Verizon begins blocking wireless tether

[Tboltaz]

 The free wireless tethering days are over, unfortunately. For us Thunderbolt owners we still have mobile hotspot till June 15th. Moving forward, we will have to pay $20/ Month for 2 GB of data. What does everyone think about Verizon's decision? If we pay for unlimited data shouldn't we get truly unlmited data without these restrictions?

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/05/31/verizon-begins-blocking-wireless-tether-asks-that-you-purchase-...

[Tidbits]

I seen every argument...

I personally side with the people that say "You agreed that the internet connection is used specifically for your device and no other devices attached to it." camp.

The contract you agreed to specifically states your device... You are paying for yourself to have all you can eat, but you can't put that in a doggy bag or have someone else come like your kids and have them eat when you are the only one paying for it.

People keep using unlimited in a BROAD spectrum, and NEVER use it in context.  If used in context you do in fact have unlimited data as long as you are not incurring data charges, or stop you from using data.

Another example if you paid me to have my well open to your horse, and we agreed it was so.  I could stop you from bringing your cow to the well as we agreed that only your horse can drink from the well.  You could take me to court and I would win as we agreed that only your horse would get access to my well.

[budone]

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Tidbits wrote:

I seen every argument...

I personally side with the people that say "You agreed that the internet connection is used specifically for your device and no other devices attached to it." camp.

The contract you agreed to specifically states your device... You are paying for yourself to have all you can eat, but you can't put that in a doggy bag or have someone else come like your kids and have them eat when you are the only one paying for it.

People keep using unlimited in a BROAD spectrum, and NEVER use it in context.  If used in context you do in fact have unlimited data as long as you are not incurring data charges, or stop you from using data.

Another example if you paid me to have my well open to your horse, and we agreed it was so.  I could stop you from bringing your cow to the well as we agreed that only your horse can drink from the well.  You could take me to court and I would win as we agreed that only your horse would get access to my well.

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I like your analogy. And to answer the OP's question, I have to agree with Tidbits.  The agreement states you have unlimited data on your wireless device. NOT everything you have attached to it. It is no biggie to me. 

[MattP123614]

unlimited to my device... yes.

but although it doesnt say in words on the contract i am allowed to tether unlimitedly, i am able to at the initiation of the contract.

i think theres similar cases with "perks" in jobs... like employers cant take away a company car or water cooler or company phone?

basically my point is if its an implied condition at the begining of the contract than it should carry through, like its grandfathered in?

[budone]

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MattP123614 wrote:

unlimited to my device... yes.

but although it doesnt say in words on the contract i am allowed to tether unlimitedly, i am able to at the initiation of the contract.

i think theres similar cases with "perks" in jobs... like employers cant take away a company car or water cooler or company phone?

basically my point is if its an implied condition at the begining of the contract than it should carry through, like its grandfathered in?

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You lost me. The TOS is specific on what is unlimited.  As for cars water coolers and company phones. I worked for ne that took all three away. The water cooler hurt the most as in my department and on our floor the water was not drinkable.

[MattP123614]

well the tethering is equivalant to the job perks. theyre not specifically included in a contract, but they are also not specifically excluded either. i would think they would need us to accept new terms before they can take it away. unless theres one of those "subject to change" type lines somewhere in there.

i just dont see what the big deal is if i use a few hundred MB or a shared computer uses them. either way i dont plan on really using tethering. its just the principle.

[Tidbits]

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MattP123614 wrote:

well the tethering is equivalant to the job perks. theyre not specifically included in a contract, but they are also not specifically excluded either. i would think they would need us to accept new terms before they can take it away. unless theres one of those "subject to change" type lines somewhere in there.

i just dont see what the big deal is if i use a few hundred MB or a shared computer uses them. either way i dont plan on really using tethering. its just the principle.

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Actually it's there and VERY specific to your device.  It's also very specific you need a specific plan to use tethering.  Also before you bought it was PROMOTIONAL to a specific date and so when you signed the agreement you knew when it would no longer be "free".  Even when you log in it shows that it's a promotional deal and the date it ends.

They do have the option to extend or remove the promotional after that date.

[GreenRobot]

To start I too think that blocking tethering apps is not cool and I think that because I compare my phones internet connection to my home connection. I pay for internet at home and my router gives that connection to all my web hungry devices at home for one charge. I think if VZW wants to make money off multiple connections they should charge for the router ( aka app ) not the amount of data. Realistically I would pay $30-50 once for the ability to use my phones connection to the net but a minimum of $20 a month for 2 gigs seems like a scam since I could just as easily use my phone to view the same web pages but in some case I prefer to see them on my notebook. It's not like I'm going to be using the web on my phone and my computer at the same time so why am I being charged again for the same data connection. @Tidbits we get it, it's in our contract tell Steve Jobs we said hi. Not really he can eat a ....

[rcschnoor]

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GreenRobot wrote:

To start I too think that blocking tethering apps is not cool and I think that because I compare my phones internet connection to my home connection. I pay for internet at home and my router gives that connection to all my web hungry devices at home for one charge. I think if VZW wants to make money off multiple connections they should charge for the router ( aka app ) not the amount of data. Realistically I would pay $30-50 once for the ability to use my phones connection to the net but a minimum of $20 a month for 2 gigs seems like a scam since I could just as easily use my phone to view the same web pages but in some case I prefer to see them on my notebook. It's not like I'm going to be using the web on my phone and my computer at the same time so why am I being charged again for the same data connection. @Tidbits we get it, it's in our contract tell Steve Jobs we said hi. Not really he can eat a ....

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I agree. For your home broadband, you pay for internet at your home and you are entitled to use that internet at your home for all of your devices. Your home broadband provider does not allow you to provide your internet access to your neighbors, though, and if they find out you are, you will find yourself either paying a larger bill, having your service cut off, have yourself charged with theft of services, or all three.

For your smartphone, you pay an access fee for your smartphone and and if you want to send that access to some device apart from your smartphone, you can pay an additional fee to have that privilege.

[Tidbits]

Sorry, but your comparing apples to oranges. Broadband connections have more backend support than mobile broadband. Also when broadband first came out they had restrictions the same. Eventually wireless will catch up, and the prices will reflect it.

I love the fact you take pot shots at me and you can't come up with something original.

[Wildman]

This is exactly why the unlimited data plans are slowly going away....  So many know that the plan they bought for their device was intended for the device but like so many people in this world they want to try to find a loophole to be allowed to do what they want and not pay for it...

This is why the options for good plans are vanishing....

Verizon allowed a large amount of users to tether for free even when they knew that that user wasnt paying for it but now that they are choosing to enforce the rule of users paying for what they use so many are crying rape and saying Verizon is the one doing something wrong.

This subject as been beated to death over the years and it keep showing up again.

[AZSALUKI]

i agree with wildman. why are we still discussing this? the incredible was the first verizon device to tether wirelessly (i think?). that was realeased over a year ago and the terms set by verizon have not changed one bit since then. it's always costed extra to do this. to me it's simple. if they allowed unlimited free tethering, i would drop my cable internet at home AND my dsl at the office and simply tether the 3 devices at home and 3 pc's at work from a 4g android. it would save me a TON of $ and crush a TON of providers (including verizon's network).

[T-bolt_Camb]

The real question is:   Which would you prefer?    (Not really) "unlimited" data on one device (data rate limiting exists anyway).  Or,  truly shareable data plans with a reasonable cost per GB.  With shareable data plans,  the tethering issue goes away and you pay for what you use.   There are technical issues with tracking data use over multiple devices but they are solvable imho. 

[insidenyc]

Question.  How much Data is 2GB?  For example.  If I download a movie to my laptop, does that use up a quarter of the 2GB?

[AZSALUKI]

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insidenyc wrote:

Question.  How much Data is 2GB?  For example.  If I download a movie to my laptop, does that use up a quarter of the 2GB?

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it will depend on the quality of the file. i've downloaded 2 hour movies at a lower resolution that were as samll as 300+mb's (about a third of a gb), but i've also downloaded movies that exceded 1gb for just the one movie. the tethering is not designed to be a source of data for heavy users. it's function is aimed more at being able to use data (browse the web, email, download a few files, etc) on a wireless device by making your phone a hotspot......but it's not intended to replace you home or office internet connection. 

aside from downloading movies or a lot of music though, 2gb's is a pretty good deal of data. i surf on my phone daily, send and recieve email (with attachments and graphics), view videos, and accosionally stream music or video....and download apps. i have yet to go over 2gb's of data on my phone in a month.

[bearone21]

unlimited data plan and mobile hotspot are two different things.