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Is this possible

sfbloodbrother

sfbloodbrother

Extreme Android User
So there's talk of cutting the internet at our house. Internet is heavily used, but since I live with my Guardian and she doesn't use the Internet at all, she feels that it's a waste of money. So I've been looking around the Web and am curious. Is it possible to have my phone be the only source of Internet? Can I get everything done just on my phone.

Well the answer is no. Not everything. But if I could tether my device, and use it as a modem then yes everything I could need on the internet can be done. But is this possible.

I had a few looks at the carriers that offer mobile hotshots, and from what they offer, it just doesn't seem possible. Is there even a service out there that offers unlimited data along with tethering? If not, a monthly phone bill could reach up to $150 for the unlimited data as well as wifi hotshot.

The only reason I need to tether is because my computers run flash, and the class I am taking in school requires that the computer has flash on it. Otherwise I think I could possibly get by with having a phone as my only source of Internet.

Currently I'm on boost mobile using the moto g. It's a great service, but if I were to use it a lot I would get sick of it especially if it were my main source of Internet
 
sfbloodbrother said:
So there's talk of cutting the internet at our house. Internet is heavily used, but since I live with my Guardian and she doesn't use the Internet at all, she feels that it's a waste of money.
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This implies that she's paying the bill. Is that correct? If so, why don't you offer to pay it? That would be a lot simpler than trying to rely on tethering, worrying about data usage, etc.

While you're at it, why don't you take some time to show her all the cool things she can do online? My mom loved using the Internet; she did everything from e-mail to web browsing--and she was in her 80s. Perhaps if you got her interested in using the Internet, her opinion about the bill would change. :)
 
Hi

You might mention, nicely, that in some countries, eg Finland (since 2010), internet access is a legal human right and that she would be breaking the law to deprive you of it! ;) !

You'd have to say it tongue in cheek of course - but it is true..

Roger
 
Most smartphones make decent hot spots but for my remote wilderness of Mayberry I choose a Jetpack. It does well enough and seems to be the only device capable of two bars of stable 4G internet. My phone constantly hops on and off between 3g and 1x making it useless for a Hotspot

Where internet may be a legal right it doesn't exactly specify whether it's dialup or broadband!
 
I tried using my brothers note 3 and the flash site for my math class works well and I could actually rely on it. Looks like a smartphone can so far do almost everything I want it to.

If I can only write android apps on my android phone it would be 100%
 
sfbloodbrother said:
Yeah, they have computers that I can use. But who want's to spend all that time at school?

Do carriers even allow tethering anymore?
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With limited and metered data plans they should have no problem with tethering, e.g. I pay for 2GB of data, they don't care how I use it up, whether I'm using my laptop or my phone.

It's unlimited data plans, which we don't have here, where they might restrict it to the phone only, because they assume that viewing desktop sites with a PC uses more data than viewing mobile sites with a phone. Maybe more likely to do be doing data heavy things like bittorrent with a PC than using a phone, prolonged HD video streaming and downloading, etc. ...and that's what the carriers are assuming. Carriers will sometimes disable or lock the tethering feature on their customised and subsidised phones that they supply, unless you pay an extra tethering fee. Sometimes they might do deep packet inspections as well on your data, e.g. the browser User Agent String is showing Internet Explorer for Windows or Safari for Mac OS X, that very much tells them you're not using the Android phone they supplied. 3UK does this with their unlimited data plans for phone only. In fact there's a very long running thread somewhere about 3's unlimited data tethering block.
 
not with root it doesn't. Boost and Net10, however, WILL throttle you to less than dial-up speeds after you go over an unspecified amount of data per day--rendering the ability to play video streams, online games, and movies impossible.

That's the extent of my home internet use--using Netflix or Google Play Movies. usually only on weekends. during the week there's plenty of OTA Classic TV on to keep me off the computer. I have been toting a convertible laptop with me each weekend to some nice places with free WiFi though. anything I do online can easily wait until then
 
It's been a while since I checked, but the only carrier that permits unlimited tethering is if you're on a Legacy Verizon unlimited data plan and sign up for the unlimited hotspot plan for an additional $30 a month. AT&T throttles all it's unlimited data plans at 5GB per month regardless of how it's used. I'm not positive on Sprint's unlimited for throttling, but T-Mobile's unlimited plan caps you at 5GB of tethering and has measures put in place to even detect when you're using 3rd party tools or native hotspot on a custom rom.
 
I wouldn't use Verizon. I don't like them. If Sprint offers unlimited data on a phone, and the phone I have can do just about everything that a regular computer can do, then that's going to be good enough.

I recently learned that my phone can actually display my Math course. However looking at it from my phone is a bit small. Which is why I really hope that Boost mobile gets the Note 4. If internet was turned off in my house, I would switch to Sprint in a second with the Note 4.
 
Sprint can't be used where I live as it's a dead zone. no signal at home, at work and one lousy bar in town. here it's either Verizon or AT&T for best signal. I have not seen one unlimited data plan from anyone that does not throttle after so many gigs. usually 500MB or 2GB you're throttled to dial-up or 2G for the remainder of the month so no Netflix or video streams for you. that kinda makes unlimited data useless. you derive zero benefit from having it unlimited.

as for costs to tether, it's included in all MORE Everything plans at no additional cost at least on Verizon. not sure on any other carrier their terms about it though.
 
Tethering is not much of an option as carriers are afraid that you will connect a laptop and use it to watch endless Netflix.

Makes sense because I watch Netflix on my phone on wifi and accumulated well over 100 GB of data. If I had unlimited data my carrier would hate me so much.

I know sprint offers unlimited data for their phones. Which in time I may get the note 4 and take advantage of that. However with the job I have, I don't think I can sign a contract and pay for a car on top of a phone bill. I just don't make enough money to make a living... Good thing I'm still young.
 
Sprint can offer unlimited data because their networks suck, and watching Netflix is pretty nearly impossible.
 
sfbloodbrother said:
Tethering is not much of an option as carriers are afraid that you will connect a laptop and use it to watch endless Netflix.
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AFAIK data plans in the US are not truly unlimited, unless you're grandfathered into an older plan. More than likely it's "unlimited" subject to fair usage and/or caps. Go over 5GB or whatever the fair usage is, and you'll be throttled or cut, so won't be streaming much anything. Carriers have nothing to be afraid of.
sfbloodbrother said:
Makes sense because I watch Netflix on my phone on wifi and accumulated well over 100 GB of data. If I had unlimited data my carrier would hate me so much.
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Just one streamed or downloaded HD movie can be 4GB+.
sfbloodbrother said:
I know sprint offers unlimited data for their phones.
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Is that a grandfathered plan for existing subscribers? i.e. new subscribers get limited, fair usage, etc
...in other words it's "unlimited*"

*subject to limits.
 
Netflix has settings under your account for streaming quality, to help with lower bandwidth internet or to save data costs, which I have used. I don't need my movies in HD anyway as my device used to play them upconverts them either way at the device's end so there's no point in paying the additional data to stream it in HD and watch it rebuffer a few times because even my 4G Hotspot craps out if too much data flows across it. it only has one bar of 4G.

The data I have doesn't cost that much to me, and I don't have to worry about being throttled. video streaming and online gaming are my two primary uses for internet here at home. the rest is often on weekends out and about with a laptop or Chromebook. as I like to watch online videos/movies I cannot risk a so-called unlimited plan that will throttle before I finish Top Gun

I also would hate to only be able to watch perhaps one episode of Farscape only to be unable to watch anything else for the remainder of the month. I've tried multiple services at least through pre-paid due to how cheap it is and they often give you a trial period, but I have not found a single one that claims 'unlimited 4G' or whatever that has no throttling on it.
 
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