• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Do I need tether plan?

J

Jeff31UK

Lurker
One of the reasons I bought the phone was to tether (No DSL, Cable at house).

I know about the 2GB + $10/1GB limits. Works for me. When I got the phone, I had trouble finding the drivers. Called AT&T support. They said they do not support tethering on the phone! Thanks to this forum I found the right drivers and now enjoy USB tethering (select Phone as Modem from phone) and computer thinks its a network card. Also read here Andriod 2.2 may remove native tethering support from the phone.

So... Not supported. May be taken away. What am I paying my $20/month tethering fee for? Do people tether just fine without paying the fee? What do other people here do?
 
Now while I have not done this myself, the "tethering plan" I do not think is needed to actually do the tethering. Though the wireless carrier would have you believe this is required, though if caught they can be nasty about it.
 
I used tethering on my blackstone on AT&T for ages without having a tethering plan. No, it's not required, but AT&T wants you to buy the package and is going to tell you you need it when you call on the phone. I don't know if the tethering plan they offer gives you a different bandwidth limit but that's really the only snag in using tethering for internet access at home. I've done it before and pushed 2-3 gigs a month for a few months while i was in an apartment waiting for the house to be ready. Sounds like you're not on the unlimited plan so you are probably already planning on using it for light internet, but for anyone on unlimited, they will cut or degrade your access if you are "excessive" over time. I've never had it happen to me but it is in the ToS.
 
i was at at&t a couple weeks ago asking about the tethering prices and stuff....guy told me if u had an unlimited data plan and got tethering that u would lose it....it will switch to that 25 dollar plan or whatever they have now....just FYI
 
Hmm. So why do (some of us..) pay for tethering plans now? If they take it away it'll be a breach of contract, right?
 
I tether with no plan, that was a big reason for getting this phone initially. An iphone I would have to jailbreak to do this without a plan. I personally do not worry about AT&T causing me problems for tethering as I do. As long as my usage is not over or consistently over I think it will be fine.

Also, if they removed it from 2.2 then it will be rooting time. Im waiting for a 2.2 ROM and the GPS fix before I do anthing non-stock to my phone.
 
Joeup24 said:
i was at at&t a couple weeks ago asking about the tethering prices and stuff....guy told me if u had an unlimited data plan and got tethering that u would lose it....it will switch to that 25 dollar plan or whatever they have now....just FYI
Click to expand...


I have an unlimited data plan, and have been tethering since the iphone 3G came out. I was grandfathered in when I bought the Captivate. I have never been confronted about my tethering, though it wouldn't surprise me if I ever am.

My question is though, could AT&T LEGALLY switch your plan to a $25 dollar a month tethering plan WITHOUT your knowledge? Does anyone else know or have heard about this? I wouldn't suspect this being common practice, or even allowed...maybe just a scare tactic from a regional manager?

Anyone with more knowledge know about this?
 
I'm not sure if they can just simply switch your plan on you. But they can simply drop your plan altogether. Though I only know of them dropping one person I know for excessive roaming, I have not heard of them dropping anyone for excessive data use (or tethering) yet.

And there is a clause in the "unlimited" plan fine print that would allow them to charge you for excessive use if you exceed 5 Gb in a month, but I have not heard of them actually doing this to anyone yet either.

In any case I doubt they will bother with you for simply tethering your phone - unless you are grandfathered in to the "unlimited" data plan and you are a really excessive data user.

If your are already on the 2 Gb for $25 you can probably tether all you without their tether plan because they are going to get more money from you if you exceed your data limit anyway. In this case you just won't be able to get any tech support from att for tethering.
 
So... Not supported. May be taken away. What am I paying my $20/month tethering fee for? Do people tether just fine without paying the fee? What do other people here do?
Click to expand...

If at&t does not support tethering on the Captivate anyway you are paying them for nothing. Yes you can tether without paying for the tether plan.
 
Surfer said:
How would one go about doing that? Possibly without rooting?
Click to expand...

While I have not done it myself I read either on this message board or on xda-captivate forum that usb tethering works out of the box via settings > applications > usb settings > pc internet (probably requires the samsung drivers on pc).

I will try and see if I can find that post.
 
I have not had any luck finding the original thread I read about usb tethering, but there are a couple of posts about usb tethering working in the sticky in this forum - under the usb drivers link in the sticky captivate guide - http://androidforums.com/captivate-.../123644-captivate-usb-drivers-links-here.html

I also just remembered you can get tethering apps from the market such as pdanet and easy tether once you get by att's censorship of the market. An easy way around att in the market is to go some place you can connect your phone to the internet via wifi. Then put your phone in flight mode and with flight mode still on turn on your wifi connection. Then open the market and you should be able to get the apps that att has been censoring from you.
 
i use usb tethering without the root...what i did was intsall app brain app market and fast web installer on my phone..then thru the pc i went to appbrain.com and i searched for pdanet and i just clicked install. and bam im tethering with out paying the extra fees. another app i use is easytether...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom