Verizon says original Droid 'doesn't have the hardware' to support a mobile hotspot
By Donald Melanson 
posted August 2nd 2010 12:19PM
posted August 2nd 2010 12:19PM
This is the week that the original Droid will be getting the Android 2.2 update, but it looks like that update won't be bringing two of the most oft-requested features: tethering and a mobile hotspot. Why's that? While tethering seems to be simply due to a lack of an app that "isn't part of this update," the mobile hotspot issue is a bit more curious -- Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney says that the Droid "doesn't have [the] hardware to support a mobile hotspot." No further explanation than that, but we have a sneaking suspicion that Motorola and Verizon aren't passing over the feature because of a lack of hardware, but because of too much hardware -- namely, the Droid 2 and Droid X.
Correction: It's Verizon making this claim, not Motorola.
Correction: It's Verizon making this claim, not Motorola.
I call BS considering my Rooted droid does it just fine.
@JXCGunrunna
I was just going to say that. I just rooted my roommates new droid over the weekend and installed the mobile hotspot app. She been using it just fine.
@JXCGunrunna these are the same guys scaring the rooting community with eFuse, so i dont think they really would put any consideration into your (albeit excellent) point
@JXCGunrunna
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/
*oops*
@JXCGunrunna
That is total BS. I've seen rooted Droids working as hotspots...
@JXCGunrunna Uh huh. How's that Android "openness" treatin' ya??
@JXCGunrunna
I guess you're never guaranteed anything more than what you purchased...but it is sad when everyone else is getting the update candy, and you're left without.
Then again, there are other options available: Droid Incredible, Droid X, Droid 2 (not to mention what the other carriers are offering).
@peestandingup
Rofl. Just fine, thanks! 1 phone block does not a locked-down OS make.
@JXCGunrunna
How could Motorola possibly think that they could get away with a flat out lie like this. Retraction or "clarification" in 5...4...3...2...
@peestandingup
You are aware Motorola is a third party that's just using Android and therefore are in no way a reflection of the OS or it's openness?
Are you just dumb?
@peestandingup
Just fine, thanks.
Rooting has not been thwarted.
@Tes
It's the latter more than the former, I believe. Either that or it was a misguided attempt to be sarcastic and witty, which crashed and burned.
@JXCGunrunna
There's the possibility that what they mean is the droid can't create a "genuine" wifi network, as what all the rooted ones are doing is creating an adhoc wireless network. But I could be wrong.
@Nolano
I thought of that but at the same time, it would be better than nothing and they could put it in for almost no cost to moto.
@Nolano
Don't defend them, please. They're just lying.
@JXCGunrunna
My rooted Droid does USB and WiFI tethering, too. It's just that when I make it a wifi hotspot, it drains my battery even when plugged in. Maybe Moto should have said that it doesn't have to hardware to do it well? Sure the droid CAN do it, but if it leaves the user dissatisfied, then I can see them reasonably not supporting it.
Also, I'm sure verizon doesn't want to just give away tethering.
@JXCGunrunna
Total BS from Motorola. The real reason?
Real Story: "The reason why there won't be a mobile hotspot function that is actually suppose to be native in Android OS 2.2 is because the carrier, in this case Verizon, wants to charge you extra to tether and use YOUR ALREADY EXISTING DATA for other devices."
Complete A**holes.
Google, please do not leave us to these vultures, Nexus Two needed ASAP!!!!!!
@JXCGunrunn
But hey everybody, our new droid x and droid 2 does. Wink. Looks like "some other" company isn't the only one trying to get customers to buy their new products by saying the old stuff isn't capable. Dang and I thought they were the only ones.
@High
You kidding me? As soon as AT&T realized that they could restrict people without suffering loss of profits, every other mobile company is slowly picking up on it.
@JXCGunrunna
Definite BS, I always suspected when 2.2 started getting out to the Verizon phones, they would disable the tether. since its something they typically (wrongfully imo) charge for. Now It seems like they have motorola doing the dirty work for them.
@JXCGunrunna
I think by mobile hotspot they mean a network that isn't ad-hoc based. wifi-tether works great and all, but it is tied to ad-hoc mode and other android devices seem to not accept ad hoc wifi connections atm. That might be what they're referring to- mobile hotspot in AP mode.
@JXCGunrunna
Add me to the tally. Been running FroYo on my Droid for quite some time. USB tether works with no issues, and Wireless tether works most of the time, and I'm fairly certain the level of modification I have done affect the times the wifi tether does not work.
Motorola = fail
at least they didn't try to force MotoBlur on us... that would have been horrid.
Dear Motorola,
Please do not attempt to copy Apple's business model by locking down your devices for perpetual control and the NWO. We will revolt.
Thanks,
Consumer
@JXCGunrunna Welcome to the group us Behold 2 users were told a similar lie a few months ago. I guess it's pretty common now of days to be lied to about what your phone can or cannot do.
@Da Bears Same here.. but Moto may have a pt. Try to use the hot spot while you have your gps going and talking on your bluetooth headset. The handset is design to have i believe 3 internal antennas, therefore, you should not be able to use all the wireless service at one time. Correct me if I wrong
@JXCGunrunna
It's even more BS since this is Verizon's spokesperson saying this... not Motorola. Sounds like somebody is gonna be making a correction soon to an article XD
@JXCGunrunna In addition, the whole "tethering seems to be simply due to a lack of an app that "isn't part of this update"" thing is BS as both tethering and mobile hotspot are in the Wireless and Network settings in 2.2
If it's not there anymore, it's because they screwed around with Android. Again.
@JXCGunrunna
Droid doesn't?
@etwashoo2
Verizon is making the mistake, not Moto.
@Plazmic Flame
Name me one carrier anywhere that gives you tethering without charging extra for it.
Unofficial tethering solutions(IE wifi tether, easytether, pdanet, etc) don't count.
The only way I've ever gotten tethering for free, from any carrier, is by doing things that are most likely terms of service violations.
I'm not saying that Verizon is justified in saying this, as it's clearly not true, or at least not a whole truth, but like it or not, carriers will charge for tethering for as long as they can, because it's a feature that costs them more money.
Once I started tethering my data usage went up by between two and five times, and I was already a heavy data user.
@oldmanhorton what's so fake about efuse? You do know that the milestone has a similarily locked bootloader and it still to this day cannot flash roms and it doesn't have an efuse. Sounds pretty much like what the media made it out to be to me but hey the devs have surprised me before and they do a great job so my fingers are crossed either way verizon and moto are taking.more after apple than they are google and the open handset alliance.
@Nolano Almost every carrier outside of the US? Our wireless companies here are terrible. Though Verizon does give free hotspot to Pre Plus users.
@Plazmic Flame It's called the Att club.
@JXCGunrunna They can make up BS about the Droid, but why are they crippling the Droid 2 and Droid X as well? 2.2 is supposed to come with wifi hotspoting built in, but Verizon is having Motorola disable it. They are just forcing people to use their paid wifi hotspot plan. I thought the whole point of Android was to have it open and not limit what's already prebuilt into the OS.
@rutter9
Ad-hoc wifi tethering DOES NOT EQUAL mobile hotspot.
lots of wifi noobs in this thread
@logicbombde
Froyo also does ad hoc, not infrastructure mode.
@JXCGunrunna Verizon Jedi Mind Trick Fail: Those are the Droids we're looking for.
@Kanga
It's Verizon people they block everything that will stop them from making more money off you. Suckers thats what u get fir sticking with them...I dropped them four years ago and have never looked back and wil never again
@bemymonkey
Wrong, it does AP mode, not Ad-hoc. My Evo on Cyanogen Mod 6 has 3 devices connected to it rite nao.
@Nolano you might wanna check out the palm pre plus and pixi plus on verizon. Free mobile hotspot.
@Master of the
That's right.
your HTC EVO
not the moto Doroid
This is correct. No Droid has the ability to create a mobile hot spot. We all have the same thing, its an ad hoc network. If only everyone else would realize this...
@JXCGunrunna What they mean is, they can't monitor your usage properly and make sure you're not downloading their servers into oblivion.
@JXCGunrunna
Agree.
I call BS as well.
@LazarusDark
I was waiting for the official OTA update... but this may push me to rooting.
@NBAJWill55
An ad-hoc net work is not an Access Point and therefore not a TRUE HOTSPOT with the ability to host multiple users.
a true hot spot runs in infrastructure mode
@Nolano
Telus
@Nolano You're most likely right. Adhoc networks suffer from security issues as they can't do much beyond WEP, which of course is really bad compared to WPA-WPA2, so they probably decided it was best to not implement it at all than to implement something with half baked security.
@JXCGunrunna Of course it does. But it's in your best interest as well as Verizon's to keep that quiet. If they acknowledged and supported tethering, they would charge a lot extra for it. As a Droid owner who uses his phone to tether five days a week, I'm very happy that Verizon wants to lie about this.
And I wouldn't pay 20 bucks for it anyways