Motorola Droid Tether service

[dav448]

I am so disappointed in Verizon for continually running ads that claim the "Droid does it all".  Well, that is a bunch of crap!  An important feature that nearly every Droid user would like to have the ability is to tether their phone to their computer to connect their computer with a broadband connection.  

I do not understand why Verizon will not offer this useful tool to their customer who use the Motorola Droid, but I am very frustrated and considering other options once my contract is complete.  There is no excuse good enough to justify offering the tether service with many other devises that Verizon offers, including the Blackberry Tour, and NOT the Motorola Droid when the Droid is more advanced, and as they claim the "Droid does it all".  Isn't this faults advertising?       

[tim600sl]

It can be done but it is not allowed to be discussed here because it is a violation of Terms and Conditions of this forum.

[cessage]

Use the app PDA Net.  It's free

[v8dreaming]

I think it sucks that they charge you 30 bucks for unlimited data, but you can't use it to tether and you have to pay another fee to do so.

[TheGreatOne]

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v8dreaming wrote:

I think it sucks that they charge you 30 bucks for unlimited data, but you can't use it to tether and you have to pay another fee to do so.

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All smart phones require a $30 data plan per month.Most all cell phone carriers have the same thing.

[AZSALUKI]

greatone.....yes, they all charge $30/mo....but on SOME phones (palmpre for example) the $30 INCLUDES unlimited tethering. with the incredible you have to pay a seperate fee to tether, and with some others, you can't tether at all. and on some other carriers the $30/mo includes tethering. now i get why verizon doesn't want us tethering, and why they charge an additional fee....and i don't blame them. but what i don't get is why they allow palm pre users to tether for no additional charge, but nobody else can (although i suspect it is because they were stuck with WAY too many palms so they said "let's sell the phone for $30 and give them tethering to get rid of all of these"). 

[budone]

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AZSALUKI wrote:

greatone.....yes, they all charge $30/mo....but on SOME phones (palmpre for example) the $30 INCLUDES unlimited tethering. with the incredible you have to pay a seperate fee to tether, and with some others, you can't tether at all. and on some other carriers the $30/mo includes tethering. now i get why verizon doesn't want us tethering, and why they charge an additional fee....and i don't blame them. but what i don't get is why they allow palm pre users to tether for no additional charge, but nobody else can (although i suspect it is because they were stuck with WAY too many palms so they said "let's sell the phone for $30 and give them tethering to get rid of all of these"). 

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You answered your question!

[AZSALUKI]

lol....i often times don't bring much to the conversation....and talk in circles.

[PJNC284]

The wifi hotspot functionality on the Pre Plus is limited to 5GB just like normal mobile broadband connect add-on.

As for why they are offering it for free on the Pre Plus, Verizon expected it to do well when they released it but the device was an overall flop so now they're throwing in everything but the kitchen sink to get people to buy it.  Just look at the pricing, went from a high end device at 199.99 on release to only 49.99 in less than 5 months. 

[AZSALUKI]

i figured they were stuck with a bunch....since i got a text with an offer for $29.99 (and this was more than a year before i was even eligible for an upgrade!!!). i almost bit......but held out to use my wife's upgrade on a droid.

[tgs3838]

Thought i read when this new 2.2 update is released we will be able to  use wift and usb tethering or whatever. I know its possible now to do that by doing certain things to the phone. But im hoping when the update comes out that will be in the update. But i read so many different things about this update and none of it is official. So im not sure what is true

[AZSALUKI]

2.2 will have the ability....but vzn will prolly release it to us without it. that's a big revenue stream they'd lose.

[fezzik]

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tgs3838 wrote:

Thought i read when this new 2.2 update is released we will be able to  use wift and usb tethering or whatever. I know its possible now to do that by doing certain things to the phone. But im hoping when the update comes out that will be in the update. But i read so many different things about this update and none of it is official. So im not sure what is true

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You can go to Android.com and get all the official information.  That is the official website and there all the information is laid out straight from the horses mouth.  Now could Verizon block some of the features.  Well I suppose technically they can do whatever they want.  I imagine though that since the iPhone is now allowing full teathering that Verizon won't want to keep it away much longer. 

[budone]

Att will be charging an additional $20 for the ability to tether on the iPhone.

[BigMcGuire]

Has anyone actually tried to add the $30/month mobile broadband to their Android so they can tether legally? I will assume not because I have, 3 separate times, and was rejected each time because Verizon Wireless doesn't support tethering on the Droid so they couldn't add the Mobile Broadband Connect. I told them I wanted to tether legally because there were apps on the market that allowed you to do it - all three reps said it was ok to tether via those apps on the market but they couldn't add the Mobile Broadband Connect.

Hmmm. 

[PJNC284]

Yeah, I don't think there is actually a 100% legal method for tethering on any of the android phones.  They were supposed to have it in quarter 1 of this year for the Motorola Droid but I haven't heard anything about that.  The Incredible is supposed to be Mobile Broadband Connect Capable but a lot of people I know have been unable to get that to work.  And not sure how the reps can say it's "OK" as I'm sure Verizon wouldn't like their reps telling their customers to violate their Terms of Service.

As for Froyo, I'm running a pre-release version on the Droid and it has regular USB Tethering built-in but no wifi tethering (without doing what is prohibited to talk about).   Who knows if either of those will be in the official release.

[fezzik]

Droid incredible has the Broadband Connect thing.  Not sure why it isn't available on the DROID unless that was something HTC decided to add as part of SENSE.  You know if you just feel the need to pay. 

[AZSALUKI]

i think it was something htc did. the incredible was marketed as the first and only zvn droid to tether. it's now why i got it....but it was something i came across a few times when researching, before i bought the phone. the moto droid isn't supposed to be able to tether.

[fezzik]

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AZSALUKI wrote:

i think it was something htc did. the incredible was marketed as the first and only zvn droid to tether. it's now why i got it....but it was something i came across a few times when researching, before i bought the phone. the moto droid isn't supposed to be able to tether.

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That's interesting because I haven't been able to tether my Incredible but I have my Droid. 

[AZSALUKI]

but i'm assuming you did it with an app??? not throught the vzn feature (that you have to pay for)??? i know many phones can do it (through market apps)....but i thought the inc was the first droid that vzn, itself, supported tethering for (for a monthly fee).

[fezzik]

Oh probably.  No I didn't do the one you pay for.  I think that would be fine if I were going to use it as an isp but 5GB won't be enough for me to take online classes so I am going to have to get a real isp unfortunately.