Droid Tethering Plan Coming — Will You Use It?
Verizon really does want to differentiate itself from the pack, doesn’t it? Aside from getting sued for allegedly comparing its 3G network coverage and allowing free GPS navigation on a smartphone, it’s treading where Sprint has decided not to walk — smartphone tethering. The Motorola Droid will indeed support Internet tethering, Sascha Segan at Gearlog reports, allowing customers to use their Android handset as a 3G modem. Sascha expects this to be a $15 monthly fee, which sounds about right based on Verizon’s current offerings. The Broadband Access Connect plan should hit the Droid in early 2010.
About four years ago, I used a phone as a wireless broadband modem all day long. It worked perfectly well over USB or over Bluetooth. But I was in a relatively fixed location, and I had access to an electrical outlet for my computer, which in turn charged my phone over USB. These days, the only times my mobile devices see outlets is overnight, so I’m not so sure I’d rely on phone tethering for all of my 3G needs. For occasional use it would work just fine for me. And I do have Internet tethering on my iPhone as a backup, which really saved the day once before. I’m curious — would you consider using the Droid or another tethered phone for a primary 3G connection?
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I have used tethering on my hacked WM devices for years and had the BenM hack for the iPhone until 3.1. I only need it every blue moon when I am at a hotel that does not offer free wifi.
Kevin – are you still using the help.BenM hack on your iPhone? Does it still work with the latest software update? I took if off a while back as it seemed to interfere with my notification sounds.
Yup, I’m still using the BenM hack for my iPhone. As a result, I haven’t upgraded the iPhone beyond 3.0 because I haven’t found a way to keep the hack without jailbreaking the phone. :(
Before the Mifi, tethering was the best way to get connectivity to any notebook. It still is today, and the reason why I haven’t yet jumped on the MiFi. That, and the relatively cheap cost of phone data plans kept me as a tethering fan for a long time.
I would still say wifi is my primary connection both at home and on the go, especially with services like Boingo. But, and this is a very important but, I never leave home without my phone so that if I do run into a jam, I can easily tether whatever notebook/netbook I’m with and not interrupt my workday.
At $15, it’s a reasonable extra to pay, assuming there are no other hidden fees like an underlying $60 data plan. :( I still think tethering should be free if you already pay for data on your device – charging extra for what is essentially a built-in feature is nothing but a ripoff.
Ha, I was just thinking about this today. I’m new to the smartphone universe and have been trying to justify to my girlfriend the higher phone bill we’ll have if we get a Droid through Verizon. When I heard today that they might allow tethering, I was wondering if we could theoretically drop our home internet and tether the phones for our connection at home… but I think Verizon’s tethering plan wouldn’t be unlimited and I wasn’t sure how fast this connection would be. If the plan was unlimited and the connection was good, yes, I would love to tether full-time and drop one of our monthly bills.
Verizon has a 5Gig limit to their monthly tethered modem plans. I used it through my blackberry storm, before I purchased the Droid,so I would have internet access while I was at work for 24 hour shifts. The speed is no where near the speed of a good cable connection, however it is reasonable fast, considering the source, and it was much faster than the internet features on the phone. The problem is that it does not handle large downloads well. If you are tired of the cable company, and don’t mind a slower connection (still much faster than a landline modem), then make the switch, but remember, if you leave the house with the phone, there is no longer internet access at the house.
If only T-Mobile would embrace this…
I use a tethered WM phone now, and it’s great in a pinch (when I wasn’t planning on being online).
But I usually rely on WiFi for mobile connections, and plan accordingly when I think I’m going to be mobile yet will need to be online.
I recently moved in to a temporary apartment and rather than hooking up a phone or cable I decided to tether to my LG ENV as my main internet. The speed is decent about the same as a low quality DSL at about 1Mb down and 300kb up but seems to depend on where I am. I get 4500MB per month which is more than enough as long as I am not downloading too many videos. The limiting factor seems to be the crappy proprietary connector. I dropped my phone on the floor while it was plugged in and now I cannot bump the connector otherwise I will get disconnected. Great for checking email and light web browsing but probably not good for gaming or heavy video use. I’m thinking of getting a Droid and plan to keep using the tether feature until I move.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and considering my “work” requirements while mobile, I think just the android phone will be sufficient for my needs. My goal is to leave the laptop at home and still be able to do stuff. Also, I doubt verizon will be happy if I download a few GB of video over their network all the time, so I’ll probably still need a normal broadband connection.
Hard question to answer with the information given and especially if your not currently a Verizon customer.
What are the Verizon 3G limitations, caps and allowed transfer types? If it’s similar to T-Mobiles “Unlimited Web” or AT&T’s iPhone TOS, it’s probably not worth it.
I’ve used a Palm Treo as a wireless modem (via Bluetooth) for a couple of years with mixed results. Sometimes it was impossible to establish a connection to the Verizon network, sometimes it wasn’t, and this was independent of location. I was excited about the introduction of the Droid due to the Treo’s increasingly irritating limitations (mostly speed-related). So, prior to buying the Droid I asked not one, not two but three different customer service representatives, including a Verizon store manager, if the Droid as capable of functioning as a modem in the same way that the Treo had. I was assured each time that “Droid Does”.
Low and behold, when I couldn’t get the Droid to configure as a modem, I called Verizon tech support and was informed that, for now, Droid DOESN’T. He said that Verizon and Google are working on it, but that he did not know when, if ever, the Droid would be able to work as a modem!
When I told him that I regularly depend on using my smartphone as a modem, he cheerfully told me that I could return the Droid or I could buy an additional $59 monthly service to allow my laptop to access the internet. He seemed to have no concern about the misinformation I was given and he was not prepared to do anything “extra” to help me keep the Droid and have some other way of accessing the internet on my laptop while the Droid modem function is worked out.
I am very unhappy about this and may have to return the Droid, despite having waited so long for it and having already invested multiple hours in customizing and learning how to use it.
It has been all over the internet (probably on almost every blog-site I read, at least twice) that the Droid will have tethering some time in early 2010.
That’s probably what the pre-sales employees were referring to.
That stinks, Mike. I don’t know why they lie to you like that… every report about Droid tethering has said it won’t be available until early 2010 and they should know that.