Help Wireless 3G Hotspot?

[Ncage1974]

Hey guys. I just got a WiFi IPad so i'm wanting to wireless tether. I already had PDNet for my notebook but of course thats not going to work for the IPad. I looked at the 3G Hotspot feature on the incredible and of course i tried it just to see if it would work and it doesn't. You just get a verizon page when you try to browse the web. I know in the past you had to root to be able to tether wirelessly. With Froyo does that still hold true or is there some type of app you can download off the android marketplace? I don't know if i'm big on rooting my phone. Verizon i think will charge $20 for the convenience right?

thanks,

 

[Terabethia]

Correct, Verizon charges $20 to use that feature. There is a work around for that but honestly I don't feel right putting it up myself, because I think it's not only theft of services, but also COULD be illegal. Feel free to look into it and make your own call though.

If you are rooted, you can get an app called Wireless Tether off the market.

 

[Ncage1974]

Correct, Verizon charges $20 to use that feature. There is a work around for that but honestly I don't feel right putting it up myself, because I think it's not only theft of services, but also COULD be illegal. Feel free to look into it and make your own call though.

If you are rooted, you can get an app called Wireless Tether off the market.

Thanks for the reply. Ya if there is a work around and wouldn't require you to root than thats what i would prefer.

Here are my concerns with rooting:
1. Whether you would still get the micro/major updates that verizon would push out to the phones or if you would essentially have to go and flash a new rom once you heard of the update.

2. I've heard people screwing up their phones by installing custom roms. I haven't investigated it a lot but that was enough to kind of scare me away.

3. Vulnerability problems. I know its already happened on Iphone and i'm sure the same thing could happen on android.I know i wouldn't be installing anything that didn't come from the marketplace though. Also don't know if it opens things up so there could be more vulnerability problems too (app to app for example).

4. Ability to go back to stock verizon/htc. Don't know if this is possible or not and if it is possible is it a hard procedure to go back.

Just trying to decide if its worth it just to give vzw an extra $20 compared to rooting or if my concerns aren't really valid.

 

[Ncage1974]

Anyone Else?

 

[dhays90]

There is a work around for stock. it DOES NOT require root. I've tried it and it works but then switched it back and rooted.

 

[Terabethia]

Thanks for the reply. Ya if there is a work around and wouldn't require you to root than thats what i would prefer.

Here are my concerns with rooting:
1. Whether you would still get the micro/major updates that verizon would push out to the phones or if you would essentially have to go and flash a new rom once you heard of the update.

If you use the new Unrevoked to root the phone, it includes the S-OFF feature. This is what allows you to continue to be able to apply updates. So no problems there.

2. I've heard people screwing up their phones by installing custom roms. I haven't investigated it a lot but that was enough to kind of scare me away.

So don't install custom ROM's. No one says that you have to, I know I don't. Rooting your phone in and of itself just allows you have to complete "root level" access to your phone. What you choose to do with that access is up to you.

3. Vulnerability problems. I know its already happened on Iphone and i'm sure the same thing could happen on android.I know i wouldn't be installing anything that didn't come from the marketplace though. Also don't know if it opens things up so there could be more vulnerability problems too (app to app for example).

So far, nothing. Viruses on Android are extremely rare (actually, they are on the iPhone too, what you are hearing about are holes in the software). As long as you don't go download a bunch of crapapps that you don't know anything about, you'll be just fine.

4. Ability to go back to stock verizon/htc. Don't know if this is possible or not and if it is possible is it a hard procedure to go back.

Yes, it is possible. You can simply turn it back to S-ON and unroot and bam... no sign you ever did a thing.

Just trying to decide if its worth it just to give vzw an extra $20 compared to rooting or if my concerns aren't really valid.

I'd say it's a valid concern because if you are caught, you are going to be owing Verizon some serious money. And since you manipulated their phone to steal their service, there could be legal problems.

 

[Ncage1974]

I'd say it's a valid concern because if you are caught, you are going to be owing Verizon some serious money. And since you manipulated their phone to steal their service, there could be legal problems.

Thanks for your help....I really appreciate it. I guess I didn't quite understand the difference between rooting and custom roms and thought they went hand and hand. Looks like if U just root and don't install custom roms then you will be safe. I guess I will be spending a lot of time in the rooting forum this weekend

 

[Outlaw71]

I have never heard of PDAnet or Wireless Tether being illegal by any means. Android is an open system, app devs are aloud to do just about anything with it that they can come up with. So they figured out how to tether your phone to the internet and put it on the market. You aren't steeling anything, you're already paying for that data through your data plan (it is unlimited after all). What Verizon is charging you for is the ability to tether, not the data that is transfered through the tether (how can you charge someone twice for the same data?).

Think of it this way, say you go down to Shell gas station to get gas for your mower. So you can either buy a gas can at Walmart to haul that gas back to your house to put it into your mower, or you can rent a gas can from Shell to take it back to the house in. Either way, the gas in the can is already paid for, Shell can't recharge you for pouring it out of their gas can and into your mower once you've already paid for it from the pump. All they can do is charge you to rent the can. But if you have your own can then there's nothing they can do about it. Is that stealing?

So you can either pay Verizon $20 dollars a month to let them tether your computer through your phone, or you can pay PDAnet $20 dollars just once to let them do the exact same thing. As for the mobile hot spot... I don't know of any free apps that allow us to use our phones as a hot spot yet, but I'm sure they're working on it.