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Root Question about tethering...

coloradogregg

coloradogregg

Member
First off I know how to do it, I'm rooted, I know it's against "the rules" and no matter what the answers I'm still going to do it.

Is wired tether allowed but wireless not? How would they know the difference?

I surf the internet alot from my phone how is this different from setting up wireless tether and surfing on my notebook?

At home I almost always use wifi through my home router, now I'm going to be on the road for a few months and will probably use my tether more. Will this set off red flags to VZW because my usage will be going up?

Thanks in advance.
 
Wired tethering with the Droid is as much a violation of your Terms of Service (ToS) as wireless tethering. That being said I have never heard anyone post that they have gotten in trouble for doing it.

As for how they can know. They would have to check the packets going to and from the phone. Your computer's browser and your phone's would have different packet info that would tell what the end program is that is using the data sent back and forth. That is why Hulu can tell whether your using a phone or actually using a computer and they can then block the phone from accessing the site.

This is the best explination I can give. Other here have a lot more knowledge about how Verizon could tell your tethering.
 
You're on the right track. While nobody has been spanked for tethering YET, that doesn't mean that someone won't eventually be made the example with cancellation and outrageous per-MB fees. General consensus is that if you stay below 5GB/month, you won't be on Verizon's radar. But ANY tethering COULD get you in trouble. I tether rarely and cautiously.
 
Follow up question here. Does streaming a movie or video affect the count when trying to stay under 5GB a month? Trying to be smart with my tethering as well considering I'm brand new to it, thanks.
 
As has been pointed out, tethering your computer via your cell phone is a violation of your Terms of Service with Verizon Wireless. However . . .

With that said, why have a cellphone and a laptop and travel if you can't tether? I have been doing it for years, BUT the consensus is to use it with caution. Do NOT stream live radio and/or YouTube video files (for very long). Do NOT use it for any P2P sharing and/or bit torrents. Do NOT use it to download huge and large files. Do NOT use it in place of regular internet at your home unless you follow the guidelines set out above. The 5gb/month is a pretty good rule of thumb. Do NOT be fooled by those who say nobody has been caught yet, I have seen posts of those who have (albiet on dumbphone forums, not on Android, yet). They received $1,500+ bills from VZW that they couldn't get out of.

The main point is, if you follow all the guidlines that I set out in the above paragraph, you will be a part of those who do not abuse it and keep it alive, not those abusing and causing the potention problem(s).
 
teddyearp said:
As has been pointed out, tethering your computer via your cell phone is a violation of your Terms of Service with Verizon Wireless. However . . .

With that said, why have a cellphone and a laptop and travel if you can't tether? I have been doing it for years, BUT the consensus is to use it with caution. Do NOT stream live radio and/or YouTube video files (for very long). Do NOT use it for any P2P sharing and/or bit torrents. Do NOT use it to download huge and large files. Do NOT use it in place of regular internet at your home unless you follow the guidelines set out above. The 5gb/month is a pretty good rule of thumb. Do NOT be fooled by those who say nobody has been caught yet, I have seen posts of those who have (albiet on dumbphone forums, not on Android, yet). They received $1,500+ bills from VZW that they couldn't get out of.

The main point is, if you follow all the guidlines that I set out in the above paragraph, you will be a part of those who do not abuse it and keep it alive, not those abusing and causing the potention problem(s).
Click to expand...

The reason the people tether with feature ("dumb") phones got billed is because there's no "unlimited" data package with them. I think the most you can use on a feature phone is like 150 MBs (prolly not exact, but I remember it being around that). The $10 data plan is labeled "unlimited", but it's definitely not like our smart phones are. With the smart phone data plan, it's truely unlimited, even past 5 GBs, though you may be throttled once you start using a crapload of bandwidth (at least 10 GBs, I'd say). I would agree it wouldn't be smart to do the above while tethering though.
 
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