Droid X - Mobile Broadband Connect

[sigepjth]

Will the Droid X be Mobile Broadband Connect capable?

[Kimberly_Nicole]

Hi.  I will be happy to answer your question regarding tethering on the Droid X.    As of today, on the feature list, it does not have mobile broadband connect.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks!

[fezzik]

It has 3G wifi sharing would that be a different plan. 

They all have the capability of doing it, but the question is do they have the installed software to do mobile broadband connect.  So far all I know of is the Droid Incredible but the X is supposed to have Wifi and soon will be getting Android 2.2 which has built in Tethering and remains to be seen how that will be implemented, controlled, and charged for. 

[annoni]

I plugged an incredible into a usb port today and a pop-up screen gave me 4 options. One option was mobile broadband connect. To tether the device, a person will need to add a feature on billing side. The feature costs $25 per month and can be added and removed at will (no committment). Without the feature, vzw's network would refuse the connection.

When the x is released, it will have the ability to be a WiFi hotspot. I read that this feature is power hungry, so it's best to have the phn plugged in when using this way. I'm guessing the vzw network would still refuse the connection unless the $25 MBBC feature is on the added to the customer's account.

Any suggestion that the x will support the hardwire connection like the incredible does would be pure speculation at this point.

[elektraz]

I was told it will be able to tether my driod using VZACCESS Manager on my laptop.  I am paying the $20 a month. 

[JUland]

I have tried for two days now to get either Bluetooth DUN or VZAccess Manager to work with my Droid X.  No luck on either option so far.  I did download

{edit for TOS violation}

 and then was able to get Bluetooth DUN to work on the iMac running OSX 10.6.4, but VZAccess Manager currently does not support the Droid X under Windows as far as I can tell.  I currently subscribe to the Mobile Broadband Connect service, so it should work if it is compatible.

[Spillman]

Well guys after spending an hour and thirty minutes on the phone (on hold for 20min at a time) with tech support last night, I can tell you that there is no way to tether via usb with the Droid X.  Except for {edit for TOS violation}.  And unbelievably the tech support person I spoke to told me to use {edit for TOS violation}!

But let me give you some background into this story.  I originally switched to a smartphone (the blackberry tour) so that I could have internet access when I am out of the office and at my house.  I signed up for a 5gig cap via usb tethering.  When I upgraded to the Droid X no one informed me that my cap would be cut to 2gigs a month.  

So after having problems with my 3g hot spot I called tech support and got that fixed.  But during that convo the tech support person mentioned changes to my account.  I asked to have my account changed back to the 5gig plan.  She at first tells me there is nothing they can do, but, after being on hold for 20min, she changed her mind and said they can offer a 2gig cap on the 3g hot spot and 3 gig cap for the usb tethering.

I told her that would be just fine if there was any possible way to usb tether the Droid X.  After being put on hold for another 20min she comes back on the phone to tell me that they don't have the software to do this.  I asked her if they were going to write a vzaccess manager program for the Droid X and she said she didn't know but they probably would not.  After telling me this I asked "well how the heck am I supposed to use the 3gigs I'm paying for?"  She put me on hold for another 20min and when she came back on the line she told me that there are several programs in the marketplace that allow you to usb tether and you don't have to have tethering on your plan and there is no data cap.  I asked "are you referring to {edit for TOS violation}?"  She said that was one of the programs that I could use.

So what does all this mean?  Sounds to me that this woman didn't have any idea what she was talking about.  And if any of you verizon people read this, I would appreciate it if you would have someone contact me that knows what they are talking about before I take all 15 of our company lines else where.

[dimap]

This is interesting that a CSR would direct a customer to a third-party application to tether their Droid X, yet the moderators of this forum bleep all third-party references out as "TOS Violation". Makes me wish I lived in Europe. No cripples, no feature upsells, no tethering/wifi-hotspot restrictions, caps, or overages.  

This issue with tethering over wireless in the US infuriates me to no end. I really wish the FCC, as part of their Net Nutrality initiatives, would force the carriers  to allow, enable free and unrestricted tethering as part of the basic data plan offerings, assuming the phone has the hardware and software to utilize it. Such are the MANDATES in Europe as I understand them. If it takes re-classifying broadband wireline/wireless as a Title II common telecommunications public utility, so be it.