I currently have two 4G phones with Verizon that are still on the grandfathered unlimited data. While in the process of a financially messy divorce, I became unable to pay for cable tv or internet at home. I went into Verizon to inquire about mobile hotspot and how much it would cost me. At the time, I wasn't able to afford to add it, so I told the guy I would be back at a later time. He asked me what I wanted to use it for, and I told him that it was solely to watch Netflix on our Blu-ray player, to download movies, and to watch tv on my laptop (like on nbc.com or whatever). I told him I didn't have any other needs for it, as all regular internet use I do on my phone itself. Here's where it gets interesting...
The sales associate asked to see my phone, installed FoxFi, and showed me how to use it. He said it was ridiculous and unnecessary to pay for monthly hotspot access, and the store manager, who was chatting with us the whole time, agreed.
FoxFi worked great until I was updated to JellyBean, but now I just use PDAnet and connect to my laptop via USB or Bluetooth. Last month, I used 207gb of data, and was not charged extra. I've been using FoxFi or pdaNet for over 6 months now, with no problems, so I hope to be able to continue this way. If Verizon does ever say something about it, I fully plan on telling them that one of their employees and a manager recommended it. To be honest, since I did hear it from not only an employee, but the manager as well, I didn't even realize that it was against the TOS until last month.
The only problem I seem to have is when my bill is overdue, then when I'm streaming tv or something through a USB connection (on 4g network), the signal is spotty and whatever I'm watching kind of pauses and restarts every 30 seconds or so. This seems to resolve itself when I pay my bill. Has anyone ever heard of Verizon throttling on 4G due to a past due account?
Hope this helps! Thanks in advance for anyone who can help answer my question at the end!
