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Mobile Hotspot, free 'til 5/15/11

Just noticed this little ditty regarding mobile hotspot: "Verizon said it will allow customers to use the mobile hot spot feature for free until May 15; afterwards, customers will need to pay an additional $20 per month (2GB data cap)."
Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20043272-251.html#ixzz1GfzSBWRL
Will that affect our wireless tether? They are implementing a data cap? I'm confused. (what else is new)

Sounds like they need some stress testers on the network. What better than the consumers...

Russ36363 said:
Sounds like they need some stress testers on the network. What better than the consumers...
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What about wireless tether for root users? Wonder if that will be affected? I don't think I'm supposed to even have that on my Eris, but I do, but I also don't use it a ton either.
Hmmmm

chimpsnest said:
What about wireless tether for root users? Wonder if that will be affected? I don't think I'm supposed to even have that on my Eris, but I do, but I also don't use it a ton either.
Hmmmm
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What's the difference between the two? I've always taken the two as the same, except that Mobile Hotspot is just the official, non-root version of the feature.
I'd be confused if it was anything else than 4G, but it seems like they want a lot of 4G usage to test stuff out. Or they'll probably not mention anything come May 15th and have thousands of users activate hotspot and get charged $20 for it.

Russ36363 said:
What's the difference between the two? I've always taken the two as the same, except that Mobile Hotspot is just the official, non-root version of the feature.
I'd be confused if it was anything else than 4G, but it seems like they want a lot of 4G usage to test stuff out. Or they'll probably not mention anything come May 15th and have thousands of users activate hotspot and get charged $20 for it.
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The 3g wireless hotspot app from big red has DHCP functionality with an infrastructure wireless signal... so kinda like a wireless router.... vs. Wireless tether for root, which is an ad-hoc client. This only allows one device to connect.... thy is unless they have changed the app since I last used it 4 months ago.
Plus... imo... the 3g hotspot app is a little more stable.
So the big question for the hotspot users is ... the rumored unlimited LTE. will it be capped?.. will we grandfather into it when big red switches to tiered data?
Sent from my "I feel like force closing right now" DROIDX using XDA App

I bet we can enable free 3g mobile hotspot like on the incredible by editing settings in the dialers hidden menu (i cant remember what it was on the inc, hopefully it will be the same on the T-Bolt)

Magicadder said:
The 3g wireless hotspot app from big red has DHCP functionality with an infrastructure wireless signal... so kinda like a wireless router.... vs. Wireless tether for root, which is an ad-hoc client. This only allows one device to connect.... thy is unless they have changed the app since I last used it 4 months ago.
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no offence but well over 4 months ago I used Wireless Tether for Root Users on my N1 and my dInc and was able to connect more than one device. You may have tried an old/outdated version. I agree that it does have stability issues from time to time but I feel it is a much better app than the stock big red hotspot app.

julesism said:
no offence but well over 4 months ago I used Wireless Tether for Root Users on my N1 and my dInc and was able to connect more than one device. You may have tried an old/outdated version. I agree that it does have stability issues from time to time but I feel it is a much better app than the stock big red hotspot app.
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Good call... your right... I did not have all the info on the wifi tether app.
It seems to me that the hotspot app also has way more overhead than the wifi tether app which automatically makes the wifi tether app a better call.... thx for the corrections
Just goes to show, you can't be right all the time.... lol
Sent from my "for no reason, im locking up on you" DROIDX using XDA App

I wonder how they will treat this change. Because including the feature then changing it to pay is a change of the contract terms that might let people out of contracts...
Either way a free tether solution should be possible.

andydumi said:
I wonder how they will treat this change. Because including the feature then changing it to pay is a change of the contract terms that might let people out of contracts...
Either way a free tether solution should be possible.
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my thinking about the contract change would be that there would be no specific feature on your plan allowing the mobile hotspot for the thunderbolt, it would simply be available with the phone to whoever gets it. therefore when 5/15 comes and payment for hotspot is required you would have to add the feature to your plan for continued use. i don't know all of the specific details but i know that for most contracts you can edit features without charge or breaking/editing the contract (e.g. adding insurance, increasing minute/text allotments, carrier-based gps services) and the only contract changes that are solid are minutes + data that is required. that is my $0.02 on that issue, not sure if there is solid documentation on verizon's policy.
i do agree that with moderate usage free tether is an easy solution to this.

bkiminfinity said:
my thinking about the contract change would be that there would be no specific feature on your plan allowing the mobile hotspot for the thunderbolt, it would simply be available with the phone to whoever gets it. therefore when 5/15 comes and payment for hotspot is required you would have to add the feature to your plan for continued use. i don't know all of the specific details but i know that for most contracts you can edit features without charge or breaking/editing the contract (e.g. adding insurance, increasing minute/text allotments, carrier-based gps services) and the only contract changes that are solid are minutes + data that is required. that is my $0.02 on that issue, not sure if there is solid documentation on verizon's policy.
i do agree that with moderate usage free tether is an easy solution to this.
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A promotional period, mmmm, yes, nice work VZW, well played

bkiminfinity said:
my thinking about the contract change would be that there would be no specific feature on your plan allowing the mobile hotspot for the thunderbolt, it would simply be available with the phone to whoever gets it. therefore when 5/15 comes and payment for hotspot is required you would have to add the feature to your plan for continued use. i don't know all of the specific details but i know that for most contracts you can edit features without charge or breaking/editing the contract (e.g. adding insurance, increasing minute/text allotments, carrier-based gps services) and the only contract changes that are solid are minutes + data that is required. that is my $0.02 on that issue, not sure if there is solid documentation on verizon's policy.
i do agree that with moderate usage free tether is an easy solution to this.
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Maybe. But it is being advertised as a feature now and its therefore included in the plan. And if that feature changes price, then that can be a breach. Much like the past few years with changing text message rates where people got out of their contracts.
If V puts the V hotspot app on there then its even further endorsement for the feature.
I gues well wait and see, but I agree, a free hotspot app for when i go on a trip once in a blue moon will be good enough.

andydumi said:
Maybe. But it is being advertised as a feature now and its therefore included in the plan. And if that feature changes price, then that can be a breach. Much like the past few years with changing text message rates where people got out of their contracts.
If V puts the V hotspot app on there then its even further endorsement for the feature.
I gues well wait and see, but I agree, a free hotspot app for when i go on a trip once in a blue moon will be good enough.
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Yeah BUT (there's always a but, lol), they are specifically saying that the hotspot is only free until 5/15, so I don't think it would be in breach of anything. Kind of like when you buy a PC and it has anti-virus or MS Office free for a certain period (maybe?).

What I might expect is we'll have a charge on our invoice for $20 and then a credit on the first two bills to offset the charge. That way we're charged from the get go.

Robertjm said:
What I might expect is we'll have a charge on our invoice for $20 and then a credit on the first two bills to offset the charge. That way we're charged from the get go.
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hah, such an evil plan.....wouldn't surprise me if this were true though. it would be a safe way to avoid breach of contract while at the same time suckering in any tbolt owners who don't pay close attention to their bills. it's nothing new to charge $0 for something and then start taking money, as long as the customer doesn't manually remove the service. i think my bank offered things like this for free credit checks, free for a month or two and then it'll start charging, unless i were to call in and cancel the service. if verizon follows this it'll be up to diligent account owners to avoid unwanted charges.

andydumi said:
I wonder how they will treat this change. Because including the feature then changing it to pay is a change of the contract terms that might let people out of contracts...
Either way a free tether solution should be possible.
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Click to collapse
This is a little ridiculous that more people aren't using common sense with this. You can't get out of your contract this way, and why not? You're clearly being told that you are being GIVEN this feature for FREE until 05/15/2011. Don't bother writing that date down, because the contract you sign probably mentions this promtion, then you'll probably get a flyer, an email and and ad show up in My Verizon clearly stating "4G Mobile Hotspot FREE on Thunderbolt Until 05/15/2011". You might even get a letter in the mail welcoming you to this free trial. Then likely at least 2 reminders as the free trial is about to end, likely mail and email. You might even get a text message on your phone. Then, on 05/15/2011, it's probably going to stop working and you will probably be told the new rate of 2 GB/$20 for the feature (and no obligation to keep it) and you'll be asked if you want to add it.
So if you decide to ignore this clear forum post that has told you, all the news articles and then Verizon's very thorough warnings about the feature change, then no...you don't get out of your contract with no termination fee. You get a medal for being cheap. You were clearly told this multiple times and it's nobody's responsibility but your own.

Just wanted to update this thread as I just got my tbolt and have news on the topic. I asked about the free mobile hotspot while my phone was being activated and the Verizon sales rep told me that hotspot is currently free for all tbolt users. Duh. But then she added that the feature itself isn't on anyone's plan and it is just purely free use for now. The catch is that it is only free until 5/14, and on 5/15 mobile hotspot will be A LA CARTE. Meaning that if you do not add mobile hotspot feature on the 14th and use it on the 15th, you will be charged per megabyte of usage at whatever Verizon charges, instead of the feature being automatically added to your plan. So lookout for that tbolt users and don't get caught on huge usage charges!

I was wondering if anyone has gotten the wifitether to work or the other root/free tethering solutions working to test if there are notable speed difference between these solutions and the mobile hotspot? I think I remember reading that tethering via USB got better speed tests than the mobile hotspot. But was wondering if anyone had run benchmarks on the other tethering options? I'd do it but I don't get my TB till likely Tuesday.

Wifi tether from the market works great on rooted s-off tbolt.

I think every person should have the following added to their features. I'm not sure what they plan to do on 5/15?

$30 4G Unlimited Tethering Plan confirmed!!

In case anyone cares, I was able to add the $30 Unlimited 4G hotspot tethering plan to my T-bolt account. At first the rep was not aware of the plan but after some digging around she located the code to use. She then had to read through to make sure it was unlimited, and it is.
Now lets see how much data I can chew through before they throttle me back.

Why wouldn't you just root and tether for free? :-/
sent from my rooted Thunderbolt using XDA app

admiralspark said:
Why wouldn't you just root and tether for free? :-/
sent from my rooted Thunderbolt using XDA app
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agree
10char

I'm tethering right now using my droid incredible. I haven't paid for a tethering plan. I hear only the stock verizon tether app alerts you of a needed data plan if used.

I am rooted and although it's tempting to use the wireless tether app, I'd rather not violate the carrier TOS and end up with a very large cell bill. It's $30/mo for my own peace of mind. I live and work in a very good 4G area so it's worth it for me since it's much faster than my AT&T DSL (3.0mb/s) home internet. If and when Verizon throttle me back I will make a decision on whether to keep it or not. I am not against using the tether apps, don't get me wrong, I just choose not to use them.

Disregarding the fact that you could do this for free, that is a very good deal.

BubbaRob1978 said:
I am rooted and although it's tempting to use the wireless tether app, I'd rather not violate the carrier TOS and end up with a very large cell bill. It's $30/mo for my own peace of mind. I live and work in a very good 4G area so it's worth it for me since it's much faster than my AT&T DSL (3.0mb/s) home internet. If and when Verizon throttle me back I will make a decision on whether to keep it or not. I am not against using the tether apps, don't get me wrong, I just choose not to use them.
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Nothing wrong with that
Sent from my Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App

BubbaRob1978 said:
I am rooted and although it's tempting to use the wireless tether app, I'd rather not violate the carrier TOS and end up with a very large cell bill. It's $30/mo for my own peace of mind. I live and work in a very good 4G area so it's worth it for me since it's much faster than my AT&T DSL (3.0mb/s) home internet. If and when Verizon throttle me back I will make a decision on whether to keep it or not. I am not against using the tether apps, don't get me wrong, I just choose not to use them.
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Kudos to you, my man. That is a pretty great deal, although something tells me it'll have the whole "this isn't meant to replace your home internet connection" language in the fine print somewhere.

Agentbolt said:
Kudos to you, my man. That is a pretty great deal, although something tells me it'll have the whole "this isn't meant to replace your home internet connection" language in the fine print somewhere.
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I agree. Maybe I will get a good couple of months out of it before I have to switch to a real internet provider..
My intentions here were just to let others know the rumors of the unlimited hotspot plan were actually true for those that might want to grab it up.

Thanks for the info op. That's cool news.

I'm not rooted and didn't add $30 tether feature today....I've been able to still use TBOLT hotspot for free.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

So, according to what i found on the internet, this is a $30/month charge for those who are grandfathered in to the $30/month unlimited data plan. So if you want tethering, your grand total would add up to $60/month, correct?

Mr. Transistor said:
I'm not rooted and didn't add $30 tether feature today....I've been able to still use TBOLT hotspot for free.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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me too. can we continue to use it until it says otherwise? i haven't gotten any messages saying it's no longer free, and when i turn on the mobile hotspot (just did a few minutes ago) it gives me the same old message saying it's free to use for a limited time.

jwa0042 said:
So, according to what i found on the internet, this is a $30/month charge for those who are grandfathered in to the $30/month unlimited data plan. So if you want tethering, your grand total would add up to $60/month, correct?
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That is a good question. I am not sure if a new customer with a tiered 3G/4G data plan can get the unlimited 4G hotspot. Maybe a Verizon rep will chime in. But yes, my total is $60 on top of the voice plan/text costs.

BubbaRob1978 said:
That is a good question. I am not sure if a new customer with a tiered 3G/4G data plan can get the unlimited 4G hotspot. ...
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No, that option is only available for grandfathers, ie, people with grandfather'd unlimited data plans.
Thanks, Robertus

jwa0042 said:
So, according to what i found on the internet, this is a $30/month charge for those who are grandfathered in to the $30/month unlimited data plan. So if you want tethering, your grand total would add up to $60/month, correct?
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I decided to pay for it as well in case they start cracking down, my plan is discounted so I pay $48 for unlimited data and hotspot, not bad imo.
Worth the peace of mind.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

spazma7ik said:
Disregarding the fact that you could do this for free, that is a very good deal.
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how dare someone not try to work the system?!?
I've got no problem paying for what I use.

nrfitchett4 said:
how dare someone not try to work the system?!?
I've got no problem paying for what I use.
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Lmao. I wouldn't have paid when I was on at&t, no unlimited option and speeds were abysmal.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

lrs421 said:
Lmao. I wouldn't have paid when I was on at&t, no unlimited option and speeds were abysmal.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
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after switching to verizon, I was going to turn off my time warner hotspot and just eat the etf thinking I would just pay for tethering as needed. But time warner gave me 30 bucks/month in discounts and free showtime for me to keep it. So my hotspot (based on sprints 3g/4g) is only costing me 10bucks a month. Nice to have so that when I don't get verizon 4g, I probably get sprints.

I decided to cancel my fios tv and internet service and rely solely on the vzw 4g so I ponied up the 30/month. Well worth it IMO.

VZW Blocking teathering without teathering plan.

http://arstechnica.com/#!/gadgets/n...tethering-customers-may-violate-fcc-rules.ars
I'm at work and cannot confirm that vzw is now redirecting all 3rd party teathering apps to its sign-up page for teathering. Can anyone confirm this?
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

not sure if you're refering to just wireless or all tethering, but PDA Net still works just fine.

Funny that the article discusses a "jailbroken" Droid X and pictures and iphone.
Nevertheless, this is why I decided to pay for unlimited tethering, no more looking over my shoulder. With my wife's discount on service it was a great deal.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Meh, let them try. I tethered all weekend driving from DC to Philedelphia and back
There is absolutely no way they can call tethering a provided "service" beyond simply providing data to the phones. What we do with that data is none of their dam business. If you are forced into a tiered data plan, it should not be up to them how you may use that limited data. If you want to tether and use your whole allowance on day one of the month, that should be your right.

No issues. Its working fine on mine.
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using Tapatalk

my "jailbroken" Thunderbolt is in tethercity with no concerns.
in fact, that's how I'm posting this.
-sent from my massive e-persona in which I attempt to convince you everything I do is Like A Bo$$

Good luck trying to block it. They can request the apps removed from market. We'll just download them elsewhere. They should be spending their energy on something more customer friendly, and stop trying to punish people.

Ita impossivle for verizon to determine if u are downloading bigass files on ur phone or through thetering.
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using XDA App

kevenrivera said:
Ita impossivle for verizon to determine if u are downloading bigass files on ur phone or through thetering.
Sent from my PUR3 A05P using XDA App
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To them it doesn't matter. If you're downloading 80GB+ per month, which some are, you're abusing the network.
They'll more than likely develop a throttling system for extreme users. It's not fair for them to suck up all of my bandwidth if they're too cheap to pay for regular internet or the hotspot feature.
200th post...FTW!!

I had heard with LTE they have more control over the network and would actually be able to tell if it was your phone or if it was a PC attached to the network through tethering.

rommel500 said:
I had heard with LTE they have more control over the network and would actually be able to tell if it was your phone or if it was a PC attached to the network through tethering.
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They will never be able to tell those things unless inspecting your packets.....which is an obvious violation of privacy

Using Barnacle and traveling around the country at the moment, no issues here.

rommel500 said:
I had heard with LTE they have more control over the network and would actually be able to tell if it was your phone or if it was a PC attached to the network through tethering.
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they can tell, but apparently its a PIA to do it. I would expect for unlimited users to start getting throttled if they use a huge amount of data (which is already in your contract).
scook9 said:
They will never be able to tell those things unless inspecting your packets.....which is an obvious violation of privacy
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umm, they are providing the data. Good luck winning a lawsuit saying they didn't have the right to verify you weren't breaking the TOS.
As far as the OP, I really think they got confused. AT&T can tell if you are tethering your iphone using the mifi cydia program. Apparently the program tells at&t that its tethering. But isn't that the dev that apple hired anyways so he probably added that on purpose?

There's no way to tell what "kind" of data is being used other than what the phone reports. On my Dinc, it was the ol' "dun" fix. I don't use it enough anymore to justify the extra expense, considering how many free WiFi locations are available. Also, I rarely even use my laptop anymore, I do 99% of my browsing from my phone.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

CanesDrew said:
To them it doesn't matter. If you're downloading 80GB+ per month, which some are, you're abusing the network.
They'll more than likely develop a throttling system for extreme users. It's not fair for them to suck up all of my bandwidth if they're too cheap to pay for regular internet or the hotspot feature.
200th post...FTW!!
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They already throttle too users. No one is Sucking up your bandwidth either. I was sold an unlimited data plan and they gladly took my money.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

eallan said:
They already throttle too users. No one is Sucking up your bandwidth either. I was sold an unlimited data plan and they gladly took my money.
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You were sold an unlimited data plan for phone data, with the condition that the top 5% of bandwidth users could be throttled. Read your contract.

This isn't news.... We've known about this for months....
Sent from my HTC GingerBolt powered by Gingeritis 1.2.1

lrs421 said:
Funny that the article discusses a "jailbroken" Droid X and pictures and iphone.
Nevertheless, this is why I decided to pay for unlimited tethering, no more looking over my shoulder. With my wife's discount on service it was a great deal.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
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Me too, same as you. Except for the wifey thing.

eallan said:
They already throttle too users. No one is Sucking up your bandwidth either. I was sold an unlimited data plan and they gladly took my money.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
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It's semantics. From a technical point of view there's no such thing as unlimited data. Multiply the download speed times the number of hours in a month and that's the theoretical limit. Of course, no one can go the full download speed all the time. It's just not possible.
What you get promised is that they won't cut you off at a specific number of bytes. However, unlike cable companies, I haven't seen any phone carrier advertise or even mention the download speed. They can't. Unlike your cable modem, your phone moves around.
So, not having promised any kind of speed performance it's easy for them to just slow you down if you eat too many bytes.
And, as an "average" user I'm THRILLED that they throttle the heavy users. I don't want to be on a network that averages 500kbps because there are hundreds of people in my cell eating up the bandwidth all the time.

T-Mobile now charging 14.99 for wifi sharing

This is bull****. Yesterday I was using my mobile ap on my computer and everything was going fine. Then a message popped up in my browser saying to continue using the mobile ap I need to add it to my plan for 14.99. Idk about all of you but I've had no problems since I got this phone at launch using the wifi sharing is there a way around this cuz T-Mobile is really starting to piss me off.
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

azcledel said:
This is bull****. Yesterday I was using my mobile ap on my computer and everything was going fine. Then a message popped up in my browser saying to continue using the mobile ap I need to add it to my plan for 14.99. Idk about all of you but I've had no problems since I got this phone at launch using the wifi sharing is there a way around this cuz T-Mobile is really starting to piss me off.
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App
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Yep, don't use the t-mobile tether app download wifi tether for root users from the market and use that. I'm assuming you are rooted?

Yea I'm rooted lol I've tried 3 tethring apps off the market and they had the same result as the built in one. I can't find the one your talking about tho. All I'm finding is the ones I already tried.
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

I used pda net but u got to pay the pro to used https websites so no fb or gmail etc
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

OP: have you gone over your high-speed data cap? i read somewhere that Tmo mainly charges for tethering if you use a LOT of data. but yeah, that would suck if they are now charging for the use of the data we have already purchased!

yogi2010 said:
OP: have you gone over your high-speed data cap? i read somewhere that Tmo mainly charges for tethering if you use a LOT of data. but yeah, that would suck if they are now charging for the use of the data we have already purchased!
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No they changed it all its an added feature now. I got wifi tethering for root users tho. So I think everyone should get it maybe have it included in roms too seeing as tmobile are being cheap *****es now
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

It sounds like it's not the wifi app that's doing it, but the t-mobile data servers. I imagine they're acting as a captive portal, redirecting pageloads from a browser with a desktop user agent to their nag screen or something along those lines. I use a Sidekick 4G with the stock firmware and wifi app up here in Canada on the Wind network and it's been working fine.
(BTW, Wind beats the crap out of any American carrier! Their plans include free tethering.)

Networks are greedy they suck.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Jax184 said:
It sounds like it's not the wifi app that's doing it, but the t-mobile data servers. I imagine they're acting as a captive portal, redirecting pageloads from a browser with a desktop user agent to their nag screen or something along those lines. I use a Sidekick 4G with the stock firmware and wifi app up here in Canada on the Wind network and it's been working fine.
(BTW, Wind beats the crap out of any American carrier! Their plans include free tethering.)
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A lot of the android browsers are able to set user agent as desktop so I doubt it's that. They have blocked the free tether apps from the market and only provide theirs so I think it's just them monitoring their app.
BTW I'm jealous of your free tethering, as soon as the carriers heard people were doing it here they were quick to monopolize on it

Well, if t-mobile is able to interfere with wifi tethering even when you use a third party wifi tethering app, then there must be something else at play. I can't say what though as I'm not on t-mobile.
<brag> Wind is even better than that. $40.00 after tax for unlimited calling, unlimited long distance to US/Can, unlimited text messaging to anywhere on earth, unlimited data with tethering. And I get that whenever I'm connect to a Wind tower, anywhere in Canada. It doesn't distinguish between my home city and another. And no contract. It's prepaid! </brag>

Jax184 said:
Well, if t-mobile is able to interfere with wifi tethering even when you use a third party wifi tethering app, then there must be something else at play. I can't say what though as I'm not on t-mobile.
<brag> Wind is even better than that. $40.00 after tax for unlimited calling, unlimited long distance to US/Can, unlimited text messaging to anywhere on earth, unlimited data with tethering. And I get that whenever I'm connect to a Wind tower, anywhere in Canada. It doesn't distinguish between my home city and another. And no contract. It's prepaid! </brag>
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What I mean is they block them in the actual market, like you can't download them. They have no way of monitoring 3rd party apps, that's why I think almost all US carriers have capped data so they can try and stop some.
Not fair man, US needs to get on bord with the contract free stuff. A cheap cell phone plan here for unlimitted is $80 a month and that comes with a 2 year contract, at&t and verizon charge around $120 for unlimitted

Have you tried sneaking one of the third party apps on to see how it works?
That's staggeringly awful. This is the most featureful cell phone plan available, and it's $40. I'm told that people in another province got the plan for $35 at one point.

Yeah we have to side load the apps, google search and download from the browser. I've had a copy in my sd card since the g1 days when things were good lol.
We also have at&t trying to buy out t-mobile which would more than likely drive prices up further. there are a few pay as you go carriers that offer cheaper plans for unlimitted data and text (around $40) but the minutes are rarely unlimited, the data is slower, and they are buying towers off the bigger companies so coverage is usually terrible

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but I've always gotten Wireless Tether straight from the Google Code site. It always has the very latest versions, but somtimes earlier ones are the more stable.
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list

xmeatizmurderx said:
What I mean is they block them in the actual market, like you can't download them. They have no way of monitoring 3rd party apps, that's why I think almost all US carriers have capped data so they can try and stop some.
Not fair man, US needs to get on bord with the contract free stuff. A cheap cell phone plan here for unlimitted is $80 a month and that comes with a 2 year contract, at&t and verizon charge around $120 for unlimitted
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I dunno man, I got 2 unlim calling lines and 2 lines with their own 500 minutes. All 4 lines have unlim SMS and data (throttled after 2gb), and I pay $132. BUT, I'm on contract. Shoot, for these prices I'd sign up for a 20yr contract lol.

farfromovin said:
I dunno man, I got 2 unlim calling lines and 2 lines with their own 500 minutes. All 4 lines have unlim SMS and data (throttled after 2gb), and I pay $132. BUT, I'm on contract. Shoot, for these prices I'd sign up for a 20yr contract lol.
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Yeah that's the only way you can get a good deal, if you have several lines on an account. Unfortunately us americans aren't into the whole "sharing" thing so finding people to sign up with you tends to be difficult ;P

What?
EDIT: Only post paid costumers have that issue... prepaid still doesn't have the tethering service available... so it is enabled by default. http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/addons...PAsset=InternetEmail&tp=Svc_Tab_TetheringWifi
I'm not sure what everyone is talking about... I'm wifi tethering and I've never seen that message. I only tether to a linux computer though. I'm also on the $30 5GB 4G prepaid plan, with unlimited text and 100 mins (I voip with grooVe).
Maybe they are attacking specific customers... I don't think wifi sharing is even an option for prepaid. Perhaps I should stop paying a month in advanced.

oldarney said:
EDIT: Only post paid costumers have that issue... prepaid still doesn't have the tethering service available... so it is enabled by default. http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/addons...PAsset=InternetEmail&tp=Svc_Tab_TetheringWifi
I'm not sure what everyone is talking about... I'm wifi tethering and I've never seen that message. I only tether to a linux computer though. I'm also on the $30 5GB 4G prepaid plan, with unlimited text and 100 mins (I voip with grooVe).
Maybe they are attacking specific customers... I don't think wifi sharing is even an option for prepaid. Perhaps I should stop paying a month in advanced.
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The way tmobile explained it to me was they noticed ppl using it and changed their service if your using it and not getting the message its only a matter of time according to the reps I spoke to. I'm thinking the more data you use that gets picked up as being sent through mobile ap the quicker they catch on and slap you with the message and put a stop to it
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

So I'm still getting the tmobile page when I tether to my computer even when using wif tether for root users... this sucks :-/
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

oldarney said:
EDIT: Only post paid costumers have that issue... prepaid still doesn't have the tethering service available... so it is enabled by default.
I'm not sure what everyone is talking about... I'm wifi tethering and I've never seen that message. I only tether to a linux computer though. I'm also on the $30 5GB 4G prepaid plan, with unlimited text and 100 mins (I voip with grooVe).
Maybe they are attacking specific customers... I don't think wifi sharing is even an option for prepaid. Perhaps I should stop paying a month in advanced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on T-mobile prepaid monthly 4g plan, rooted running GingerClone ROM on my Sidekick 4g, and I've had no problem tethering. (mostly just testing it out to see if it works, running speed tests etc.)
I can see how T-mobile cracks down on post-paid plans running stock software, but with a prepaid plan on a wifi-sharing-capable phone with a custom ROM, I'm in the clear, right? T-mobile can't block tethering or charge me for it?
But ya, charging $14.99 to tether using data that you're already paying for is a complete scam. Seems like a class action suit waiting to happen.

FCC hotspot ruling

Did anyone else see the FCC ruling last July? A quick google search will bring up several articles about how verizon is not allowed to charge for tethering.
This does not seem to apply to their current plans. Even they are allowed to say that you need to be at a certain level plan, the 4GB tether plan is the same price as the 5GB plan (ie tethering cost $10)

If you're still on one of the old tiered plans, you can tether at no extra cost. Family Share plans are excluded, most likely something in the fine print that you "accept" when you get your contract.

I am still on the old tiered plan.
The way the settlement was worded, they cant use fine print to get around it. The reason for the suit is that LTE is on the new Block C, which has open source type requirements

Got a good answer from Verizon
Dear Matthew,
Good morning! My name is Kay and I am here to help you regarding the tethering service.
The FCC ruling did not say that Verizon Wireless cannot charge for tethering service. The ruling prohibited Verizon Wireless from blocking you from using a third party application to tether or share your data connection. You can download a third party application from the Play Store and tether at no charge. You can also use our tethering service at the applicable fee.
I trust that this resolves your issue. Thank you for being a valued Verizon Wireless customer and have a great day!
Sincerely,
Kay
Verizon Wireless
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blindguyinanorgy said:
Got a good answer from Verizon
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So you can do it for free or pay Verizon? Hmmm I wonder how many pay Verizon?

From what I've read, you can use any app to share the connection but they can still charge you. The ruling prohibited them from blocking third party apps from sharing.

See...Verizon doesn't exactly fall into the C block verbage. It is a colossal mess. This was brought up like crazy when it happened. They were excluded I just forget why.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

My understanding is that if you are paying for an amount of data, like 5gb, then they cannot charge you. It's your data and how you use it is your business.
However unlimited data was still able to be charged for tethering because it allows you to use more of their bandwidth that you wouldn't have otherwise used.
But I am no expert so feel free to correct me.
Sent through mental telepathy...or my unlocked SGS3

piiman said:
So you can do it for free or pay Verizon? Hmmm I wonder how many pay Verizon?
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All of the peons who don't know any better. Plus its not like Verizon is advertising this simple workaround lol
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

grandfathered unlimited, tethered for years. never paid for it.

Wait so you guys are saying that the data used during tethering can't be charged or the ACT of tethering can't be charged?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

xdreaper15 said:
Wait so you guys are saying that the data used during tethering can't be charged or the ACT of tethering can't be charged?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
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Yes, why is this thread even here. There are countless ways to tether for free. No-one has ever been charged for doing so.
End discussion
Via my Google Galaxy S3 running magic beans