Palm Pre no longer features data tethering on Sprint website
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 19th 2009 3:29PM
posted Feb 19th 2009 3:29PM
[Thanks, Christopher and Evan]
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Lame, why do these phone carriers insist on up charging just so we can use data. We pay for the damn data plan, why can't we use it whether it be on our phone or through tethering...?
I still want it.
And some of you 'tards thought it was Apple's fault for not allowing tethering with the iPhone. The carrier controls that sort of action. When you're in a partnership, you don't just do as you freakin' please. You gotta make some concessions so your partner can make some money.
None of you probably noticed, but Sprint's losing money and can't afford to be giving away free services.
Wait did someone with the hot "TAIL NABBING" name like iphonerulez just refer to OTHER people as tards?
if you're here posting comments, who's there to mange the Starbucks?
dumbass, all WinMo devices offer tethering on ATT. So ATT didn't cripple it.
It may be that ATT wants to deny tethering to all iPhone users specifically. It's likely a decision based on user demographic, i.e. the majority of potential iPhone users will either not care about the lack of this feature, or would be willing to pay extra for it anyway (in this case, pay for a separate broadband connection). Or, it's how ATT wants to move forward. Basically, they neuter their most popular phone first, and slowly expand it to the rest of their phone lineup.
I don't know anything about ATT's internal policies, and I'm not trying to defend Apple. I'm just presenting a possibility.
so the "internet sharing" registry hack wont work?
jesus, ignore the trolls, is that so hard. if somebody is trolling there is only one way to stop them: the silent treatment. flaming them is what they want so it will only encourage them more.
on topic: it's no wonder they are pulling this feature if you think about it. offering unlimited mobile data to someone using a mobile phone only is a pretty different beast from offering unlimited mobile data to somebody bittorrenting 24/7 on their laptop. there is just not that much data you _can_ use on the phone. at least not until somebody writes a BT client for it.
Don't most cell companies cap the downloads at 5gb per month. Shouldn't matter how I use my 5GB's - tethered or untethered. Also, if Sprint doesn't allow it look for a PDA Net like application to be available for the Pre. Sprint doesn't like me tethering my Touch but PDA Net works like a charm.
@iphonerulez
I know he's a troll but:
The carrier does not control that sort of action. I believe it is ATT+Apple that controls it. (for the iphone) If you were smart, you'd get an unlocked phone say, the N95, and tether your heart away.
most likely a battery issue.
I love data tethering with my PC or Mac using my non-jailbroken Windows Mobile device with WMWifiRouter. I can use WiFi, Bluetooth or USB to connect to Sprint super-fast and extra-reliable 3G EVDO Network on the road. The best part is that I pay $40 monthly for my phone service. :D. I am not charged for tethering :D.
Sprint is selling the phone with the USB together for $149 capped at 5 Gigs for the service plan. They want to make the extra $50 off of their everything plan so you can get a nice little USB stick for your laptop.
It's all about economics. If Sprint allowed tethering and didn't charge the extra $50, that would be lost revenue for them. Also, that would be the cheapest plan of all the majors with 'everything' included.
It's BS but it's business.
@ iphonerulez
If you know anything about the story of how the iPhone came to be, and why it ended up on AT&T after failed Verizon talks, then you would know that Apple got to do exactly how they "freakin pleased." Verizon told them no, AT&T said sure, do whatever the hell you want, and that was that.
If Apple wanted to allow people to tether, you would be allowed to tether.
It has nothing to do with Sprint economics, it has nothing to do with Palm, it has everything to do with Sprint's obsolete 3G technology: it can't walk and talk at the same time. If you're tethered your phone is essentially offline with your phone calls going to voice mail.
This was one of the break through features Apple offered on the iPhone: Apple made the iPhone work the way everyone had *assumed* their phones were already working. I suspect this was a major reason the Verizon deal went sideways: they use CDMA as well.
As far as I can tell Palm still doesn't have a working radio stack in the Pre. I've been very curious to see when that day comes about as I'm fascinated to see how such a heavily net-centric phone is going to work on CDMA and not have you missing your phone calls during uncontrollable bursts of net activity. I'll also hazard a guess that this is one of the major reasons the radio is taking so long to come up. They're likely re-writing the radio stack from top to bottom to try and minimize the data disruptions to voice circuits.
@Motorola 3G Victim:
I tether my phone with my laptop nearly every day that I'm at work. Calls and txts come in fine, no different than if I wasn't using the phone as a modem.
Oops, forgot to mention that I'm on Sprint, using a Window Mobile phone.
Crap, this takes some points away from the Pre... I'm still gona buy it:)
HTC TOUCH PRO 2 FTW!
TP FTW
Teathering is using up extended data. Soooo... why would any company give you free tethered data? You would have had to pay for tethering if the device had the program either way. Only one way to get around tethering charges, and you need to evil WinMo for it.
I bet its still included and it is just a little bit of cleaning up.
another reason sprint sux (well, all cell phone service providers dooo)
I'm with sprint now and tether without and issue and that's with WM. I find no major issue with this.
Another reason why we should move to paying just for data connections from cell operators, and get open phones that we control and not the carrier.
All I want is a data connection, I can figure out the rest as long as I can transfer packets.
That's exactly what I just started doing with my new Nokia e71 and ATT. I gladly paid the full amount for an unlocked phone and signed up for the $35 data plan. Voip on my phone works pretty well, and that's really all I need. Beats the hell out of paying $70/month for iPhone voice and data.
I also have an iTouch which I use regularly at home...
Funny, that's what I do with my iPhone. Oh did I mention I tether it as well? Granted it's edge on t-mo, but it's the service I want with the phone I want. Just do a little research people alot of phones can be unlocked by the user. I agree with John.
@ darjens
Yep. Thats exactly what I do with an N95. Still baffles how they can still charge so much to iphone users for literally the same thing I'm doing
Well that's the thing, their business model is 'connections made', not 'data delivered'. TCP/IP is anathema to telecos. It doesn't charge for the amount of connections you make, it doesn't charge on the location of the sender and reciever, it offers one flat rate on all packets - the actual work done.
In the Telco Model, you charge for maintaining different types of connections where the rates are determined not by the base energy required to transit the data but by what kind of data it is. So voice is billed from this invisible bucket of 'minutes', while SMS is billed at 20 cents to send 130 bytes on a control message channel that literally takes no mobile cell bandwidth. This is, of course, also priced higher if the target is farther away even though the internet pipes they're using don't price that way. All of these, of course, are vastly overvalued compared to the base data rate.
Carriers don't like tethering, because then it's pretty easy to think "hey, I can just tether, and get the same services that I pay extra for cheaper". They want a clear distinction between 'phone data' and 'computer data', because the former they bundle with voice minutes and SMS, while the latter doesn't come with those, so they raise the price anyway.
I guess I'll just have to wait for the Palm or the Palm Post.
And for it to come out on a less assrapey network.
Umm sprint is cheaper and better then Verizon and AT&T... are there any other carriers left????
Get a real smart phone like the blackberry.. i tether my 8330 curve almost every day.. only pay the 30 dollar data package and have yet to get charged for anything else...
It looks like you're going to have to look for a long time. Sprint and T Mobile are probably the least "drop the soap happy" of the bunch.
Yeah, good luck on that "less assrapey network" thing. You'll be waiting for T-Mo to get it, and they haven't even gotten the Centro yet. They have little 3G coverage... uhm, and still don't have a WinMo 6.1 phone.. or at least a WinMo phone that doesn't suck. Well, i take that back, the Shadow 2009 is nice.
With what I get on Sprint right now, i honestly feel like I'm doing the ass rapeing.. For $30 a month, i get unlimited Tex, Unlimited Data, which can teather via WMWiFiRouter.. AND 500 mins... AND my weekends and evenings start at 7pm instead of 9 like ATT/VZW... So, my entire package is the same price as AT&T's 3G data plan ONLY!
@duscrom
Ah, you're a SERO customer too eh? I'm betting that we get a forced data plan with the Pre, which I don't mind as long as the price isn't too high and the service stays quality.
I'm just going to buy an unlocked Pre :)
Oh, that's nothing. Just wait 'till you see how crippled the Pre will be when it hits Canada through Bell.
as long as you don't use it for mass downloading of things like torrents, Sprint doesn't have a clear way of stopping or catching anybody using windows mobile phones as modems. It's likely there's no way to do it with the Pre, as long as the phone is capable, which it seems to be.
Talk about deja vu... assuming it was all a dream.... :-)
fail, every other phone in the world (except for the iPhone) supports tethering
bad idea. ability to use the phone as modem is cruical for lots and lots of business users.
there goes an army of business windows mobile users who depend on this functionality every day.
those customers couldve been yours, palm. better rethink this.
Sorry, but most of these business users that you think are going to flee, will just whine to their IT department to get PCMICA or USB mobile broadband cards...
http://www.palm.com/us/products/phones/pre/#tab2
It says it has bluetooth tethering.
Yes, the phone is still capable of bluetooth tethering...It's just that Sprint will probably charge EXTRA for it.
At least that is what it looks like by removing that feature from the spec list...
Yea, it's physically there. However, Sprint being the power hungry freaks they are, always like to get their way. They just cripple the device on the software side, so the customer loses out again!
True, however, Bluetooth has a throughput of around 720kbps while EVDO bandwidth can run around 2000kbps. If bluetooth teathering is the only option, that slices your bandwidth dramatically.
(I cannot attest to these numbers personally, but after a few google searches, this is what came up.)
tzones $5.99
Simply unacceptable.
Why dont you just get PDAnet, pay $30 one time fee and tether all you want, I haven't had a problem yet.
You have a Palm Pre? I wasn't aware they were out yet =)
Problem, the PRE is NOT running the old PalmOS that PDAnet uses.
So unless someone makse a PDAnet like app for the Palm Pre's WEB OS...
Point is.....there will be something soon after it is out. I am planning on getting a Pre and plan on tethering soon after. I'm not worried about , its possible, sprint even said so.
LOL there shouldn't be any concern about this...it'll only be about 12hrs after the release that a hack is posted on forums on getting the tethering to work without paying any tethering fees. Not. That. Hard. Anyhoo, i'm going to be the proud owner of the samsung omnia soon. Looks like a pretty decent winmo phone
i can almost PERSONALLY gurantee this
and itll work at full speed too.
Just Sayin
ahh good thing i carry two phones..
I've noticed the people that HAVE to carry two phones usually have an iphone.
^^^ Ha Ha, so true. I could never let it be my only phone. For me it is a glorified iPod touch and maybe weekend phone.
I know everybody is diffrent but the iphone does everything I need it to do.
I run a small t-shirt business and i recieve all my emails and my 1-800 number routs the calls to my phone. And to top it all off
my live chat software routes the conversations to my phone as well.
And I do everything without a hitch. I dont need 2 phones. And the iphone is also my finance tracker. I track my daily calorie intake.
I use it to check my paypal for when my customers use that option. Send money when I need to. I make investments using my iphone.
I literally run my life on it. And it has not given up on me at all. I was running a winmo phone and it crashed
right when I need it the most.
Running around town i dont have time to take out my laptop and work. So the most convenient thing for me is the phone.
Now I cant wait for this PRE to come out so that i can check it out. With typing emails, texting etc. An actualy keyboard is needed for far greater productivity. I can manage with a virtual keyboard just fine but there is nothing liketactile feedback.
COME ON PRE....
...and so it begins.
Exactly! I have a Razr v3m, and when I connect it to my computer via USB it shows as a modem (Thanks Motorola Phone Tools). However when I try to connect to the internet, I get an error... Because I have to PAY EXTRA to use it as a modem. Last I checked it was the same price as a plan with one of Sprint's USB modems, but at 1/2 the speed!
That was susposed to be a reply to Precurse... STUPID COMMENT SYSTEM!!!
now that's a shame...
A nice to have feature, but not a deal breaker for me.
IF the palm pre's OS is anything like windows mobile it will take a simple cnfiguration change . On windows mobile it only takes a registry change.
i'm posting this from a computer tethered to an iphone with pdanet, its not like pre's going to be locked down to palm appstore... i'm sure you can tether all you want.
dear engadget please stop feeding the FUD
all sprint pcs phones with 1xrtt or evdo rev 0 or A allow tethering on sprint's phone as a modem plan
I'm sure its included as well. I dont think it will be free though. I have a blackberry pearl and I think they charge $15 a month or a fee per meg of download if you dont have the service. I've tried it and it does work even though its not an officiall listed "feature" on sprints site.
If the Pre has flash, a decent screen, and works well on the web, I really don't see much a need for tethering.
I have an Aspire One right now that I got specifically for phone tethering and find myself using it less and less, and really only use it for what my phone doesn't support (flash, etc.)
Oh, that wasn't very nice Mr. Sprint...
Sprint advertised the same thing with the Instinct, even well after the phone was released. There's a hack to enable it, even though Sprint tried to close the door with the first update. I'd bet good money that you'll be able to on the Pre as well.
Use common logic.
All Sprint phones worth a dime support tethering. to state that this phone explicitly supports it would be silly, since they all do.
As long as the unlocked HSDPA version has it then it's fine.
Yes, the people that carry two phones generally carry an iPhone, since the other phone is one of those lame RIM jobs or something similar that their short-sighted employer forces on them.
As for the Pre, until we have a release date (preferably before Spring goes under, for obvious reasons) and a production model, it is literally vaporware.
WOW, is anyone surprised at Sprint. Being a long term customer who just left for T Mobile I will tell you. Whatever phone or plan they offer don't do it. The bill is never right, the customer service sucks and nasty, reception is awful.
Seriously, Palm and Sprint are a mathc made in heaven both company are slowly going down the bankruptcy drain.
Buy the Pre when it comes to another carrier!
It's Sprint after all a bunch of dirty crooks that can't make a service work. Who cares, I'm going to buy it unlocked for GSM use. I will be tethering all day with it. No need to have some stupid carrier tell me what I can and can't do with my phone.
I used to tether to my motorola slvr on the edge network just to play Eve when my broadband went down. ATT was none the wiser.
I remember when things were on the nokia symbian OS, there's always a program available to bypass something. This is such a new OS I can't say anything about it, but given some time....someone will hack in tethering. Screw sprint...I have them, they suck.
Considering sprint lost 1.6 million subscribers i believe its time they changed things. Higher prices wont do any good, people will just switch
Fuck Sprint...
Ummm, sprint's website still says bluetooth connectivity. And underneath that it says memory then connector. Soo uh, its still there. You guys still think they'll charge for bluetooth tethering?
What is tethering?