PdaNet and Sprint's unlimited data plan

[HampTheToker]

I'm new to AF, but I've been lurking here for about 2 months. Did my homework and ended up buying the Samsung Moment and Samsung Exclaim for my girlfriend and I with a new Sprint contract. We're both thoroughly pleased with our phones and our plan.

But I do have a question that I haven't seen addressed here. I jumped through all the hoops and was finally able to install PdaNet 2.17 on both my computer and phone. I tested it a little after getting it connected and was pretty well pleased with the performance of both the phone and the software. However, I will not be tethering my phone again until I can find out whether or not Sprint will bill me for it.

As far as what I can tell from online sources the data plan truly is unlimited and Sprint cannot tell for a fact if my phone is tethered or not, although the bandwidth usage will be significantly higher during tethering sessions. BUT, a friend of mine informed me that Sprint knows when you're tethering and will charge you as if it is a separate line or however they can. All I heard was that it would cost me.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I included the details for clarity's sake and as an insight into the kind of posts the AF community can expect from it's friendly neighborhood HampMan.

Any input to the subject matter will be greatly appreciated and I thank you all in advance.

 

[Robfactory]

They don't know you are tethering. They just see it as data being downloaded. I used it multiple times w/o charges.

 

[itmike]

I work at Radioshack and they don't know when you use a third party app on the phone too tether. Though if you do this keep your usage under 5gb per month. Anything over 5gb a month on their data plans is considered reckless data usage and not considered unlimited. Though if you would have to go over 5gb 3 straight months for them to say something. It's what they call a soft cap, and after 3 months they will ask you too terminate service without penalty. This came through my Sprint rep. Though sometimes I wonder if he knows what he is talking about. I personally go over this 5gb cap monthly but I have an employee plan so I don't know if my account is excluded from the caps.

Though if you want to on the up and up sprint does offer a tethering package on most smart phones for an additional $40 a month.

 

[pwabbit]

They don't know you are tethering. They just see it as data being downloaded. I used it multiple times w/o charges.

Concur, just stay below 5gig. I tether often and I barely made it to 4gig.

 

[geneva54]

So if you have the family plan with Unlimited Data the tethering should be alright with no extra charges?

 

[pwabbit]

So if you have the family plan with Unlimited Data the tethering should be alright with no extra charges?

Yep, it works for me.

 

[Robfactory]

I second that. I've used my Moment to tether and I've never had to pay extra.

 

[appleblossom]

I was following this threads and I tried to set my samsung moment with PDAnet. Following steps were performed. 1. Download drivers and run exe file, then check if device was added, I cannot find device on my device manager. 2. Download PDAnet utility, run setup, follow instruction, skip upgrading drivers, continue to run rest of the program. Verify in device manager but still not seen. Tried to add manually but no luck. I cannot run pdanet. Pls help. Thanks,