Verizon confirms DROID tethering cost, will ask subscribers to double-down on their data plan
By Tim Stevens 
posted Nov 6th 2009 7:18AM
posted Nov 6th 2009 7:18AM
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This is the way it has always been. If you have the $30 plan it cost you an additional $30. If you have the $45 plan it cost you an additional $15.
most overrated phone of the year
Has nothing to do with the phone, has to do with the carrier. All of their smart phones are priced this way.
I can confirm this. I have been paying $30 for the data plan on my omnia for a while. What they dont want you to know is that you can hack these phones to allow tethering even with the $30 plan, and whats more is that you are unlimited in bandwidth when you hack it. All they see on their end is a phone using the data, and the $30 is supposedly "unlimited". I've gone over 5gb many times with my laptop on vacation with no problems ;). Smart people will find a way.
Or you could tether it yourself using online tutorials and not pay the extra fee.
Yes you can "hack" it and not pay the tethering fee, but people should be warned. You can also get hit with a nice large bill or be terminated if they find out and especially if you abuse it.
You wonder why you're paying $30? It's because of people "hacking" to get steal stuff. How about if you can't afford it, you don't get it - or get a different job if you do want it.
and that's SUPER retarded of Verizon, money bragging whores!
what do they care what color are my bytes, driod or computer. i'm still using my minuscule 5gigs, i'm still using their network whether its from the phone or tethered.
trainwrecka, you're paying an additional $720 on top of $2100 over the course of two years because _they can get away with it._ Data is data, and they shouldn't care whether the endpoint is your phone or your laptop. The clever people who figure out how to tether without paying an additional $30 a month are the only ones in the entire telecom business that have the consumers' interest at heart.
Without them it'd be even worse.
What's the difference between the $30 and $45 data plans? When I was on Verizon I was paying $40 for data, which I assume has gone up $5 a month sometime in the past 2-3 years. I wasn't aware of a cheaper plan at the time. Is the $30 the 5GB plan, and $45 is unlimited?
There are programs to "sneak" your way into tethering on the Palm Centro. I imagine there will be similar ones for Android.
LIke b said, this isn't anything new. Since the $30 plan was released, this is how it's been.
In regards to the data limitation, When using data on the phone itself, one isn't limited to the amount of data transferred. However, when transferring data via tethering, one is limited to 5GB. Any data transfer dealing with a computer and not a phone's data, it will be limited to 5GB. This is how it is with all of their smartphones and data cards.
For now, VZW isn't doing anything special when it comes to their smartphones and plans. One would think with the big marketing push VZW has done with the DROID line, they would be introducing some new and more competitive plans.
Engadget surely loves this glass ceiling though...
http://newyork.wiederbe.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dscn2693_800x600shkl.jpg
OMG I HATE AT&t!!!! :/
"There's a fee for that."
Just because it's always been that way makes it ok? I have been tethering on a $30 Sprint SERO plan for 2 years with no extra charges.
@fuzzball: "When using data on the phone itself, one isn't limited to the amount of data transferred."
Really? My understanding is that Verizon charges $30/month for smartphone data plans, and that is CAPPED at 5GB/month, not "unlimited". They charge you 5 cents/megabyte if you go over that.
Then, if you add tethering, they are giving you 5GB/month MORE, for a total of 10GB/month for $60/month, and will charge you by the megabyte over that.
Where did you find "unlimited data on the phone itself" on Verizon's site?
(FWIW, AT&T's iPhone plans currently are as you describe)
banksta3 - admit it, you work for sprint
LoL, no. I work for Fred Meyer.
@totoro - No it is unlimited data for your own handset. I have gone over 5GiB many times without having to pay any extra on my bill.
Well, HD2 it is. :/
well att might be as bad... so far t-mobile has truly unlimited i think and they dont charge to tether but their 3g coverge sucks
yeah i have tmoble and have been tethering for free for about 3 years now. heck im writing this post while tethered to my g1
i think according to tmobile's TOS/AUP, you can't tether at all
Might be the norm... but still outrageous to pay double for the 'luxury' to use the data allotment how you like.
now the DROID dropped!
On man you guyz in the US live in a Cellular data stoneage.
I have a 2year subscribtion for a Finnish operator called saunalahti. I pay like 69€ which includes 3000minutes talk per month, 3000 sms per month, 3000 mms per month, the montly installment for the phone (HTC hero), and truly unlimited 5mb data connection which I can tehther or share over wifi any way I want.
Lol, don't bait the North Americans - they already know about us Europeans :)
Yeah, and gasoline is 1/3 the price here. Electricity is cheaper in the US. We pay less for computers, game consoles, and most other gadgets.
What's your point?
How much do you pay when you leave Finland?
Finland
5,000,000 people
338,145 sq km
Entire EU
499,794,855 people
4,324,782 sq km
US
300,000,000 people
9,826,675 sq km
See the difference? Which would be less costly to provide wireless service to? Hint: population density has a big influence on cost.
@ XiozTzu
Hint: The US (31 people/km2) has more than double the population density of Finland (approx. 15 people/km2)
Finland
5,000,000 people
338,145 sq km
=14.78 people/sq km
US
300,000,000 people
9,826,675 sq km
=30.52 people/sq km
i can't see your point
Of course Finland has a lower population density to the US ( US is twice as dense as Finland ), but why let facts get in the way of some good Europe bashing. The fact of the matter prices in Europe are seeming unrelated to population density for each country. It usually has to do with countries having some balls when it comes to regulations and preventing companies from creating oligopolies by using competing protocols.
In the US we have no less than 4! 3g broadband networks ( EVDO, UTMS, WiMAX, and UTMS/AWS ) and even more voice networks including such gems as iDEN. Soon we will be adding LTE to the mix, but I guarantee that both AT&T and VZW will make sure that their networks are subtly incompatible with each other by some means so that phones can not go back and forth, that might actually create real competition on plan pricing.
In addition we have 2 of the top 4 providers using compatible protocols ( VZW and Sprint ). Problem is both providers use custom firmware that makes the phone useless to all but the toughest hacker to hack and reflash to allow use on the other network. It's amazing that the FCC just sits there with their thumbs up their butts chasing Google over GV, but won't say boo to VZW and Sprint about the lock-in on compatible phones.
Don't u get us people in the down under get started on our mobile services.
If US is in the stone age, then we have yet to be evolved into homo sapiens. >_
Depends on what competition you are talking about... handset competition or provider competition. In fact, there is competition in the networks they provide opposed to the transferability of phones (you even said it yourself, there are 4 and another incoming...) There IS competition. It's just not the kind YOU like.
@Andir3.0
No we essentially have 4 monopolies with distinct and non-overlapping strengths. If you are lucky enough to live in a populated area you might have 2 decent choices with neither competing on price whatsoever. If you live in a highly populated area you can also optionally choose up to another 2-3 which are "value" carriers that compete on price but have balls for coverage compare to the other two.
Devices are essentially single use since by the time they are off contract they are outmoded and can't be used on any other carrier.
sts_fin, thanks for the info. but I'll still choose to live in US. You know... the country that made DROID and iPhone? (as well as cellphone, internet and touch screen for you to use data on)
You're welcome to use our stone age technology.
69 Euro comes to $102 at today's exchange rate. That sounds pretty expensive to me. I'm happy with paying $30 a month for all the minutes, SMS, and WAP internet I need on my old dumb phone (1200 min/1200 txt plan + 50MB internet on PPC).
I currently have UNLIMITED Text.. 5gb data, 1000 minutes, plus free mobile to mobile (so my family and friends and 82million other people are FREE) Free nights and weekends (WHICH your 3000 minutes DOESN'T INCLUDE). Foreign people always forget that it costs American's NOTHING to make phone calls on the weekends. You know the 2 days a week. Thats 28% of the time FREE. Also 9 hours a day its TOTALLY FREE (NIGHTS) So thats 37% of the time during the week it's free.
I pay $100 per month. (and have a 2nd line for the wife that shares the minutes, she also gets free nights, free weekends, free texting). I much more likely to go over 3000 texts than I am to go over 5gb surfing the web.
I don't live on my computer! When I want to download a movie, I download it at home and then watch it.
See Europeans are FORCED to stay in their houses because the government makes gas sooo expensive. Also they charge them higher road taxes yet have much less highway infrastructure.
Americans cell phone plans aren't subsidized, but they allow people to travel wherever they want.
Lets say your little Peugot / Renault / Citroen car gets 50mpg x $7.50 per gallon (on LOW estimate) at 13000 miles per year = $1,950 per year.
Now a Prius (Much larger and can travel with 4 people and cheaper than the small cars in Europe) will get 48mpg on $2.60 per gallon = $704.16 per year.
We are saving $1,245.83 per year or $103.81 PER MONTH in fuel costs!
So you have fun sitting on your laptop/cell phone bragging about how cheap it is while you look at my photos on Flikr of the places I can afford to drive/fly.
I will be driving to see the country. Memphis BarbQue, Miami Beaches, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Glacier National Park, the California Redwoods, Vail Skiing, Lake Tahoe ... etc.
BTW - I've been to Denmark, Germany, and Poland (3times and going again this summer) and have rented multiple diesel cars, used my cell phone over there and can say without a doubt that the coverage here is MUCH greater than over there. Even though theirs "looks" like a blanket, there are A LOT of holes in coverage.
I'm not quite sure I follow. How are Verizon and Droid the reason you hate white people?
If you are constantly using this thing for an in-car GPS seems like you go through 5GB very quickly...am I wrong?
is that bating for the 'amirite' guy?
Not so much. My tilt is usually running waze or google maps with latitude turned on. I'm running around 1-2Gb a month. Even with my work's exchange server pushing to me all the time.
Wrong. Even if you're using aerial view, it still doesn't amount to much data.. I don't know the exact figures, but the maps/aerials are not high res enough for it to matter
The tilt has a 320x240 resolution DRIOD is 854x480 or over 5 times the number of pixels. That will require larger and higher resolution maps in order to really show off the device. It will eat through that 5gb cap in no time flat.
"That will require larger and higher resolution maps in order to really show off the device"
BZZZT... try again.
The 5GB data cap IS ONLY FOR TETHERING! How many times do we go through this?! You have unlimited data ON the phone/smartphone, but tethering has a 5GB cap.
Got to love Windows Mobile in these situations.
They can never really block tethering on those phones.
Hopefully someone in the marketplace will make a program to bypass it or something.
I have had free tethering on my Windows mobile phones for years now. The HTC 8525, HTC Tilt, HTC Touch Pro, and now the HTC Tilt2. Free tethering on ATT's HSDPA network. And I'm still using the old "MediaNet" $15 unlimited plan!!
I like android, but I'd never buy ANYTHING from Motorola again..
*cough* http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/ *cough*
*cough* http://www.junefabrics.com/android/ *cough*
I really need to get that cough looked into. I hope it's not swine flu.
ya my winmo phone on sprint isn't looking so bad, love the tethering.
yeah, the touch pro from Alltel was the easiest to hack...i used the Windows Mobile WiFi Router that costed a $30 one-time fee, and i had unlimited anytime free WiFi.
This is outrageous. If you use it for casual use, say you use it every now and then when you're not a home, can't find a Wi-Fi Spot, and need to do that one thing that you just can't do right on your phone...you're paying 30 friggin' dollars a month for a once or twice a month thing. Now if you use it as your primary internet, you're still paying 30 dollars a month for a measly 5GB!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there a scenario where this is actually worth it?
this is exactly why I won't be getting a Droid. most of the time I'm near wifi at work or home. no need for a data plan this expensive. I don't even really need a voice plan as I use voip most of the time. it would be nice to have an option for 3g data when on vacation but unfortunately Verizon doesn't cater to people like myself...
Considering thousands of business users out there already use this plan (because, once again, this is no different from their existing phones and plans) - I'd say it works for the people who need it.
If you only use it occasionally, and know you are going to use it (like for a trip), you can call verizon and have them activate it, then call up and turn it off when you get back. They pro-rate for the week or so you use, and since it's just a feature, it doesn't affect your plan or contract length.
Before I read your comment I was about to ask if he tethers because for that just get a 3g card if you don't have one already.
It would be nice if you could get something like 500MB of tethering included, and if you go over that, they'll start charging you. It would be more reasonable, and would take care of most peoples "I just need to hop online for 2 min to get this file sent out" needs.
This phone is WAY too overhyped. Typical Verizon BS. Much better you phones you could get for Verizon.
I can understand how apple pulls this off, but can't anyone create apps for Android and distribute them as they see fit? Won't someone create an application shortly that will bypass this all together?
Yes.
if someone creates an app like joikuspot, I might consider buying an android phone. this is a killer app for me. love it on my e71.
someone coughed a few posts above
you know this makes sense, given that a normal monthly 5gb data plan is $60. If anything VZ is SAVING you $30 for an unlimited Cell Phone/Notebook data plan. Good deal imo if you need it
Sucky news.
Glad I have free tethering on my JB iPhone 3gs! :P
this is official tethering not a hack. with this it gives you another 5gb for your laptop.
Because paying paying $30 a month for "official" tethering when you could do the exact same thing for free is sooooo much better, not to mention "legal."
yeah, I see why the dude was low ranked
:/
As soon as the phone can be rooted everybody will have free wifi tethering. Rogers in Canada is about to do the same thing, but with the free wifi tether app they'll never be able to figure out what I'm using my data for, so don't worry too much. I'm sure it wont take too long to root such a popular device.
I predict the device will be rooted within 10 days.
just a wild guess
No, I don't know who "you know" is.
I have a Sprint Mifi and a PSPGo. I pay $50/month corp plan for the Mifi with Sprint and use the PSPGo & Ipod Touch for all my remote calls and web usage. Last month I reached 600MB out of my 5GB which goes to show how far 5GB really can go when you're not pilphering.
I'm assuming the DROID has a file system that the phone user can access to make the data connection really worth it and take it up a notch over the iPhone. With the iPhone the only things you can download of significance are from the iTunes music store, otherwise the choice is to steam or not at all because the iPhone lacks a filesystem that any user can access.
A good example is one of my favourite bands sent me an email stating I could get a free song from them directly. I can't download it with the iPhone, I had to wait till I got home 2 days later to download the file on my laptop. And this was a music file after all.
An un-jailbroken iphone is practically a dumbphone.
iFile + attachment downloader FTW
haha 30$ for tethering :D
every operator outside the US just includes it for free because it's actually not a separate service from regular data transfer
Yeah, next thing you know the US operators will charge for INCOMING calls. :D
Oh wait...
What do you mean? They actually charge for incoming calls?
@G: Yes, for incoming calls and SMSs (MMSs too?).
I don't know if all companies do this, but from what I read it seems like it's the norm in the US.
To be fair, tho, we also pay for incoming calls (and MMSs, but not SMSs) when we're roaming in another European country and the US itself is pretty big, so maybe we should consider this, when making comparisons... but yeah, it's still seems like a weird practice to charge incoming calls and texts in your own country.
Pretty much shows all the cell/mobile compaines in the US suck because of expensive rates in some way or another. I own a iPhone but for teathering, I use the Sprint WinMo phone my employer provided because of two reasons: Its easy to chane the teathering connection via the regestery In WinMo so no need to pay the extra charge and WMWifiRouter. I hate WinMo with a passion thanks to the PDA they gave me but that software is awsome.
it's android, just wait for a modified rom that allows tethering.
Maybe Tetherberry will create an app for android like they do on the Blackberry. One time fee of $25 for the app and you're good to go for life.
Yeah wait. If the whole OS is open source, shouldn’t someone (or lots of someones) be able to create an app/utility to enable tethering without Verizon knowing?
Does anyone know how this compares to a Sprint plan of 450 minutes, Unlimited Data and Messages for $69.99/month? Is the Data truly "unlimited" or is there a 5GB cap like Verizon's plan?
Sprint's plan is superior. They do not have a data cap (but I've heard/read they can see if you're abusing it, like, say, if you hack in tethering support to your phone then download terabytes worth of torrents). The anytime minutes are a bit on the low side if you have the cheapest plan, but they make up for it with unlimited night/weekend, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile on any network.
Thanks for the reply, WitherSpartan. I've been a Verizon customer for the last 4 years and am now in a position to be done with their expensive plans. I currently pay $60/month just for 450 minutes and unlimited text messaging. No data. If I do use data now, it's $1.99 per MB. As much as I love the specs on the new Droid, the plans are just too expensive. I've been trying to decide on switching over to Sprint and trying out the Hero or Moment.
Sooner or later Verizon and some of the other providers are going to get Sued over this so called "Unlimited" data plans. It is at best questionable and at worst unethical to advertise "unlimited" when you really have a cap of 5GB. That's just messed up.
Thank Allah our socialist european governments are keeping an eye on our cell phone prices. I pay 20EUR for truly unlimitted 7,2Mbps. Laptop, Cell Phone, does not matter.
I'm kind of surprised nobody (ahem.... at&t) has sued their butts over misuse of the word "unlimited" in their advertising.
I do not think that word means what they think it means.
Well... technically you can't sue over misuse of vocabulary (maybe in France ??) but I guess something like false advertising would be appropriate.
"Inconceivable!!"
I'm looking on the site now at Verizon and for a 450 minutes and unlimited web browsing plan it says $79.99. That seems higher than the $30 mentioned above.
I think you are looking at the Premium plan instead of the Connect plan, which includes Vcast, which is all but worthless if you have the entire internet at your fingertips. The Connect plan is the Basic ($39.99) plus the $30 for the data for smart phones.
Will someone please sue AT&T and sprint and verizon and t-mobile for constantly marketing internet access as 'UNLIMITED" when its not. I can't beleive the government lets them show all these ads and say it over and over again when it's a huge lie. This is false advertising at its worst. Maybe we should start a website to get the FCC to do something. or maybe we should send all our old dictionaries to the phone companies so they can look up the word UNLIMITED. This really pisses me off, especially when i was told by Verizon that I had gone past my UNLIMITED data plan and they told me that I must have been doing something illegal when I wasn't I just use Youtube and Netflix a lot and I'm a DJ so I download a lot of songs, legally from DJ pool websites.
"Will someone please sue AT&T and sprint and verizon and t-mobile for constantly marketing internet access as 'UNLIMITED""
Technically, all you have to do is go over the limits... wait for the bill... then go to court to get the laws changed. Until someone contests it, it can only be a class action which doesn't get as much traction in the law changing arena if I understand correctly.
I've had sprint for yrs. Had the simply everything plan & now have the any moblie plan. I'm constantly one the web and never did I run into a situation where I was told I maxed out. So unlimited is unlimited on Sprint. Idk about the other folks cus sprint is the only carrier I've been on ;)
I've had sprint for yrs. Had the simply everything plan & now have the any moblie plan. I'm constantly one the web and never did I run into a situation where I was told I maxed out. So unlimited is unlimited on Sprint. Idk about the other folks cus sprint is the only carrier I've been on ;)
I've been looking for something like this ! Thanks for the link MJ !
This comment is why I hate idiots.
That's not really fair to those of us with MobileBroadband accounts who only get 5GB for $60 a month. Obviously I would be happier if they sold me the same 5GB for $30 a month since I have never gone over but at very least they should give us 10GB for $60 plan.
They will root the phone soon enough and provide tethering anyway. Even without rooting, some programs such as PDAnet allowed you to do USB tethering.
It's been posted in EVERY Android article... how could you miss it?
(It's also getting very spam like... )
@Marc Smith: perhaps because I do not think they specifically say unlimited kb. They simply say unlimited. That could mean unlimited as in you can use it to go anywhere on the net (in comparison to, for example, the Nokia N75 which can only go to mediaNet sites).
Speaking of Nokia N75, it scares me that everyone is paying such high data rates (and having troubles with tethering rules). When I switched from my N75 to my Dev-1 google phone, I kept my $15 dollar-a-month unlimited data plan. Now, I use my Dev-1/G1 to surf as much as I want (and I do it ALOT). I even tether over wifi to my laptop when we go on trips so the kids can have internet (all while the phones in my pocket getting nice and toasty!)...you gotta love that root access on Android!
'Course I'm pretty sure AT&T would hissy if they knew I had a G1...