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Sprint's $29 hotspot vs Froyo 2.2 native hotspot

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It will undoubtedly be blocked by Sprint. THere is no way they will allow a free app that allows for mobile hotspot to compete with a paid app they provide for the same functionality.

Will this matter if you root your device and tether anyway without paying the $30 fee? Sprint hasn't been known to be dickish but they could put in detection to identify pc's connecting via the phone and stick you with the $30 charge.

All you need to do is connect with a browser not readily avail on the EVO, like Firefox or Safari on your tethered PC - it's trivial to identify that in an HTTP user-agent header.
 
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All you need to do is connect with a browser not readily avail on the EVO, like Firefox or Safari on your tethered PC - it's trivial to identify that in an HTTP user-agent header.
In order to identify the user-agent string Sprint would have to do deep packet inspection on the data coming out the phone. DPI is where the carrier actually looks at the contents of the data packet and not simply where it's going.

DPI has been a bit of a third rail for ISPs. Everyone that has been proven to be doing it has faced some serious backlash from consumers and regulators. It goes against the concept of net neutrality which the FCC is looking to enforce (we'll see if they actually have the authority to do so).

So, to me, it seems like Sprint would be risking some serious anger, resentment and possible hassles with federal regulators if they start doing DPI. It doesn't seem worth it to try and stop the few people who are going to root their phones and get around the $29 hotspot fee.
 
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It seems that, they will have some sort of way to monitor your useage:(
Be careful about the context here. Note that the original story is from TechCrunch. If you look at the original story you get a much more nuanced explanation about the monitoring.
I asked Hiroshi Lockheimer, who heads up engineering on Android, about the issue and the answer was confusing to say the least. Lockheimer said that Android doesn
 
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I suspect once you root your EVO and download a hotspot app, you will be good to go and bypass the $30/mo charge.

The reason I say this is, because, not many phone buyers actually look into the phone so far as to root it. Most users don't even know what rooting is, so for Sprint to use resources (and money) to find the people who do root to get free hotspot on their phone will more than likely cost Sprint just as much money as it would if those people were paying monthly for it.

.. This is my opinion, and once a few people do successfully root their EVO 4G's and are able to be a mobile hotspot without paying, I will follow right behind them and do the same.
 
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I think I know what Sprint's play here is. They've been very careful to tout that the $30 charge is to remove the cap. I have a hunch that when 2.2 comes along, they'll keep the $30 charge for uncapped usage but allow tethering with a strict 5GB cap.
The $29/month hotspot charge isn't what removes the 5GB cap. The $10 Premium Service charge is what does that.
 
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