He isn’t asking for free, he is asking to use the bandwidth he is paying for already.

I was seriously considering on moving to Verizon because of tethering/wifi support on their upcoming devices but last month decided to purchase a Nexus One and stick with T-Mobile. Even though I paid full-price for the N1, I should break even in a year.

Verizon should just tier payment based on bandwidth usage, not try to double or triple dip into the consumer's pockets.

John,

My reasons are similar to Don’s. There are two reasons PDAnet is out for me. I run Ubuntu on my primary machines, so PDAnet won’t work. I tried it in Wine, bu no luck. I ran Proxoid with some success in Firefox, but had issues using other services. I have a secondary netbook that a friend is loaning me just so I can play around with Chromium OS…PDAnet is a no go on that.

I’m really excited about Chromium OS for blazing fast, battery-conserving, light-weight office work, but you can’t rely on it without ubiquitous internet…tethering opens up that door (or would have in this case).

Chris,

Really? I was on Ubuntu when I got to that page. Maybe I’ll try another program (instead of just Firefox)…

update: I tried accessing the Ubuntu software center, FTP, Mozilla Thunderbird…all of them fail to connect

The truest form of Android is on the Nexus One and when it got Froyo it came with free tethering, but I guess the other carriers are better than T-mobile because they have speeds faster than 5mbps. No free tethering, slow speeds, and way higher bills no thank you. I guess the saying actions speak louder than words is true, you don’t see T-mo having stupid commercials saying its Americas fastest 3G network but it is.

Hardly crying about nothing. Apple/AT&T delayed tethering for what, an entire fucking year on the Iphone? VZ was even disabling WI-FI on many phones until a few years ago because it would cut into their primitive data income. Not like this isn’t part of a large, ugly trend.

In the same way people thought paying $24 for a CD was stupid once the first CD-R came out, you can’t sell gimped products that people know could be better and not expect people to take you to the cleaners.

Still, use the only voice you have that matters: vote with the $.

This is like an ISP providing you with a wireless router to let you use your laptop at your desk, but charging extra so you can take your laptop into your bedroom.

The functionality is built-in (by a third party company plus open source community that VZN didn’t have to pay for it to be developed), and it makes no difference to their infrastructure whether the bandwidth on their data network comes directly from the phone or from a PC connected through it. The only possible way this could cost them money is if the handset costs more to beef up the battery to support Wifi and the wireless radio at the same time, but even that doesn’t justify a $480 pricetag over the lifetime of a two-year contract.

This is “pay for functionality” business thinking that doesn’t take into consideration the cost of providing the service (zero), and is only possible because of the state of the market that prevents new competitors from taking hold on a nationwide scale. Yet another reason why Verizon will never get a dime of my money for any service they offer (DSL, FiOS, wireless, etc.).

I believe the Tiered data plan will be a bad idea in the long run. I can tell you as an Incredible owner, that I use over 4 gb a month just from my cell phone alone. I travel a lot and enjoy pandora. I also use google’s gps and once in a while latitude. Google Listen is also nice for listening to podcasts I have missed. Granted tethering is a nice bonus when it is needed.

I read somewhere that users on Verizon is using more data then users on AT&T. I can only guess it has to do with Android phones. In the long run Tiered data will be a costly thing on the end user. I can only hope that if verizon does do it, they will make it with a 6-10 gb limit but I am still hoping for no tiered data.

Interesting thoughts, all. Just been researching this whole mess and I thought I might add what I’ve found, and maybe even my two cents.

Verizon: The reason they are limiting the tethering plans (2 or 5 GB cap) is because they are afraid of people streaming higher quality video to their computers; nobody is streaming 1080p HD video to watch on their phone. As a business user, I can even appreciate the concern (founded or not) and I’m willing to pay more for reliable bandwidth. That said, I believe the doctrine of first-sale can be logical extended to say that Verizon has no say over what I do with the data once I’ve paid for it; it should make no difference to them if I am viewing my HTML or e-mail on a 4.3 inch or a 15 inch screen.

Verizon should set “reasonable” limits and then allow people who need more data to pay for it on an adHoc basis and at a reasonable rate. (I believe their data-overage rate works out to around $100 per Gigabyte; and if that is correct, they are no better than loan-sharks.)

AT&T: I think their tiered data and +2GB pricing is reasonable. It is a fair compromise between letting people have what they need and keeping the cost of low for those who don’t need as much. As far as the tethering surcharge is concerned, see may comments above relating to the first-sale doctrine. AT&T insistence that, even for their existing customers, an additional plan is required for the iPad is highway banditry and absolutely absurd. This boils down to “because they can” (which is never the right reason in my book).

T-Mobile: I will admit bias here. I started tethering data in 2005, using my first Windows Mobile phone. When I asked them about it then, their answer was …we don’t think it will work, but it fine with us if you can figure it out. It did; they were happy; I was happy; and I’m still using T-Mobile today, just now with a Nexus One. Incidentally, if TMO does switch to a tiered-dat structure, I’ll be happy to pay more for the unlimited-data tier, provided they keep the cost reasonable (it’s a business expense for me); however I am proud to be paying to use the services of the only one of the big three cell companies whose business pricing is based on providing service as opposed to charging as much as they can get away with.

Last point, I have to applaud TMO for letting me buy the Nexus One outright and not charging me the new-phone-subsidy rate on my monthly bill (which amounts $20 per month per line). This is putting the customer first!

Hope that helps