Comments on: Do you tether? Are you stupid?

By: ロリ狩いクン

ロリ狩いクン — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:37:49 +0000

i am in the usa curently i have been for 2 years. a friend introduce me to sprint SERO. i pay 30 per month for unlimited internet. you say t-mobile has unlimited for 20$? how can i get?

By: Alexzander Faryniak

Alexzander Faryniak — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:35:12 +0000

I love tethering. i have to admit at frist it was a pain with my t mobile dash because the out of the box internet shareing requires u have drivers that come with active sync wich wasnt all the great for me since i wanted a way to do this without installing active sync. so then i came across a programm called WMwifirouter. and it works great. allows me to share via usb, Bluetooth, or Wifi. and allows me to use my phone as a wifi card so if im somewhere there is wifi but have no wifi card.. i can use my phone ^_^ frist setup was kinda a pain. but after u get the settings just right its painless and enjoyable every other time ;)

By: Rico

Rico — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:08:52 +0000

@Jose R. Ortiz:
Think again. AT&T knows what device you have your SIM card in. Sign into OLAM (Online Account Management) and it’ll tell you what your current device is. Sign out, swap the SIM into another phone, wait a few minutes (may take longer), then sign back in. i’m assuming it only properly identifies phones AT&T sells or has sold as i’ve had a few devices show up as “unknown device”.

AT&T could easily tell who’s tethering against TOS and warn them, but i’m guessing for the moment it’s easier to let them slide and go after the ones who abuse tethering by using tons of bandwidth. The iPhone seems to be the device they most actively watch, and it makes sense that they do. With so many people switching to AT&T just for the iPhone, they’d hate to lose all that money that naive customers will dole out for the iPhone specific plan, when the cheaper MediaNet package will work.

By: Rajesh

Rajesh — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:41:03 +0000

I occasionally tether. Using windows mobile phone 6.x (T-Mobile Dash), it is so easy, just go to menu and select internet sharing that's it!

By: lefty

lefty — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:11:59 +0000

What a perfect opportunity to brag about tethering and how great it works out for me. First off, once you get it done the first time it couldn’t be easier. This now allows me to have no local phone/DSL and still get all the Internet I need at home and while I travel or just head out around town.

Tethering on a $79 plan requires an extra $20 for the unlimited data plus SMS so for about a c-note per month vs. the savings of no local bill or high speed. This saves me about $60 – $75 per month x 12 equals a lot of money that I can now spend on other things plus I don’t get any unwanted solicitations on a home phone ;)

My setup incl a 3G phone incl Bluetooth to a Laptop. The Bluetooth is the weak link but good enough for simultaneous skype video call, a cellular voice call and streaming music.

By: tino

tino — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:30:43 +0000

When I tether my Nokia tablet to my Sprint Treo 700p phone (with the tether hack installed, one of the very few reasons why I still put up with PalmOS), it disconnects the connection evey 5 minutes. It’s kind of annoying when I have to click on the connect logo when it’s idle for too long.

However when I tether to a GPRS dumb phone outside of the US, it never disconnects. I don’t know if its a setting within EVDO or within the carrier. But eithering without manually turning it on is very easy to use. You can just pretend my n800 has a wireless modem build in. Open a browser the tablet will do the rest for you. Of course EVDO uses alot more battery than GPRS.

I am just saying this writer don’t know what he’s talking about. Tethering has nothing to do with the pricing structure. I use tether all the time when I am not using an US phone company.

By: Jose R. Ortiz

Jose R. Ortiz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:28:04 +0000

@ Pam T.: you are absolutely right. i have a lot of phones, none of which i get form at&t since i hate locked phones with carrier roms and being locked into a contract on top of that; at&t thinks i still have the razr i got free when i first signed up so that is how i get away with that package. anyone that gets a smartphone from at&t, will get stuck with the $30+ data plan =(

By: Pam T.

Pam T. — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:09:01 +0000

@Jose: Using the AT&T unlimited MediaNet package with WinMo phones is technically not authorized, at least not anymore. About two years ago AT&T made a huge push that any PDA or smartphone had to have a PDA type data package(more $$$), but a lot of customers slipped through on the MediaNet package. So consider yourself very lucky indeed!

By: HG

HG — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:41:37 +0000

I use my BB and set it up as modem. I set BT DUN and use the USB cable. I don't see in paying more to get a modem when I can just tether up my BB to all my computers I use on the road. If I was using to download heavy files then I can see that a Wireless Card could get you better download speeds, but for my email, and logging back to office server my tether works perfect. Sprint charges a extra $15.00 for this which I think is not that much, a lot cheaper then paying 59.00 and the other good thing is that you don't have to carry the modem to stick in the laptop; not that a USB modem wouldn't be that much to carry. I have been in meetings and fire up my M912 to download email send out documents, using BT DUN and without every taking out my Blackberry from my holster. :)

By: Jose R. Ortiz

Jose R. Ortiz — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:17:58 +0000

hmmm…i wonder what mike is doing? i don’t think tethering could get any easier. with my winmo phones: i just pair with bluetooth, launch internet sharing on the phone, and connect. three steps and done. on my s60 devices: i launch joiku spot, and connect to the newly available wifi hotspot on my laptop. two steps and done. so i’m not sure what the complaint about wires and troublesome setup is all about. on top of all of that, i only pay $15 for the unlimited medianet package on at&t. no “tethering” plan charge or $60 data card that does the same thing at the same speeds.

By: GoodThings2Life

GoodThings2Life — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:09:59 +0000

I use tethering on my Mogul and Touch Pro on Sprint whenever I'm at the lake or other place that has no wifi accessible. It's a great way to have access. In fact, the only thing stupid about it is choosing NOT to do so.

By: Pam T.

Pam T. — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:29:44 +0000

I’m a tether-er. In fact, AT&T is very close to losing my business because they charge $30 extra to tether, versus Sprint and Verizon’s $15.

I do think, however, that charging extra to tether is unacceptable. By the cell companies rules, I can have unlimited data on my plan for my phone, but a cap of 5G if I tether. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with a 5G cap on my usage, but why should it matter whether I use it on my phone or via tethering? And if there’s a data cap on my usage, why charge me extra for it?
(I’m going to be very curious if the iPhone users are charged extra once their tethering option becomes legal.)

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:53:38 +0000

I thethered for about 20 days and hated it. Such a pain to plug in the phone via cable when you can just have an evdo modem. I paid $15 to be allowed to tether, and then an additional $15 a month for unlimited data, so getting an evdo modem only cost $30 more a month than that.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:11:54 +0000

I’m on Verizon and have the unlimited data plan with the $15 tethering option. For my consulting business, I often need to conduct web meetings while on the road and not near a reliable WiFi hot spot. For instances like this when I need to use my primary phone as a modem and still conduct a phone call, I added an additional line to my family plan for only $10/mounth. This is far more cost effective than having the data plan for my phone and my laptop, given how infrequently I need to use both.

I wonder if I could forward inbound calls to my primary line to my secondary line while using it this way.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:45:56 +0000

I use pdanet, tis pretty easy.

By: James

James — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:36:29 +0000

Tethering is so simple i don't why more people don not do it. In the past I have used usb and blutooth. Now it's even easier with WM wifi router. There are numerous ways to tether. the easiest is using a dial up connection.