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Does Mobile Hotspot cost me?
- Thread starter DJ-Anakin
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Karuk
Android Enthusiast
http://androidforums.com/incredible-tips-tricks/74400-howto-tether-natively.html
I suggest everyone read this thread about tethering. Worked perfectly for me.
Wifi hotspot for FREE!!!
I suggest everyone read this thread about tethering. Worked perfectly for me.
Wifi hotspot for FREE!!!
Vinsanity93
Android Enthusiast
Well there is a way to get Mobile hotspot free..but I dont want it to spread around too much so PM me I guess.
BTW if u juz want free tethering without root just use pdanet
nvm..da guy above me put it up
You are using the same amount of bandwidth and megabytes to view this forum on your mobile device as you would on your computer. So please tell me.....how is VZW negatively impacted by using your computer through your mobile device?
One connection through WiFi hotspot should be included for free. I can understand having to pay for additional connections as this would increase your use.
I'm not paying Verizon any more money than I already am. I pay the $30 extra every month to be able to have "unlimited" data use and I'm not trying to have them now limit how I can use what I'm already paying for.
I went ahead and did the bypass method described in the above thread yesterday and my 3g wifi mobile hot spot is working flawlessly. Thanks for trying to take more of my money Verizon.
To those that feel that this is an ethical dilemma, here's an easy solution, don't do it. To those that are on the fence, I say go for it. Good luck.
I went ahead and did the bypass method described in the above thread yesterday and my 3g wifi mobile hot spot is working flawlessly. Thanks for trying to take more of my money Verizon.
To those that feel that this is an ethical dilemma, here's an easy solution, don't do it. To those that are on the fence, I say go for it. Good luck.
wonderbread
Android Enthusiast
The Amazon Kindle also offers unlimited 3G internet for FREE on the device. Of course, if you hacked it so that you could watch youtube and do other things besides downloading books, then you would be using a lot more bandwidth than if you only used it the way you are licensed to. Amazon is only able to make it free because its use is limited to the usage expected on the device. Same with a phone, the data plan is priced with the estimated usage of mobile phone users. If all of a sudden people are not restricted to the phone, the usage patterns will change and increase. This means that providers can no longer offer the unlimited data plans at the same rate. They would have to increase the rate and that rate would increase something close to the extra $20 charged for tethering.
Stop pretending that "unlimited data plan" is some amendment to your own personal constitution that you can interpret to fit your needs.
Feeling pithy right now, no offense intended.
Stop pretending that "unlimited data plan" is some amendment to your own personal constitution that you can interpret to fit your needs.
Feeling pithy right now, no offense intended.
Seriously? I did the steps in the How To Tether (nativly) thread (posted on this board). Guess what... It worked as advertised. Do I feel it is stealing? No. Think about this, using the phone analogy that someone posted above... I pay for 2000 minutes, but only used 1000. Maybe I want to use my other 1000 minutes that I paid for in exchange for data?
Don't forget, Verizon offered the ability to tether with the Palm for no additional charge, so why don't they offer it on other phones? If they can do it for the Palm users they can do it for the DROID users out there as well...
Don't forget, Verizon offered the ability to tether with the Palm for no additional charge, so why don't they offer it on other phones? If they can do it for the Palm users they can do it for the DROID users out there as well...
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
If you want free tethering, buy a Pixi or a Pre.
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
If everyone only viewed this forum and did nothing else ever on their home computer, your strawman would be valid.
Here in the real world, internet users use the web to do things like download torrents, play Xbox and other high bandwidth tasks.
The net/net is that tethering creates additional traffic on VZW's network.
sdrawkcab25
Extreme Android User
+1 to this, I want a refund for all my unused minutes and text messages (#1 ripoff, 6,500% markup according to CNN Money
The biggest ripoff: text message beats movie popcorn | ZDNet ) Trade unused minutes/text messages for free tether usage .
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
If you can find a wireless carrier who lets you decide the terms of service and usage policies then you have a fighting chance. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of big bad ol' VZW and their TOS doesn't allow for such a swap.
If you go to a steakhouse and only finish 1/2 of the 18 ounce porterhouse that you ordered, will they let you trade your leftovers for desert? How about ordering more than you can finish on the "no doggie bags" 25 cent wing night at your local watering hole. Can you trade the dozen leftover Atomic Gut Bombs for a beer?
Once Verizon starts tagging and billing for non-smartphone traffic on accounts without tethering, there's going to be a river of tears here.
The amount of rationalization on this topic is stunning.
Said the VZW employee.
My only point here is if VZW can "afford" to offer free tethering on the Palm's, why don't they do it accross the board?
MONEY! it's all about the cash.
thelastdraco
Well-Known Member
its free on the palm because no one buys it and they use it as a promotional, is it working?
why not just get it for free? http://androidforums.com/incredible-tips-tricks/74400-howto-tether-natively.html
why not just get it for free? http://androidforums.com/incredible-tips-tricks/74400-howto-tether-natively.html
sdrawkcab25
Extreme Android User
if Verizon can rationalize charging their ridiculous rates, 6,500% markup on texts!!(yes i know i can switch carriers or move to another country) I can rationalize my free tethering,(I don't even use it much, just like any other right we have, I believe it should be used responsibly). I believe in fair use and tethering my computer to my phone when I don't have other access available I think is well within my rights, now sharing it with all my neighbors and downloading movies and music on it, probably not.
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
That's a very telling response. Anyone who doesn't believe in stealing from a company must be an employee, huh?
There's actually quite a few people who were born before the Entitlement Generation and are just fine with paying for what you use and honoring contracts. Crazy concept, huh??
Yeah, I really hate that stuff costs money and that corporations try to make a profit. Everything should be free and unicorns should fart rainbows and jelly beans on command.
The problem here is that you don't get to decide what is within your rights or fair use when it is all defined in your service contract. Just because you think that their fees are excessive doesn't qualify you to take without paying.
We're going around in circles here. It is obvious that those who feel entitled to whatever they want find it OK to hack and steal service. Perhaps you will become small business owners some day so that you will develop an appreciation for customers who pay for your goods and don't look to steal from you just because they don't agree with your pricing structure.
Have fun when that bill comes!
sdrawkcab25
Extreme Android User
That's a very telling response. Anyone who doesn't believe in stealing from a company must be an employee, huh?
There's actually quite a few people who were born before the Entitlement Generation and are just fine with paying for what you use and honoring contracts. Crazy concept, huh??
Yeah, I really hate that stuff costs money and that corporations try to make a profit. Everything should be free and unicorns should fart rainbows and jelly beans on command.
The entitlement generation started when big companies started feeling like they were entitled to all their customers money, but little mom and pop shops can't really run a cell phone company now can they. "mom and pop" definitely would of allowed some sort of free tethering, a happy customer is a repeat customer, but consumers have no choice when it comes to cell phone companies(or any utility) they all gouge their customers because they can get away with it. Verizon Wireless would still be making a huge profit even if they didn't charge for unlimited data, it's not about making a profit, it's about making the largest profit possible (and CEO's getting their big bonus to buy their next multi-million dollar home) off the back of your customers. I have Verizon for all my services at home (FiOS) now if all my services go out because of a screw up on Verizon's part, I think it's more than fair that I get to tether my Verizon phone to my PC so I can upload some text files or documents. I get the whole honoring contract thing, and that's all well and good in a perfect, black and white world. In that world though, no one would be allowed to borrow or even copy your own CD's, DVR/TIVO television shows and let friends who don't have cable service watch them.
Believe me, Verizon broke plenty of contracts and lots of back room deals to get to where they are today(first hand knowledge of this) and they shouldn't expect any less from their customers.
Sorry, getting off my soapbox. nothing but respect for your opinions CallmeOX. We seem to have to agree to disagree on a lot of points lol
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
No worries. If the whole world thought and behaved like me, it would be an awfully boring place.
jake.ashford
Lurker
@callmeox: I see where you are coming from, but to me, this is reminiscent of when broadband (cable/DSL) first came out for residential users and the ISP tried to charge extra for each additional PC that would hook up to the Internet via a router. Eventually they gave up, realizing that there is nothing they could do to prevent users from doing this and no way to determine how many PC's were accessing the net, thus enforcing the additional charges was next to impossible.
With cell networks, this is not quite the same, as Verizon et al own most of the 3G networks and have much more control over the network than broadband ISPs have over the Internet. To me, it shouldn't matter how many devices one hooks up through their 3G Mobile HotSpot. If someone wants to be foolish enough to try to use 50 laptops or whatever to connect to the internet via their 3G HotSpot enabled phone, so be it. It's their own access that will suffer from lag and bandwidth issues as their phone tries to handle all the traffic (which it clearly couldn't handle as I was just exaggerating the point here).
Once a company like Verizon has the network, servers, routers, edge routers, etc in place, it really doesn't matter how much bandwidth one uses, the maintenance is pretty much a fixed cost to Verizon. Therefore, charging $30/month for an Unlimited Data Plan and then another $20, $35, $50, or $80 on top of the $30 (depending on which plan one chooses for the hotspot service) is what I consider to be highway robbery on their part.
Now, now, I know what comes next in your line of thinking, and you're correct, since Verizon owns the network and equipment, has done the engineering, R&D and investment into their network, it is well within their rights to charge extra. However I do think this is somewhat greedy on their part. I think if companies made better, more accessible products at a reasonable price, more people would pay to use it and therefore Verizon's bottom line would increase. But, just like every other technology that has been monetized and turned into a commodity, companies always start off by trying to gouge their customers because they want to recover their R&D investment rapidly and turn a profit asap (fair enough).
There really is no difference between surfing the net, talking on the phone, or using your phone as a HotSpot for your laptop to access the Internet. It's all DATA. So why the artificial pricing tiers and limits? To me, "Unlimited Data" means Unlimited Data. After all, this IS how Verizon markets their $30 Unlimited Data plan (which, by the way, is mandatory on smart phones). Then they flesh the details out in the fine print and legalese, which no one reads until AFTER they're hit with a large bill.
Going back even further, I could make the analogy to the cable companies and how they initially tried to charge for cable on a per TV basis. Have cable and want to use it on your main TV and the one in the bedroom? You were supposed to pay an extra fee for the TV in the bedroom. I think most people would agree that this is greedy and ridiculous (and the cable companies no longer do this because a company's service/quality and the MARKET usually ends up dictating the price and whether a product/service is successful or not.
I am a small business owner (Computer and computer networking consultant) and I think it is ridiculous that they slap on extra fees on top of the "Unlimited Data" plan. If you understand how networks work, you know that it really doesn't impact their bottom line to allow you to use the 3G HotSpot feature without upping additional fees. It's all marketing and gouging. Again...make it fair and reasonable and I'd have no problem paying.
Considering that my cable Internet service costs $50/month for unlimited Internet access and Verizon charges $50/month for 5GB bandwidth and a rate of $10 per each additional GB, it becomes apparent that they are gouging us! (This, on top of the $30 for the "Unlimited Data" plan...so you are really paying $80/month!!).
I don't have an entitlement attitude, its just that a lot of companies these days will screw their customers every chance they get because in the end, they are really only beholden to the stock holders and board members, not the customer, and I for one am sick and tired of companies that do this.
Unfortunately, in my area, Verizon is the provider with the best coverage, so unless I want poor coverage, I really have no other viable choice.
With cell networks, this is not quite the same, as Verizon et al own most of the 3G networks and have much more control over the network than broadband ISPs have over the Internet. To me, it shouldn't matter how many devices one hooks up through their 3G Mobile HotSpot. If someone wants to be foolish enough to try to use 50 laptops or whatever to connect to the internet via their 3G HotSpot enabled phone, so be it. It's their own access that will suffer from lag and bandwidth issues as their phone tries to handle all the traffic (which it clearly couldn't handle as I was just exaggerating the point here).
Once a company like Verizon has the network, servers, routers, edge routers, etc in place, it really doesn't matter how much bandwidth one uses, the maintenance is pretty much a fixed cost to Verizon. Therefore, charging $30/month for an Unlimited Data Plan and then another $20, $35, $50, or $80 on top of the $30 (depending on which plan one chooses for the hotspot service) is what I consider to be highway robbery on their part.
Now, now, I know what comes next in your line of thinking, and you're correct, since Verizon owns the network and equipment, has done the engineering, R&D and investment into their network, it is well within their rights to charge extra. However I do think this is somewhat greedy on their part. I think if companies made better, more accessible products at a reasonable price, more people would pay to use it and therefore Verizon's bottom line would increase. But, just like every other technology that has been monetized and turned into a commodity, companies always start off by trying to gouge their customers because they want to recover their R&D investment rapidly and turn a profit asap (fair enough).
There really is no difference between surfing the net, talking on the phone, or using your phone as a HotSpot for your laptop to access the Internet. It's all DATA. So why the artificial pricing tiers and limits? To me, "Unlimited Data" means Unlimited Data. After all, this IS how Verizon markets their $30 Unlimited Data plan (which, by the way, is mandatory on smart phones). Then they flesh the details out in the fine print and legalese, which no one reads until AFTER they're hit with a large bill.
Going back even further, I could make the analogy to the cable companies and how they initially tried to charge for cable on a per TV basis. Have cable and want to use it on your main TV and the one in the bedroom? You were supposed to pay an extra fee for the TV in the bedroom. I think most people would agree that this is greedy and ridiculous (and the cable companies no longer do this because a company's service/quality and the MARKET usually ends up dictating the price and whether a product/service is successful or not.
I am a small business owner (Computer and computer networking consultant) and I think it is ridiculous that they slap on extra fees on top of the "Unlimited Data" plan. If you understand how networks work, you know that it really doesn't impact their bottom line to allow you to use the 3G HotSpot feature without upping additional fees. It's all marketing and gouging. Again...make it fair and reasonable and I'd have no problem paying.
Considering that my cable Internet service costs $50/month for unlimited Internet access and Verizon charges $50/month for 5GB bandwidth and a rate of $10 per each additional GB, it becomes apparent that they are gouging us! (This, on top of the $30 for the "Unlimited Data" plan...so you are really paying $80/month!!).
I don't have an entitlement attitude, its just that a lot of companies these days will screw their customers every chance they get because in the end, they are really only beholden to the stock holders and board members, not the customer, and I for one am sick and tired of companies that do this.
Unfortunately, in my area, Verizon is the provider with the best coverage, so unless I want poor coverage, I really have no other viable choice.
briman4031
Member
I for one see nothing wrong with tethering outside of Verizon's crap-ware and not paying extra for it. Verizon has seriously increased the average users cost by creating an Unlimited data plan in addition to your overpriced minutes, whereby most users will not come close to a few Gb of data usage a month. If they wanted to enforce paying for tethering they would and they have by throttling data usage.
Verizon offers VZNavigator which is overpriced poop. You also get Google Navigator with android for free. They don't have a problem with this because... you're paying for unlimited data usage. If you tether too much and burn up a lot of data, your speed will be cut. Plain and simple. I however, rarely tether. But when i do, it doesn't use up any more mb's than it would have if I had used my phone because I generally just surf the web and I'm looking for a larger and more legible screen. No FTP or Torrent action to really bog down the network.
Basically you're being charged to hook your "computer" up to a larger monitor. I say tether away and I see no problem with this.
Verizon offers VZNavigator which is overpriced poop. You also get Google Navigator with android for free. They don't have a problem with this because... you're paying for unlimited data usage. If you tether too much and burn up a lot of data, your speed will be cut. Plain and simple. I however, rarely tether. But when i do, it doesn't use up any more mb's than it would have if I had used my phone because I generally just surf the web and I'm looking for a larger and more legible screen. No FTP or Torrent action to really bog down the network.
Basically you're being charged to hook your "computer" up to a larger monitor. I say tether away and I see no problem with this.
What you forgot to include is that the steakhouse is making you buy a 450 ounce steak sectioned into 12 oz portions... I love rationalizations. 
Truthfully comparing a phone to the steakhouse isnt the best analogy.
Truthfully comparing a phone to the steakhouse isnt the best analogy.
itmike
Member
Eventually the wireless companies will just say eff it. These devices with an open market offer the ability to do so much with them. They are fighting a losing battle trying to limit these devices. As long as the user has a computer, usb cable, and home internet connection, they will be able to modify and tweak their phone as they see fit to do what they want it to. The wireless companies are just going to have to surrender that, if they continue to service these type of devices. Let me rephrase that as long as they access to the internet on their network they will have people trying to use it even with dumb phones. They are wasting their breath and contract space trying to limit them.
Except that they do have a way to fight it... charging for overages (it's their network, and they most certainly can and do monitor how much data you use). And then, if you don't pay the overages, they can hold you in violation of the contract you signed, terminate your service, and take you to collection for the remainder of the contract due.
The alternative, should they decide to "eff it", would be to assume that everyone's using gobs of data and start charging everyone accordingly.
I'm not going to get into the moral aspect of this debate other than to say that I pay for the services I use, per the contract I signed. If you don't want to, that's your choice. Just don't complain when it ends up costing you in the long run.
The alternative, should they decide to "eff it", would be to assume that everyone's using gobs of data and start charging everyone accordingly.
I'm not going to get into the moral aspect of this debate other than to say that I pay for the services I use, per the contract I signed. If you don't want to, that's your choice. Just don't complain when it ends up costing you in the long run.