Goodbye illegal tethering

[czerdrill]

I can see them cracking down on top users but for people using less than 5GB they shouldn't touch us. I can use more than that with just my phone. I tether rarely but I do tether if I need to.

Yeah financially it doesn't make sense for them to go after those who use it once in a blue. They can if they wanted to, and we wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they did, but I don't see them going after light tether-ers either.

 

[kodiak799]

hmm, so for people with verizon who are paying for an unlimited data plan...
that very well may be taken away?

Unlimited tether is explicitly EXCLUDED in your unlimited data plan.

Also, I'm sure VZW makes no claims or guarantees with regard to speed. $30 at 3G speeds vs. $30 at 2mbps is still creating value for you, granted not truly "unlimited".

 

[CoFoltman84]

i hit about 2gb a month whether im illegally tethering or not. my internet use stays the same.

 

[jengas kahn]

Also, I'm sure VZW makes no claims or guarantees with regard to speed. $30 at 3G speeds vs. $30 at 2mbps is still creating value for you, granted not truly "unlimited".

what do you mean by this? i thought 3g and 2mbps were pretty much the same speed, at least in my experience/with my rural location.

 

[Johnly]

Yup, pirating is illegal, but plenty of ways around that.

 

[pc747]

I have an idea, how about those who tether just use common sense and not use more than the average user. THe hacking community makes up 1% and if the small percent who are tethering stayed with in the 2-5 gig range then companies would not waste their time. A companies know if they send out a letter its going to bring exposure and bring unwanted attention, particularly from the 90% who dont know about it. To feel the need to go after people is because that 1% is taking up the bandwidth of 5 and causing degradation to other users.

 

[jaycemiskel]

I don't feel bad for people who are abusing it either. I mostly use Wifi and only tether in a pinch so I usually don't use even a gig every month so I should be okay.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[geoff5093]

What I'm curious to see is how they are determining that you are tethering. If they are looking mainly/solely at the usage, then how can they determine whether or not you just use your phone a lot or are actually tethering? Or perhaps there is a way for them to flag if the data is coming from a device other then your phone, in which case it could mean that even if you tether rarely and use very little data, they may still send you the same letter.

I'm glad I'm off AT&T.

 

[Johnly]

A bite or a meal, it is still pirated, and I am guilty! AtandT is lame.

 

[kodiak799]

what do you mean by this? i thought 3g and 2mbps were pretty much the same speed, at least in my experience/with my rural location.

Then you are a lucky one. I average about 700kbps and few consistently see above 1.2mbps. Near a tower and under light network loads you can hit 2mbps but it seems pretty rare.

Speed tiers are really just speculation and may prove to be as irrational as the price gouging around here was. Fact is VZW now has a premium service with LTE, but AT&T and Sprint are both moving toward LTE as well, and HSPA+ and WiMax are already plenty fast enough for most websites and music streaming (really only falling a bit flat on HD video).

Just some rough calculations...If LTE creates over 10X the bandwidth (just based on speed alone vs. 3G)...If every VZW user had a smartphone and used 3X the data on average current users do, then you'd be at the same basic network utilization as currently. So probably not a huge need to cap or throttle.

And with new tech coming out that could break the tower bottleneck (they can only put up so many), cap/throttles may never be an issue, within reason as some cable providers are talking caps now because streaming tv and movies is seeing home broadband usage spike over 200gigs a month.

 

[debdroid1a]

What I'm curious to see is how they are determining that you are tethering. If they are looking mainly/solely at the usage, then how can they determine whether or not you just use your phone a lot or are actually tethering? Or perhaps there is a way for them to flag if the data is coming from a device other then your phone, in which case it could mean that even if you tether rarely and use very little data, they may still send you the same letter.

I'm glad I'm off AT&T.

Verizon has ways to tell. I have unlimited on my Droid and I legally tether to my netbook. It shows on my bill.

Domestic
Mobile Broadband Connect
Data Used
Mine shows 0 because I use my phone more. And I just paid my bill.
It has a column for Usage Type (GB, etc) and My Usage

Domestic Data Used
Estimate as of 03/17/11 5:15 PM
Usage Type My Usage
GB.............. 0.497

 

[czerdrill]

I have an idea, how about those who tether just use common sense and not use more than the average user. THe hacking community makes up 1% and if the small percent who are tethering stayed with in the 2-5 gig range then companies would not waste their time. A companies know if they send out a letter its going to bring exposure and bring unwanted attention, particularly from the 90% who dont know about it. To feel the need to go after people is because that 1% is taking up the bandwidth of 5 and causing degradation to other users.

in an ideal world solving the problem would be as easy as making a post in a forum, however, android users especially have a weird feeling of entitlement, so this is not going to work.

like i mentioned there are people on this very forum who have convinced themselves (by lying to themselves) that they are not stealing when they tether 50gb a month...

 

[CD95YJ]

Truthfully if unlimited data is 29.99/month, an unlimited tethering plan should be the same, but that is just my opinion. I think $20 for only 2gb is a major ripoff and probably so does most everyone else, that's why we tether "illegally". I would pay an extra 30/month to use my phone as my modem, heck it would save me 15$ every month...


Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[jaycemiskel]

What I'm curious to see is how they are determining that you are tethering. If they are looking mainly/solely at the usage, then how can they determine whether or not you just use your phone a lot or are actually tethering? Or perhaps there is a way for them to flag if the data is coming from a device other then your phone, in which case it could mean that even if you tether rarely and use very little data, they may still send you the same letter.

I'm glad I'm off AT&T.

Verizon has ways to tell. I have unlimited on my Droid and I legally tether to my netbook. It shows on my bill.

Domestic
Mobile Broadband Connect
Data Used
Mine shows 0 because I use my phone more. And I just paid my bill.
It has a column for Usage Type (GB, etc) and My Usage

Domestic Data Used
Estimate as of 03/17/11 5:15 PM
Usage Type My Usage
GB.............. 0.497

When you tether legally it uses a different user name than if you did so illegally which is why they can tell how much you're using. If you were to use an illegal tethering app it wouldn't show up under that usage even though you pay for tethering.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[geoff5093]

What I'm curious to see is how they are determining that you are tethering. If they are looking mainly/solely at the usage, then how can they determine whether or not you just use your phone a lot or are actually tethering? Or perhaps there is a way for them to flag if the data is coming from a device other then your phone, in which case it could mean that even if you tether rarely and use very little data, they may still send you the same letter.

I'm glad I'm off AT&T.

Verizon has ways to tell. I have unlimited on my Droid and I legally tether to my netbook. It shows on my bill.

Domestic
Mobile Broadband Connect
Data Used
Mine shows 0 because I use my phone more. And I just paid my bill.
It has a column for Usage Type (GB, etc) and My Usage

Domestic Data Used
Estimate as of 03/17/11 5:15 PM
Usage Type My Usage
GB.............. 0.497

That's because you are using Verizon's tethering software (most likely). It's harder to tell if you use third party software.