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Andorid 2.2, vzw charging $20 for mobile hotspot ?? ugh

aaron19953

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2009
162
11
Dover, DE
Anyone else catch the info on 2.2 coming out from engadget ?
Motorola Droid X for Verizon official: July 15 for $200 -- Engadget

"while the mobile hotspot service will run $20 extra a month with a 2GB cap and 5 cent per MB overage (data consumed on the phone itself is unlimited)"

verizon, why am i not surprised.. guess it's time to root, i'll wait for the latest released 2.2 to get rooted..
 
Anyone else catch the info on 2.2 coming out from engadget ?
Motorola Droid X for Verizon official: July 15 for $200 -- Engadget

"while the mobile hotspot service will run $20 extra a month with a 2GB cap and 5 cent per MB overage (data consumed on the phone itself is unlimited)"

verizon, why am i not surprised.. guess it's time to root, i'll wait for the latest released 2.2 to get rooted..

I recieved a email directly from verizon today and it said that the phone requires a 2yr contract and a 29.99 data plan . it does not say anything about what is on the engadget site.
 
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Unless I'm mistaken, if you're rooted and running a Froyo rom (I'm running NexBeast FRF57 V0.1), you already have wireless tether bundled with the rom. I've not actually tried to use it yet, but I've turned it on, and it seems to work. Why then would you need PDANet, Barnacle, or anything from the Market to achieve the same thing?

And if that's true, how will Verizon ever charge us (the rooted) for tether if we can do it now?
 
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Actually the Guy said that it was $20 a month for an additional 2 gigs of data. I don't exactly know what that means, but we'll see. I don't think it'll only be a 2 gig cap though. Maybe it is the 5 gigs like they do for other smartphones plus an additional 2 gigs which would be 7. And with all that phone can do once it gets froyo, who would even need to tether anymore?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
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paying by the MB would never be realistic unless data rates dropped to pennies on the dollar. Maybe someday, but right now the infrastructure just isn't up to par.

Yea, but why couldn't it be? $5 for a gig, people would get 6 gigs of usage and still pay the current $30 a month data fee. A lot of people don't get that high.

I can understand Verizon in this regard. If they just turned on wifi tether and said "go nuts, use all the data you want," their network would bog down and everyone on this forum would start complaining about Verizon the same way people with iphones complain about At&t. They have to charge more, if not for a deterrent from everyone do it, then for a way to pay for the additional infrastructure.
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong... ( and I may be, because I haven't tried Tethering yet )

Doesn't Tethering involve connecting your Droid to your computer via the USB cable and then using the phones internet...

While a Mobile Hotspot would turn your Droid into a virtual wireless router so you could then surf the internet with any nearby wifi enabled device, such as an Ipod Touch or Ipad??
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong... ( and I may be, because I haven't tried Tethering yet )

Doesn't Tethering involve connecting your Droid to your computer via the USB cable and then using the phones internet...

While a Mobile Hotspot would turn your Droid into a virtual wireless router so you could then surf the internet with any nearby wifi enabled device, such as an Ipod Touch or Ipad??

The Droid can do both. Currently you need to be rooted to use WiFi tethering (mobile hotspot), however, because it requires the use of a custom kernel.
 
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Yea, but why couldn't it be? $5 for a gig, people would get 6 gigs of usage and still pay the current $30 a month data fee. A lot of people don't get that high.

I can understand Verizon in this regard. If they just turned on wifi tether and said "go nuts, use all the data you want," their network would bog down and everyone on this forum would start complaining about Verizon the same way people with iphones complain about At&t. They have to charge more, if not for a deterrent from everyone do it, then for a way to pay for the additional infrastructure.

It's nice to see someone thinking reasonably instead of just complaining that they feel like Verizon is being unfair.
 
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It is a bit ridiculous, I mean, on my home internet I pay $60/mo ($45 if I had standard RR) and can download upwards of 200GB. On our phones we'd be paying $30 for the data, plus another $20 for tethering. So we'd be paying about the same price, for a lot less GB, and a hell of a lot less speed than on a regular home connection.

I really don't see the point in adding another surcharge (other than to be greedy) on top of the $30/mo data package. Sure more people might tether if it was free, but do you honestly think enough people even know what the hell tethering is to even impact the network? Do you really think the majority of the population would settle for a slow 3G network on their desktop computers all the time? I can see it being handy to use for your laptop sitting outside the reach of one of the many public wifi hotspots in your area, but using it enough to really matter? Doubtful.

People act like Verizon is hurting for money, they're not. They bank on the fact that the vast majority of their users don't even come close to using what they're actually paying for. They could easily upgrade their infrastructure, but why when only a small minority really stress it. Upgrades cut into the profit margin, and that, is the only thing they care about.

But then again, I don't use tethering anyway, so whatever they wanna charge for it doesn't affect me one bit. I think the only time I've even started the app was to test and see if it worked, and to briefly hook my mom's laptop up to the net at her house to show off my phone.
 
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I think it's something to consider the mentality people get when something becomes infinite. Like with my above example of my electric bill, a lot of people, when they aren't footing the electric bill for something, are way less conscious of how much they use than someone who is. Think about people who will, no longer worrying about violating fair use, will leave their phone running all night, running bit torrent or something.

"Sure more people might tether if it was free, but do you honestly think enough people even know what the hell tethering is to even impact the network?"

Hell, a year ago, how many people knew about the Android OS compared to now? Data use over the air is already skyrocketing, suddenly give everyone the ability to get the equivalent of slow DSL nearly anywhere in the country. 3G may not be the top of the line, but I don't think it's that "slow"

Edit: Oh, and I don't think comparing it to the home cable cost is that fair. Getting a landline for your phone is just a few dollar these days with the right deal, yet cell phone plans are much higher. You have fast cable in your house, but you can't unplug your modem, take it to any other cable outlet in the country, and have a connection still
 
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People act like Verizon is hurting for money, they're not. They bank on the fact that the vast majority of their users don't even come close to using what they're actually paying for. They could easily upgrade their infrastructure, but why when only a small minority really stress it. Upgrades cut into the profit margin, and that, is the only thing they care about.

It's naive to think any publicly owned company wouldn't be motivated purely by profits.

With the release of the new Android smartphones, there has been an explosion of 3G data usage for Verizon. Comparing wireless data communications to wired really isn't fair either.

Offering tethering for free could be a dangerous thing for them to do, as they might be stuck in a situation where they couldn't legally go back on the decision and start charging users for it. Now that data speeds through 3G are very tolerable for web browsing, it's not unlikely that people could start relying on their phone as their main connection. There have been quite a few people on this site who have considered replacing their broadband wired connection and just using their data plan and wireless tethering.
 
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You obviously missed the point of it's real world use. People who use a ton of data, aren't going to want to wait on a 3G connection to get it when they can have much faster in their home. It's really only handy for the few times you are away from home and need the net on a laptop or want to show off. Yes, there are people who still cannot get internet in their homes that is much faster than 3G, but those are few and far between. And chances are, if they can't get highspeed in their location, they'll have a crappy 3g signal as well.

The latency over 3G isn't something a gamer would want to put up with either, so they would look for a more dedicated form of access also. Hell, it's really not even fast enough to stream a lot of internet content aside from music and low bandwidth (ie: pixelated) video.

Of course there are going to be freeloaders who will use their phone for access, put up with all the negatives, simply because they're too cheap to get a real internet connection. These people don't make up a number big enough to even matter in the grand scheme of things though.

Charges for data over the cell networks have always been obscene, and this practice has not changed at all over the past 10 years (guesstimate). It does not cost Verizon near what you think it does to provide this bandwidth, but since they can get away with charging whatever they want, they will continue to do so. Who honestly believes 1 MB is still worth $1.99 if you happen to go over on your limited plan? It costs Verizon maybe 1/100 cent for that tiny amount of bandwidth. BTW, this doesn't just go for Verizon.. the whole industry is guilty of following this outdated standard.

Going on your example, what's to stop people right now from downloading mass amounts of data directly to their phone? They don't even have to be tethered. But as it is now, they could download 10GB directly to their phone for the $29.99 data fee, but if they want 1GB on their PC they have to cough up an extra $20?
 
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Pay per byte sounds fair to me. I mentioned a while ago $5 GB would be acceptable. People would use wifi at home, and not do crazy stuff like xbox live or bit torrents over 3G/4G, thus keeping the networks fast.

At least paying by the GB would make more sense than by the MB. They should allow tethering, have a set amount of bandwidth to be transferred to the phone to use in whatever way you want. Then if you go over, pay by the GB. This way people can tether all they want on their $30/mo data plan, and pay more for it if they do stupid stuff like leech torrents all night.
 
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You obviously missed the point of it's real world use. People who use a ton of data, aren't going to want to wait on a 3G connection to get it when they can have much faster in their home. It's really only handy for the few times you are away from home and need the net on a laptop or want to show off. Yes, there are people who still cannot get internet in their homes that is much faster than 3G, but those are few and far between. And chances are, if they can't get highspeed in their location, they'll have a crappy 3g signal as well.

The latency over 3G isn't something a gamer would want to put up with either, so they would look for a more dedicated form of access also. Hell, it's really not even fast enough to stream a lot of internet content aside from music and low bandwidth (ie: pixelated) video.

Of course there are going to be freeloaders who will use their phone for access, put up with all the negatives, simply because they're too cheap to get a real internet connection. These people don't make up a number big enough to even matter in the grand scheme of things though.

Charges for data over the cell networks have always been obscene, and this practice has not changed at all over the past 10 years (guesstimate). It does not cost Verizon near what you think it does to provide this bandwidth, but since they can get away with charging whatever they want, they will continue to do so. Who honestly believes 1 MB is still worth $1.99 if you happen to go over on your limited plan? It costs Verizon maybe 1/100 cent for that tiny amount of bandwidth.

Going on your example, what's to stop people right now from downloading mass amounts of data directly to their phone? They don't even have to be tethered. But as it is now, they could download 10GB directly to their phone for the $29.99 data fee, but if they want 1GB on their PC they have to cough up an extra $20?

I'm struggling to understand your point. Verizon has always been pretty stingy with the extras on their phones. I wasn't pleased at all when I first got my Blackberry Curve and found out the GPS was disabled unless I paid monthly for VZ Navigator.

I'm sure Verizon has done a lot more analysis on data usage and have forecast trends and they only have to look at AT&T to see what happens when you overstretch your data network. Your opinion that there aren't enough users who would start using their 3G tether as a major source of internet bandwidth is just speculation.

I do agree that any user who really downloads a lot of data would not be happy with only using a 3G connection, but even browsing the web nowadays chews through quite a bit of data. And this also shows that people will pay for something if they really want it.

As far as using huge amounts of data with your phone by itself, it's just not practical. No one wants to sit there browsing the web for hours on their tiny cell phone screen, so they don't do it, even though they could. If you were able to just tether your laptop to your phone, then perhaps you would be more inclined to use up that bandwidth, which is why Verizon wants to make you pay for it. A computer just has the capacity to chew up bandwidth with much greater ease than a phone.

As it stands now, I occasionally use wifi tethering and I know a lot of others do as well. I don't think Verizon really has a problem with that - at the very least it wouldn't be cost effective for them to track down people who tether illegally. If you make it free, and unlimited, then you open the flood gates.
 
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Actually the Guy said that it was $20 a month for an additional 2 gigs of data. I don't exactly know what that means, but we'll see. I don't think it'll only be a 2 gig cap though. Maybe it is the 5 gigs like they do for other smartphones plus an additional 2 gigs which would be 7. And with all that phone can do once it gets froyo, who would even need to tether anymore?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

That's the way I read it. An additional 2GB of wifi tether data on top of 5GB of regular usb tether data.
 
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It is a bit ridiculous, I mean, on my home internet I pay $60/mo ($45 if I had standard RR) and can download upwards of 200GB. On our phones we'd be paying $30 for the data, plus another $20 for tethering. So we'd be paying about the same price, for a lot less GB, and a hell of a lot less speed than on a regular home connection.

I really don't see the point in adding another surcharge (other than to be greedy) on top of the $30/mo data package. Sure more people might tether if it was free, but do you honestly think enough people even know what the hell tethering is to even impact the network? Do you really think the majority of the population would settle for a slow 3G network on their desktop computers all the time? I can see it being handy to use for your laptop sitting outside the reach of one of the many public wifi hotspots in your area, but using it enough to really matter? Doubtful.

People act like Verizon is hurting for money, they're not. They bank on the fact that the vast majority of their users don't even come close to using what they're actually paying for. They could easily upgrade their infrastructure, but why when only a small minority really stress it. Upgrades cut into the profit margin, and that, is the only thing they care about.

But then again, I don't use tethering anyway, so whatever they wanna charge for it doesn't affect me one bit. I think the only time I've even started the app was to test and see if it worked, and to briefly hook my mom's laptop up to the net at her house to show off my phone.

Totally agree with that point. I pay almost as much for my smartphone as I do my home internet. There's a problem with that. I understand charging for it, but the prices need to be A LOT more reasonable.
 
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