Verizon confirms DROID tethering cost, will ask subscribers to double-down on their data plan
By Tim Stevens 
posted November 6th 2009 7:18AM
posted November 6th 2009 7:18AM
posted November 6th 2009 7:18AM
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Actually you have a perfectly legitimate set up. AT&T does not care that you use a G1 on their network. In fact, I bet they love it since they didn't have to subsidize the cost of the phone.
For $30, I'd just invest in a copy of PDANet. Screw that horse honkey. At the same time though, I can appreciate Verizon giving the *option* to tether. *cough* Sprint just canned theirs.
Does the photo mean: A droid on the tether is worth 2 on this plan?
wth?
I'm alright with this. I'm planning on getting tethering and having my work pay for it, unless I can do basic web updates from the phone, at which point I wouldn't need it. Gonna see if it works with our CMS as soon as I get it.
I upvoted you. You made no sense, but you're comment made me LOL.
Man, I pay $15/month on AT&T for unlimited data with an unlocked phone and I get tethering whenever I want!
Oh wait so the DRIOD which engadget has been cumming over for like the last 2 weeks has a flaw... and wait for it... the flaw is verizon they LIMIT your data plan? Great a phone that can't work outside the US and while in the US i have a 5 GB limit?
Okay okay... 5 GB is a lot for the regular data plan.
I'd happily pay an additional $30/month to have tethering on my iPhone as I'm already considering buying a wireless broadband adapter + service...
Agreed. I've already bought out my AT&T iPhone contract because it was too limited, to unreliable, and too expensive for what it gives--and the iPhone truly sucks as a phone. But I still like the iPhone apps ecosystem, and I'm thinking about getting a Droid if it will tether to a CradlePoint router, then using it to supply data via WiFi to my neutered iPhone (and my wife's iPod touch). Best of both worlds!
One problem, though, which hasn't been discussed much: only AT&T's 3G network allows simultaneous voice & data. So, I'm planning to keep a prepaid SIM in my unlocked iPhone (I'm doing that now with a T-Mobile card) in case I need to make or receive a call while I'm accessing data via the Droid (Google Voice solves the routing problem). It's a handful of stuff to haul around, but at least it will actually WORK and will give access to the two best smartphones out there while only requiring one account. And, best of all, avoiding AT&T!
Forgot to add that, like you, I've also been thinking about getting a mobile broadband account. But that would cost $60/month for 5GB, which is the same as the data portion of the Droid account if you also pay for tethering--and the latter gives you a lot more data (5GB tethered plus "unlimited" on the Droid). So, it seems to me that the cobbled-together Droid option as I've described it is a better deal.
Is there a DayPass option for the tethering?
Like someone else said, go T-Mobile. $20 a month for unlimited data on my BlackBerry, and I can tether as much as I want to at no additional cost. T-Mobile will even walk you through setting up your phone as a modem. As far as the coverage argument goes, I'm in a big city, and TMO works just fine for me.
On a related note, are they ransoming the GPS chip on the droid for a monthly fee as well (you know, for exclusive use with the worlds worst vzmap software) ?
Anybody who pays this is a fool. Root your device and use the free tethering apps out there. Verizon must think we're iPhone users.
@Brandon Yeah im sorry for you that we Finns unleashed Nokia, Linux on the world, and that we get the Droid *ahem* Milestone with multitouch. Not mention that I also choose my place where I live by the technology firms nearby. (no not really, but I still live 2,5km away from the Nokia headquarter) ;) 2,5km = 1.5miles.
@All I don't have anything bad to say against US ppl. The point was more that you almost always also pay something for the phone in front, here we don't have to do that so the 102$ calculation is not that bad (and in fact 69e is 98,36USD). And the droid is a wonderfull phone and Im really waiting for the Milestone version of that one. It beats the hell out of the Nokia N900. :)
@Brandon Yeah im sorry for you that we Finns unleashed Nokia, Linux on the world, and that we get the Droid *ahem* Milestone with multitouch. Not mention that I also choose my place where I live by the technology firms nearby. (no not really, but I still live 2,5km away from the Nokia headquarter) ;) 2,5km = 1.5miles.
@All I don't have anything bad to say against US ppl. The point was more that you almost always also pay something for the phone in front, here we don't have to do that so the 102$ calculation is not that bad (and in fact 69e is 98,36USD). And the droid is a wonderfull phone and Im really waiting for the Milestone version of that one. It beats the hell out of the Nokia N900. :)
this is why i love my Touch Pro with sprint - 129.99 for two lines 1500 mintues,
UNLIMITED:
mobile to mobile
anytime any mobile
Turn by Turn GPS
Data
Text
MMS
TV
UNLIMITED FREE TETHERING
Sucks to be on verizon. And yes the service might not be as good as on verizon but LUCKY ME live in Los Angeles where there is 3G everywhere I go :)
oh yeah, and there is nothing your Doid does than my Touch Pro can, besides the handicap multi touch
Pretty much this.
Y'all realize that at&t charges the same amount for tethering, right? Comes to be around $60 a month.
Ahahhahh, keep telling yourself that...as I upgrade my G1 to yet a newer more robust Adroid rom...I love the smell of freedom!
Um... yeah, you can count me out. I haven't had to pay for tethering in the past and I'm not going to start now.
Man, between this and the new ETF policy, Verizon is getting GREEDY. And I thought AT&T was bad. Turns out they're maybe not so bad after all.
I have a question. If you are tethered, does that mean you cannot receive calls since the Verizon network cannot do calls and data at the same time as I understand it? If so, why on earth would you want to use tethering with this or any Verizon phone?
The call will interrupt the data connection until the call is over. Then one may resume browsing.
For posterity, I thought I'd guess at the intent...
Wealthy, Greedy and Misanthropic: the actors responsible for the civilizations running rampant across the globe at present. From Imperialism to Oppressive self serving ideologies.
Come on Engadget! Let people vent and curse like sailor about this kind of garbage!
At least be forthcoming and say we don't like that kind of language instead of giving people false hope that an email was sent to post the comment they want to say.