FCC hotspot ruling - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

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?
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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

Related

Mobile hotspot extended again!!

Vzw mobile hotspot from verizon has been extended again until july 6 and will receive a software update to remove the mobile hotspot offer. The $20/gb plan will not be available on 4G smartphones.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Where are you getting your Intel from...just asking....
sporty377 said:
Where are you getting your Intel from...just asking....
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Probably from here:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/14/verizon-extends-4g-lte-mobile-hotspot-offer-through-july-6th/
We just received some pretty welcoming news from Verizon concerning the free 4G LTE mobile hotspot promotion that has been available to owners of the DROID Charge, HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution for the last couple of months. According to our friends at Big Red, the promo has been granted an extension and will take users all the way through July 6. We had already seen one extension that gave us all free hotspot usage through tomorrow, but we’ll gladly accept another month.
Verizon Wireless has extended the Limited Time promotion for Mobile Hotspot and Mobile Broadband Connect on 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) Smartphones, ThunderBolt by HTC, DROID Charge by Samsung, and Revolution by LG. The following are the Unlimited Hotspot promotion details.
Limited Time promotion available through 7/6/2011 which allows customers unlimited 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot and Mobile Broadband Connect usage until July 6, 2011 with the purchase of a ThunderBolt by HTC, a DROID Charge by Samsung, or a Revolution by LG, with a voice plan and a data package $29.99 or higher.
The $20/GB (Gigabyte) plan will not be available on 4G LTE Smartphones. On July 6, 2011 a software update will remove the Mobile Hotspot offer. A message will be sent to the end user to contact their system administrator to subscribe to Mobile Hotspot.
So be sure to live it up for another month! You never know what sorts of prices we could see once July hits.
Has anyone else come across the complaint filed by Free Press with the FCC averring that for Verizon to charge customers for tethering using 4G would in fact be in violation of the terms under which Verizon bought its 700MHz block at auction? I've read that this could conceivably at least be partially behind this series of delays.
Edit: Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20069580-264/complaint-to-fcc-verizon-mustnt-bar-4g-tethering/
johnpwu said:
Has anyone else come across the complaint filed by Free Press with the FCC averring that for Verizon to charge customers for tethering using 4G would in fact be in violation of the terms under which Verizon bought its 700MHz block at auction? I've read that this could conceivably at least be partially behind this series of delays.
Edit: Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20069580-264/complaint-to-fcc-verizon-mustnt-bar-4g-tethering/
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I've heard this as well, I'm pretty interested to see how it plays out.
johnpwu said:
Has anyone else come across the complaint filed by Free Press with the FCC averring that for Verizon to charge customers for tethering using 4G would in fact be in violation of the terms under which Verizon bought its 700MHz block at auction? I've read that this could conceivably at least be partially behind this series of delays.
Edit: Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20069580-264/complaint-to-fcc-verizon-mustnt-bar-4g-tethering/
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The complaint is that Verizon is blocking the apps to access tether. You should be allowed to use whatever app you want to tether data signal. It has nothing to do with whether or not tether should be free. Mobile Hotspot (wireless tether) is a service offered for a fee and Verizon wants to make sure users pay accordingly. Please don't flame me for this but after the free hotspot promotion ends and you use a wireless tether app without paying for service, it is stealing...
knave68 said:
The complaint is that Verizon is blocking the apps to access tether. You should be allowed to use whatever app you want to tether data signal. It has nothing to do with whether or not tether should be free. Mobile Hotspot (wireless tether) is a service offered for a fee and Verizon wants to make sure users pay accordingly. Please don't flame me for this but after the free hotspot promotion ends and you use a wireless tether app without paying for service, it is stealing...
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Retracted
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App
Lol I gave droid-life that info to post!
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Edit: deleted
Mobile hotspot just needs to be made free.. dumb that they charge for it when we have umlimited data anyway.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
The sources say that "A software update will remove the hotspot feature" so how's that gonna affect rooted users?
peyman_2002 said:
The sources say that "A software update will remove the hotspot feature" so how's that gonna affect rooted users?
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This is what I want to know
+1 10chars.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
We can tether either way. Who cares.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Stealing? As in breaking a law? How about merely violating terms of a contract?
Sent from my Evo
Question. I use the free hotspot while it has been free, to connect my xbox to live and play over 4g when not at home. Is tether possible after hotspot promotion is gone?
sent from my uprooted Thunderbolt. help me root XD
Its possible if you root your device. According to verizon tethering without their hotspots software is against their TOS
je2345 said:
Lol I gave droid-life that info to post!
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
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LOL nice info!
knave68 said:
The complaint is that Verizon is blocking the apps to access tether. You should be allowed to use whatever app you want to tether data signal. It has nothing to do with whether or not tether should be free. Mobile Hotspot (wireless tether) is a service offered for a fee and Verizon wants to make sure users pay accordingly. Please don't flame me for this but after the free hotspot promotion ends and you use a wireless tether app without paying for service, it is stealing...
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Really? Breach of contract, sure, but stealing? The fact is that carriers are using the subscriber-contract model to impose ridiculous rules on the way a commodity service is used. The fact is that this structure is unjustifiable and wouldn't survive for more than a day in any market that wasn't crippled by lack of competition. It's like you having to sign a contract with Shell stating you will only buy gas from them from now on, and in return you get a tracking device attached to your car and they charge you $1 per gallon more for fuel used outside a 5 mile radius of your home.
I just want to know your guys' thoughts on this, if Verizon offers VZ Navigation for a fee but we also have access to the free Google Maps, how does that differ from having Verizon offering Mobile Tether and a random dev giving us access to Mobile Tether for Rooted Users?
Is it some sort of contract thing, which I think it is, but it just doesn't make sense to offer free alternatives to "some" of your features then force charges on others. Again, I am sure there is something in the contract that specifically states "Tethering" is prohibited but why just prohibit one thing when probably 10x more people use Google Maps or some other free navigation?

$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.

Has verizon removed your wifi tether? (rooted phones)

Saw this just now. Was wondering if verizon can still remove apps when your rooted and if we can remove something to stop them.
http://www.gizmocrunch.com/mobile/7579-verizon-android-phone
If Verizon starts removing apps without proof that they are malicious, that will be the last straw....
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It just said free wireless tethering app which is part their software on root phones
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
dms76 said:
It just said free wireless tethering app which is part their software on root phones
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
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Verizon is now issuing a series of updates
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they arent going to "hack" your phone. and if you are rooted, you arent getting the update.
i dont have it on my phone anymore, but not sure if its from the rom (bamf rc5) can someone confirm?
i still have free wifi. rooted on bamf. using it everyday. absolutely no problems.
bthomp21 said:
they arent going to "hack" your phone. and if you are rooted, you arent getting the update.
i don't have it on my phone anymore, but not sure if its from the rom (bamf rc5) can someone confirm?
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I would assume everyone here with custom roms will not get remote access. This is for user adding wireless tether via other source.
i have wireless tether, i was talking about verizons mobile hotspot
bthomp21 said:
they arent going to "hack" your phone. and if you are rooted, you arent getting the update.
i dont have it on my phone anymore, but not sure if its from the rom (bamf rc5) can someone confirm?
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" In addition, the company is removing unauthorized tethering apps from users phones."
That last part is what had me concerned not their hotspot app.
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bowtieduece said:
" In addition, the company is removing unauthorized tethering apps from users phones."
That last part is what had me concerned not their hotspot app.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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It's through the update though. So if you're not stock, it shouldn't apply to you.
That article is FUD. They just want to see people doing exactly what is happening in this thread. "OMFG VZW is evil, they're haxoring people's phones!"
Unless you have first hand experience, don't worry about it. What's more, people have no reason to complain. Teathering without paying is, and always has been, against Verizon's TOS. Do I agree with this? Nope, but I'm certainly not going to try and create a mass hysteria by saying OMG my app got removed! If it were to be removed and I wanted to use it, I'd find a way to re-install it. So will the others who actually care about such things. Anyone using the TB as their primary internet device in an LTE area should be happily paying $30/month for unlimited teathering. Most land based ISPs don't offer prices that good anymore.
l7777 said:
Anyone using the TB as their primary internet device in an LTE area should be happily paying $30/month for unlimited teathering. Most land based ISPs don't offer prices that good anymore.
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I couldn't agree more. I don't know what the fuss is all about regarding $30/mo for a connection worthy of replacing your home ISP. I switched from Comcast and I'm saving $30/mo now.
bogatyr said:
I couldn't agree more. I don't know what the fuss is all about regarding $30/mo for a connection worthy of replacing your home ISP. I switched from Comcast and I'm saving $30/mo now.
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i don't mind paying the $30 (i did sign up for it), but it can't replace my home connection yet as i only have 3g (very bad signal too). i do get 4g when i visit my dad though, but he's got 10Gb/s cable there. i just got to, hopefully, lock in unlimited data if/when they get 4g in my city. then i'd be able to drop my home connection.
Yeah, id rather just pay $30 and not have to worry about anything
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
the only time i would have a need for tethering is when i travel and the hotel internet is crap. That's not very often, so I really can't justify the $30.
Why should I be happy about paying twice for the same thing? Should comcast be able to charge you $60/month for each computer in your house? Afterall, having more than one pc online uses more bandwidth.
RunNgun42 said:
Should comcast be able to charge you $60/month for each computer in your house?
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If the contract you sign for service says so, yes. The one you signed with Verizon says "no tethering," but they do offer that as an option. QuitYerBitchin.
RunNgun42 said:
Why should I be happy about paying twice for the same thing? Should comcast be able to charge you $60/month for each computer in your house? Afterall, having more than one pc online uses more bandwidth.
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You're paying $30/mo for unlimited data on your phone, not any device you want. Read the terms you signed.
You're paying an extra $30/mo to support any device you want. If you're paying $60/mo with Comcast, that's saving you money!
If you don't agree with a license/contact, don't sign it. You don't have to use Verizon if you don't like their terms. You can also call and complain to them if you want.
Personally, I'm happy to save money and this deal lets me do that without breaking the contract I signed.
So if I buy a new car and the contract says "no connecting ipods" even though I own the car, I guess I should just accept it because I signed a contract? You're free to grab your ankles any time some company tells you to, however I will take matters into my own hands and do what is reasonably appropriate. You can sit there and take the holy route all you like, but I'm sure the day your home ISP, your home television provider, your home utilities provider, or any other service you subscribe to begins double dipping on charges because more than 1 person is taking advantage of them, you would raise HOLY HELL.
2 gigs is 2 gigs, it should not matter how you consume them. I can just as easily watch a few netflix movies on my phone until I hit the cap, just as much as I can tether to hit my cap. What difference could it possibly make how I use those 2 GB's? It doesnt. People like you are the reason these insane policies are developed in the first place, because businesses prey off your ignorance and fear to challenge them.
I dont care about a contract I signed. The contract is garbage and deserves to be broken.
RunNgun42 said:
So if I buy a new car and the contract says "no connecting ipods" even though I own the car, I guess I should just accept it because I signed a contract?
I dont care about a contract I signed. The contract is garbage and deserves to be broken.
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No one forced you to sign that contract. If you don't like the terms, you're welcome to not give them your business and go elsewhere. That's how business works
This reminds me of that scene from The Empire Strikes Back:
Darth Vader: Calrissian. Take the princess and the Wookie to my ship.
Lando: You said they'd be left at the city under my supervision!
Darth Vader/RunNgun42: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
RunNgun42 said:
So if I buy a new car and the contract says "no connecting ipods" even though I own the car, I guess I should just accept it because I signed a contract?
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You'll have to do better than that. For a car, a contract would be a sales contract, and such a term would make no sense. OTOH, the warranty terms could say the the radio (or even the whole car, for that matter) is no longer covered if an iPod were ever connected.
I dont care about a contract I signed.
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That tells us all that you're an antisocial reprobate, not worth any more of our time.

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.

Do NOT update to ICS yet

I was at a VZW center yesterday, and one of the reps (to who his credit, didn't sound like a complete idiot like a lot of the employees there.)
Anyway, he told me that if you have the $30 unlimited tethering promo that was optional for a short time when the Tbolt came out...once you update to ICS you will lose it.
I don't know if what the rep said was true or not, but just felt I should give anyone who might be in this situation a heads up.
Sorry, if this has already been mentioned, by the way...I just wanted to get it out there quickly.
That salesman's knowledge seems questionable
Fail on reading comprehension on my part...I read that as unlimited data not unlimited tethering. I thought they lost a court case recently where they couldn't charge for tethering anymore? (Found a link, can't post it, yay new user, but if you google "verizon court case tethering" you should find several articles about it) At any rate I imagine as long as you keep root they can't really stop you from tethering.
nuggetfn22004 said:
Fail on reading comprehension on my part...I read that as unlimited data not unlimited tethering. I thought they lost a court case recently where they couldn't charge for tethering anymore? (Found a link, can't post it, yay new user, but if you google "verizon court case tethering" you should find several articles about it) At any rate I imagine as long as you keep root they can't really stop you from tethering.
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Yeah with root, I don't think they can do anything about you tethering. I personally have used my rooted tethering for some really data-intensive power sessions--like 10-15GB a week while I was away (VZW was much faster than the local wifi at my hotel where I was doing after-hours work). Never heard a peep from Verizon about it.
They're allowed to provide their own paid tethering service, they just aren't allowed to force you to use that or use nothing. In other words, they can't tell you not to use a free app for the same thing.
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda app-developers app
tm24fan8 said:
They're allowed to provide their own paid tethering service, they just aren't allowed to force you to use that or use nothing. In other words, they can't tell you not to use a free app for the same thing.
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I believe the actual compromise was that if you were on a tiered data plan, they weren't allowed to prevent you from tethering, and they can't prevent you from installing the app regardless, but they could prevent you from tethering if you are using one of the grandfathered "unlimited" plans?
They can't prevent you from using it nor can they even prove that you are using it. If they could I would have been charged thousands of dollars already since I've been using WiFi tether for about 4 years now.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
I know awhile back I mentioned to a verizon rep that they couldn't prove if I was tethering and he went on a long defensive rant about how they monitor your usage and if it spikes they know you are tethering. It took a lot of self-restraint to keep from laughing in his face. I guess they figure most people won't do outside research and just listen to whatever they're spoon fed by verizon.
I have unlimited data so that is a crock of ****. They can tell if I use a lot of data and that is about it. They can't tell if it resulted from tethering. 95% of my data usage comes from using my phone to download roms.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
disconnecktie said:
I have unlimited data so that is a crock of ****. They can tell if I use a lot of data and that is about it. They can't tell if it resulted from tethering. 95% of my data usage comes from using my phone to download roms.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
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Yeah, they just try to use scare tactics on people who don't know any better. Since tethering goes through the phone, it shows the same on their network regardless of whether its the phone or 10 other devices connected to the phone doing the downloading.
If you use their hot spot and it isn't the hacked version I think they can tell. I'm not sure though and wouldn't take that risk.
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disconnecktie said:
They can't prevent you from using it nor can they even prove that you are using it. If they could I would have been charged thousands of dollars already since I've been using WiFi tether for about 4 years now.
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The big fun will come when you get the letter saying, "We understand you've used thousands of dollars worth of tethering but we see you've failed to declare this as taxable income.
We figure you owe $xxx,xxx.xx plus interest and penalties.
Love ya, the IRS!
xs11e said:
The big fun will come when you get the letter saying, "We understand you've used thousands of dollars worth of tethering but we see you've failed to declare this as taxable income.
We figure you owe $xxx,xxx.xx plus interest and penalties.
Love ya, the IRS!
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Lol last time I checked the verizon corporation wasn't apart of the irs. Just saying....
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But you can bet the IRS keeps track of VZW AND VZW customers :crying:
xs11e said:
But you can bet the IRS keeps track of VZW AND VZW customers :crying:
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Nah maybe verizon but not me.
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Im a little confused, since im pretty new to the t-bolt since i bought it on ebay a few months ago. If i use a free tether app, will VZW NOT charge me for data? on my old moto x2 using a root tether app meant you still got charged for data, but not for the tethering service. Is this different on the TB?
ryan1407 said:
Im a little confused, since im pretty new to the t-bolt since i bought it on ebay a few months ago. If i use a free tether app, will VZW NOT charge me for data? on my old moto x2 using a root tether app meant you still got charged for data, but not for the tethering service. Is this different on the TB?
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If you're on a limited data plan, tethering uses your data. If you're on an unlimited plan you're supposed to pay a monthly fee to use tethering, however, there are apps that you can use to get around this.
Classic Verizon reps, think they're smarter than you... No I'm only here because I need a SIM card and corporate says you can't just give me a SIM card, you have to do it yourself.... Of course that's changed now, but boy that was a *****. I hate giving them my brand new phones, too, I've heard stories where they screw up the battery cover and such.
Woo rant!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
nuggetfn22004 said:
I guess they figure most people won't do outside research and just listen to whatever they're spoon fed by verizon.
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When paid by Verizon I assume one becomes a mouthpiece for Verizon, and it makes some logical sense for them to preach Verizon's sermons to all who aren't tech savvy.
That said, I did a doubletake on the OP, as I have the unlimited data and I sometimes tether while on the road (yay root). Tbh, I (ab)use an app called DropSync to do some crazy stuff with DropBox, and when I'm not on WiFi for a time it's common for me to rack up 10GB+ from just that. I really haven't got as much usage from my tethering. So if anyone from Verizon ever got after me for tethering, I'd just disable my WiFi and let them watch me push a ton thru my LTE, just to be spiteful. :victory:
Screw them tether away!!!!
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
why not??
why not??i just flash santod stock ics last month..no problema at all...

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