Motorola Droid & Tethering to my laptop

[momx3drr]

I'm getting ready to go camping for 2 weeks & will need to access the internet so that I can complete my college class assignments.  I was mislead when I bought my Droid that I would be able to tether it to my laptop for a internet connection.  I've since learned that this is not possible alothough I do have the option of using my daughters upgrade for the Droid X.  I'd really rather not purchase a new phone before I leave town.  Can someone help me figure out how to tether my laptop to my cell or is this even possible?

Thanks so much!!!

Melissa

[casslanesmith]

{edit for TOS violation}

[jasnmar]

Officially Verizon does not allow "tethering" from you phone to your laptop for internet access.

As far as I know the Droid X will not allow this either, but I don't have one to check and see.

[tmaas77572]

Verizon offers tethering.  At least, according to there web site they do:

Broadband Pricing

Also, I've seen multiple tethering apps in the Marketplace.  Haven't tried any of them though.  

Hope this helps

[jasnmar]

You are right. Apologies. I assumed that the question was more of a tethering "for free" question, which certainly wasn't stated in the question (that's what I get for assuming ).

[jasnmar]

However, I've also heard that they don't actually support this for the Droid yet, so it's a bit hard to tell.

[supitsmike]

There are multiple applications for tethering that exist on Android. As far as I know Verizon doesn't offer THEIR OWN application to charge people.

The most that anyone can say is do a search of 'tethering' in the market and see what you come up with.

[sox575]

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momx3drr wrote:

I'm getting ready to go camping for 2 weeks & will need to access the internet so that I can complete my college class assignments.  I was mislead when I bought my Droid that I would be able to tether it to my laptop for a internet connection.  I've since learned that this is not possible alothough I do have the option of using my daughters upgrade for the Droid X.  I'd really rather not purchase a new phone before I leave town.  Can someone help me figure out how to tether my laptop to my cell or is this even possible?

Thanks so much!!!

Melissa

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I don't know how to do it but I'm sure you can find out from other websites. But I just wanted to warn you that if you do find a way to tether it, the "unlimited" data plan that we all have isn't really unlimited. In the fine print there's a monthly limit of gigabytes, which you wouldn't normally go over if you just use your cell to do mobile web stuff.

I read that on the Droid Forum at Motorola.

[#9]

Verizon offers tethering with some phones, but not the Droid. It's not free, it's basically $60 per month. Verizon never said or implied you can tether with a Droid.

[sranger]

Just do an Android Market search on the word "tether" and you will find what you are looking for.......

[gej1]

I TETHERED MY DROID WITH USB AND IT TOOK ME TO VZW SITE AND IT SAID IT WOULD COST $15.00 A MONTH FOR 5 GIGABITES AND THE HOTSPOT WAS $20.00 AMONTH

[PJNC284]

Did it mention anything about calling Verizon to have it set up or did it give you the option to actually purchase there?  Someone else mentioned that it told them to call in and the rep they talked to said tethering wasn't available for the Droid.  And not sure why it mentions anything about the hotspot as it's not even available in the FRG01b release for the Droid.

[#13]

Tethering a smartphone is $20 for 2 GB and not available on the Droid.

[motoscammed]

I don't want to brag but you can get high usage downloads using your cell by visiting streaming music sites, downloading photos or pdf files or just plain surfing. A  tethered pc generating  or receiving "data"  is the same "data"  a cell phone generates or receives. Only the source is different . Check your usage section of your bill. 

[#15]

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motoscammed wrote:

I don't want to brag but you can get high usage downloads using your cell by visiting streaming music sites, downloading photos or pdf files or just plain surfing. A  tethered pc generating  or receiving "data"  is the same "data"  a cell phone generates or receives. Only the source is different . Check your usage section of your bill. 

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What is it you're "not bragging" about? Did you invent tethering?

[PJNC284]

yeah, I don't really get what he's trying to say either.  Sure it's extremely easy to get a good amount of usage from streaming audio or video regularly.  I believe I averaged between 4 and 5GB just by streaming iheartradio for 2hrs/day 5 days/week at work plus normal usage.  So it's not like he's making a revelation or anything. 

[hanny76]

Al Gore of cell phones??

[PJNC284]

The wifi hotspot won't be making it to the droid as it's apparently a hardware issue that won't allow it.  People have reported that USB tether is there but haven't used it.

[EnterNameHere]

While I have heard the tethering is there as well I call **bleep** on the part of the Wifi hotspot options.  The issue I see is that users that have rooted their droids already have the ability to make their phones into Wifi Hotspots.  So how is it that Verizon says the hardware doesnt support it but yet the rooted community says it does.  It all comes down to Verizon wanting to jab it's customers till they bleed for more money. 

[PJNC284]

There's a difference in the wireless tether apps and the mobile hotspot app.  Wireless tether only does ad-hoc connections which isn't supported by some devices so they won't be able to connect.  The mobile hotspot basically turns it into a wireless router allowing any wifi capable device to connect.  So while minor, there is a difference there and you can definitely bet that customers would be calling into customer service by the boat load if they had devices that couldn't connect because of the ad-hoc only connection.

[spud69]

Would you be willing to explain to me what the "rooted" issue means?  I don't know if I'm rooted or not or what the significance is one way or another.  Thanks for your time.