Tether question

[paschall44]

I have been reading on this topic. I read about people staying away for torrents? What is that? THey also said youtube was a drainer of usage. So can i not download videos and surf the web and shop on ebay without getting into trouble with tethering? I thought my plan is for unlimited data so why would it matter how much you used and what is this 5mb limit. My phone is not rooted.

 

[LifeIsABeach]

There is no limit. The data plan is unlimited. However, it does not include tethering. There is an additional charge for that. People generally stay away from torrents because it will cause you to have a huge amount of data used for the month and could cause Verizon to look into it. They can tell that you have been tethering (a Verizon employee once posted how they know, but I forget how) and could charge you for the data used. Now, there is no known case of this actually happening, but that is why people generally stay away from torrents while tethering.

 

[paschall44]

What is a torrent? Does downloading mpg or avi files use a lot of data? What about just surfing the web?

 

[dragonfly1113]

I have been reading on this topic. I read about people staying away for torrents? What is that? THey also said youtube was a drainer of usage. So can i not download videos and surf the web and shop on ebay without getting into trouble with tethering? I thought my plan is for unlimited data so why would it matter how much you used and what is this 5mb limit. My phone is not rooted.

Torrents are files like downloading from say limewire and programs like that. The reason they say not to download torrents while tethered is because most torrent are bigger in size than just one song they are usually albums (80mb) or movies (700mb) and so on and so forth. You can watch youtube just dont try to watch it all day and if you are doing it tethered the battery will still be charging since its still plugged into the usb.

If your phone was rooted you could wifi tether which is amazing

 

[dylanthecat]

Let me google that for you

 

[choklitcow]

What is a torrent?

I forgot Hot Tub Time Machine came out today.

 

[paschall44]

What about regular web surfing does it use up much usage and what about short video clips fro 30 sec to 5 minutes?

 

[dragonfly1113]

What about regular web surfing does it use up much usage and what about short video clips fro 30 sec to 5 minutes?

That shouldnt be an issue as thats what tethering is for, so long as you arent downloading massive files or tethered for HOURS upon HOURS on the phone it shouldnt be an issue. A friend of mine is tethered at least an hour every day and has no issues with his bill.

 

[DSkeet]

Great site here! Monday I will be joining the DROID world! I have a quick question. Today while at work I was using the wireless network supplied by my work place and suddenly IT blocked facebook and myspace as well as a few other common sites like Ebay etc. I understand their reasoning behind it. One of the IT guys jokes around with me alot and I am wondering if he was being serious or not. I told him that this was perfect timing because on Monday I would be able to tether on my laptop and would be able to access those sites again. He told that "they" could control that as well. He never told me whether he was joking or not but he tried to act serious about it. Even though I work at a govt. facility I don't see how they could have access to something that is owned by Verizon. I am sure he was joking but is there any way they could monitor or control what I do if I am tethering on my own personal phone or laptop? I am a bit of a noob when it comes to this type of stuff!!

 

[aminaked]

Typical IT punk. Don't believe it.

 

[BigMcGuire]

LOL - there is no way they can intercept cellular signals and do that. Don't believe him. Most IT guys are uneducated even about computers. I work with a lot of them.

 

[DSkeet]

Thanks!! That's what I thought. I thought ok, how could they capture or hack into a signal that is owned by a company the size of Verizon? There would have to be authorizations, court orders, etc stuff like that for them to be able to do that if it's possible. The place I work at wouldn't need to do that in the first place....It's not like I work for the FBI or CIA...

 

[aminaked]

Just don't let him get a hold of your personal laptop. He could change the hosts file or something and disable access to sites if he wanted. Or if you run adblock he could mess with that and block sites.

 

[upsjopop]

Another question about tethering- Is it secure and if not how do I secure it? Thanks.

John

Moto Droid
Macbook

 

[gocflamedragon]

yes wireless tether is secure you have a few options,First off u have standard wep key encryption and then u also have a access control list which basically lets u filter users by mac address.