're just trying to charge a premium for the convenience. I remember when I first got cable internet service at home my cable company said routers weren't allowed and you could only connect one PC. If you wanted to connect more than one you'd have to get two modems and pay twice the price. Yet millions of people got routers anyway and eventually the cable and DSL companies relented. I don't see how this is much different.

 

[bp3dots]

It's not that simple. If I'm paying for unlimited data, then what should it matter to Sprint if the data is being used by the phone or by a PC connected to it. If I watch a Youtube video, stream some audio, check e-mail, browse the web, etc and go through 100 MB of data in one day, what difference does it mate to Sprint? It doesn't make a difference, they're just trying to charge a premium for the convenience. I remember when I first got cable internet service at home my cable company said routers weren't allowed and you could only connect one PC. If you wanted to connect more than one you'd have to get two modems and pay twice the price. Yet millions of people got routers anyway and eventually the cable and DSL companies relented. I don't see how this is much different.

I think the biggest difference is the much lower cost in this case. 10-20 extra bucks (estimated obviously) rather than double the cost of your plan is pretty significant. This also really cuts into the aircard business for Sprint, so it is pretty reasonable that they charge for this service since they are losing out on the 60 dollars an overdrive would cost to do the same thing.

 

[Mughato]

This hotspot fee [for 3G coverage areas only] is really starting to bug me.

I don't understand why I should have to pay an extra fee to use a device feature just because the carrier hasn't deployed their preferred technology in my area yet. It's not my fault, but if your one of the "lucky" ones who live in a 4G coverage area, you get it for free?

What's up with that? Sounds like the other "nickel and dime" CDMA carrier to me....

 

[yazman666]

sprint should include this feature in the plan itself, if you pay for unlimited data it does not matter if you tether or not ur still paying for it, if they do that just seat back and watch the farm grow.....

 

[bp3dots]

This hotspot fee [for 3G coverage areas only] is really starting to bug me.

I don't understand why I should have to pay an extra fee to use a device feature just because the carrier hasn't deployed their preferred technology in my area yet. It's not my fault, but if your one of the "lucky" ones who live in a 4G coverage area, you get it for free?

What's up with that? Sounds like the other "nickel and dime" CDMA carrier to me....

You'll be paying for hotspot on 4g as well.

 

[jam4775]

My problem with the extra fee for the tethering/hotspot is the fact that I wouldn't use it enough to justify it. And I'm paying twice for internet already... for my DSL at home and on my phone. But I really would like to have this figure for the rare occasions that I'm somewhere without internet access, like my mom's house (yes my mom still doesn't have internet LOL). I currently use PDAnet on my WM phone for this, and I only use it maybe 3-5 times a year for basic web surfing which doesn't justify the extra cost.

The thing is Sprint knows there are going to be a lot of people who are going to use this feature excessively, probably as their primary internet service, and the rest of us are probably going to suffer for it. So that being said, I personally will not pay anything extra for this service and I'll find other solutions to tether for the rare occasions I need it.

 

[jpdaballa]

My problem with the extra fee for the tethering/hotspot is the fact that I wouldn't use it enough to justify it. And I'm paying twice for internet already... for my DSL at home and on my phone. But I really would like to have this figure for the rare occasions that I'm somewhere without internet access, like my mom's house (yes my mom still doesn't have internet LOL). I currently use PDAnet on my WM phone for this, and I only use it maybe 3-5 times a year for basic web surfing which doesn't justify the extra cost.

The thing is Sprint knows there are going to be a lot of people who are going to use this feature excessively, probably as their primary internet service, and the rest of us are probably going to suffer for it. So that being said, I personally will not pay anything extra for this service and I'll find other solutions to tether for the rare occasions I need it.

+1 well also when I go to my cousins house he gets like 1mb download speed which is annoying when someone is downloading in the other room or streaming on youtube

 

[Kratzer]

I think an ala cart option is hte answer. They need to make these things ready tether out of the box, and when you hook them up you get a free tethering option, but its really slow and would make internet access in emergency situations ok, but otherwise nothing you would want to use. But also, when you first tether a screen comes up that where you select what you want-- the free, slow, option, a medium option which could so streaming and some downloading, which would be like $1 a day or something ala cart, and then a fast option which is $2 a day. This wouldn't replace subscriptions. You could subscribe to medium and fast for like 15 and 30 respectively.

 

[Paladin]

I also don't want to pay for it because I simply do not use it enough. They have no limited tethering plan so....

I only tether maybe 2 to 4 times a week and only for an hour or three each time and it is just basic web browsing etc... I really don't want to have to spend $30-$40 for the few hours I really need it.

 

[Brett636]

I find the hotspot fee more palatable than getting a $60/month aircard, but the only time I tether is when I am on vacation and I don't have wifi nearby. Like others have said its tough to justify any kind of extra fee to tether since I may only use it a few times a year max.

 

[Mystic205]

Of course it is that simple..

the entire issue here is that only some folks will be using this for casual (i am on vacation and need to check maps and email)..

Then there are the others.. those folks who have been ditching cable/dsl and stealing sprint's bandwidth and setting up their home networks via tethering and downloading many many GB.. so Sprint has no option but to try to close this loophole and charge a hotspot/tethering fee...

As i pay $60/mo for an aircard (for casual use only..< 2GB/yr) I am in favour of these fees........or a restructuring of the plans.

For example...I would very happily sign up for a hard 5GB limit in exchange for no fees for tethering/hotspot.. i could ditch my aircard.

let people pay for what they use... and theft will not be necessary.

It's not that simple. If I'm paying for unlimited data, then what should it matter to Sprint if the data is being used by the phone or by a PC connected to it. If I watch a Youtube video, stream some audio, check e-mail, browse the web, etc and go through 100 MB of data in one day, what difference does it mate to Sprint? It doesn't make a difference, they're just trying to charge a premium for the convenience. I remember when I first got cable internet service at home my cable company said routers weren't allowed and you could only connect one PC. If you wanted to connect more than one you'd have to get two modems and pay twice the price. Yet millions of people got routers anyway and eventually the cable and DSL companies relented. I don't see how this is much different.