Verizon Mobile Hotspot Plan

[rockymtnhigh]

Was reading the details on the Verizon Motorola Droid X, and saw it supports wi-fi hot spot for up to five mobile devices with a "mobile hotspot" plan.

Did a little digging, and found this:

The rest of the feature set includes Android 2.1 with an updated version of the MotoBLUR user interface, mini HDMI output, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, and future support for Android 2.2 slated for later this summer. Verizon will also support and offer Mobile Hotspot service on the device (for up to five devices) as an add-on starting at an additional $20 a month for 2GB, with an additional 2GB allotment available for the same price on top of the requisite $30 monthly data plan.

Verizon and Motorola Announce DROID X for July 15th, Mobile Hotspot for Additional Charge | PhoneNews.com


Dang, $30 dataplan now jumps to $50 to be able to tether 2GB. Or 4Gb for $40+30=$70 just for data.

Not at all surprised. I will be curious if they will have this for Moto Droid when it jumps to 2.2 next month.

I wonder how long before they find a way to disable the tethering (USB/wifi) available for free on rooted devices.

 

[mdram]

theres always a way

 

[rockymtnhigh]

theres always a way

My thought exactly

 

[mdram]

pdanet?

 

[TheForce]

Verizon has had a good track record of not monopolizing subscription services- eg. mobile video is not restricted to Verizon subscription service only. Yet many forum trolls had people believing it did, or was illegal to watch your own streaming video on a verizon phone. Other services like GPS navigation, ring tones, wired and wireless tethering all services have free and paid competition to Verizon's paid subscription services.

I think it is nice Verizon makes the apps available for those who don't know how to do it on their own or need support all the time, but this service doesn't mean you can't do your own thing.


I use both PDANET and mobilewifirouter on my Verizon phone.

 

[meStevo]

We can thank the iphone for a lot of that, Verizon was well on its way to being super restrictive, then competition dictated otherwise, and the Android OS became a vehicle for them coming clean and opening things up IMO.

They've come a long way.

 

[diogen]

I wonder how long before they find a way to disable the tethering (USB/wifi) available for free on rooted devices.

Network Address Translation (NAT) - essentially, what WiFi hotspot devices do - shouldn't be too hard to catch using DPI (deep packet inspection).
Even entry level Cisco firewalls can do that.

If a carrier misses such activity performed on a rooted phone, it most likely means no DPI analysis is done and that would be understandable considering the load.

Diogen.

 

[mdram]

at one point the only gps you could use was vznav, then they turned on the gps to allow other software.
people talked and vzw listened.
but im glad they dont listen all the time.
does vzw really need the iphone with all the other options it has?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

at one point the only gps you could use was vznav, then they turned on the gps to allow other software.
people talked and vzw listened.
but im glad they dont listen all the time.
does vzw really need the iphone with all the other options it has?

Given their marketing campaigns, I suspect they are doing pretty well in the Android world.

And yes, their very willingness to embrace the google experience forced them to go into different directions than they would normally have. I remember when my Samsung Omnia did not even work with the gps that was built into it.

 

[mdram]

Given their marketing campaigns, I suspect they are doing pretty well in the Android world.

And yes, their very willingness to embrace the google experience forced them to go into different directions than they would normally have. I remember when my Samsung Omnia did not even work with the gps that was built into it.

im still using my omnia, i just love it too much to get rid of it.
and i dont want to pay for a new phone, as this was free.
but then again the contract is almost up, so we will see

 

[diogen]

...I remember when my Samsung Omnia did not even work with the gps that was built into it.

Not unlike what IBM did in the mainframe business some 30+ years ago: the amount of RAM and hard disk storage would be more than you paid for but enabled only after you buy an upgrade.

Or closer to the topic - 802.11n capabilities of the modern phones.
The chip supports it but software is not reliable. At least this is my interpretation.

My Nexus One can connect (but not use) some N-routers' capabilities (Lynksys 610N), not connect at all to others (120/130/400N) and connect and use N on an Apple Time Capsule (!)

No rhyme nor reason...

Diogen.

 

[digiblur]

Network Address Translation (NAT) - essentially, what WiFi hotspot devices do - shouldn't be too hard to catch using DPI (deep packet inspection).
Even entry level Cisco firewalls can do that.

If a carrier misses such activity performed on a rooted phone, it most likely means no DPI analysis is done and that would be understandable considering the load.

Diogen.

It's not Wifi Hotspot but I know on winmo devices you can do a wmodem connection and bypass the NAT thing all together.

No way would I pay for tethering..hot spot, etc. Maybe if it was like $5...maybe... I'll continue to use the wifi hotspot built into my ROM for free.

 

[diogen]

This reminds the early days of broadband.
Having more than one computer go to the internet over the same pipe was a real PITA.
No consumer priced routers, very buggy software...

ISPs shifted to a hands-off approach.
Do whatever you want but if you run a network at home and it doesn't work - it's your fault.
I bet they would love to charge per household PC used...

I think the same will (eventually) happen with phones.
You will have just one data plan (with a cap so you don't torrent on the phone) and use it as you like. Tether or not.
The very fact they miss tethering on rooted phones proves they are amateurs in this game...

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

The very fact they miss tethering on rooted phones proves they are amateurs in this game...

I wouldn't underestimate their engineering capability like that. I think it is pure economics. There aren't enough of people like Digiblur and myself who do tethering to make it worth their while trying to control it. Most people just use the phone itself for e-mail, some surfing the net and using apps like google maps and news wire. Last time I was at the airport, I wandered around and nobody was setting up tethering. Most use the airports Wifi ( Apple Mac people) or just blackberry e-mailing. Nearly all those using Dells were busy working on internal work, spreadsheets and word reports etc. I did see a couple people have the Sprint and verizon dongles plugged in. I think most people who do use laptops and smart phones just consider what we do ( tethering) far too complicated to be worth the effort.
I was using my tethered cell phone to the ipad and one guy sitting next to me thought I was using the newest 3G ipad. He became very confused when I explained what I was doing with tethering.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I wouldn't underestimate their engineering capability like that. I think it is pure economics. There aren't enough of people like Digiblur and myself who do tethering to make it worth their while trying to control it. Most people just use the phone itself for e-mail, some surfing the net and using apps like google maps and news wire. Last time I was at the airport, I wandered around and nobody was setting up tethering. Most use the airports Wifi ( Apple Mac people) or just blackberry e-mailing. Nearly all those using Dells were busy working on internal work, spreadsheets and word reports etc. I did see a couple people have the Sprint and verizon dongles plugged in. I think most people who do use laptops and smart phones just consider what we do ( tethering) far too complicated to be worth the effort.
I was using my tethered cell phone to the ipad and one guy sitting next to me thought I was using the newest 3G ipad. He became very confused when I explained what I was doing with tethering.

Again, I agree. No matter how much traffic there is on the various Droid websites, the folks who are rooted represent such a small part of the overall installed base. Most people have no clue how to boot into recovery, never mind install a custom rom. And that is good, since I'll continue to tether when I need to and not pay for it. (Well, given that my last Verizon bill for the family was $140, I guess I will be paying for it, just not for tethering. ).

 

[diogen]

I wouldn't underestimate their engineering capability like that.

Nothing to do with engineering.
Any modern network, especially national phone carrier, can do that. Why don't they?

The fact they try to sell tethering for good money actually shows they understand the advantages. Why not eliminate workarounds?

Whatever the reason - economics, business, politics, etc. - it proves them being new to this fast paced, breakneck smartphone market game, i.e. amateurish.

Diogen.

 

[meStevo]

If I had to guess, if it's not network impacting they arent doing anything about it to keep enthusiasts from leaving their network. While they're not going to endorse or maybe even acknowledge that it's being done, turning hostile over it could be counter productive.

 

[TheForce]

The way the Verizon explained it to me, customers can either pay Verizon for the service and get Verizon support, or buy their own software and not have Verizon support. Consuming bandwidth, whether it is consumed through their software or consumed through your own, doesn't matter to them. Once you hit the account limit, Verizon will just bill you for the additional consumption, in most cases above 5Gb per month. If you need repair on your phone's setup, and they have to reinstall, they will only reinstall apps you obtained from Verizon that they support. All others you are on your own.
This is the way it should be and the way it is today.

When it comes to control over what you do on your phone, Apple is the most controlling and AT&T right behind them. This is for good reason. They simply have a weak network and fragile phone ( iphone) that can be brought to it's knees when they have to deal with open source or unapproved content. People choose to have that control and that is fine. I want freedom with my phone and want to do things that the iphone can't or the network can't handle, so I don't do iphone. On the ipad I don't care to experiment. All I want from the ipad is what it does or what it will soon do ( multitasking ). Sure, it would be nice to have Flash too but so far, I'm surviving just fine without it on the ipad.

 

[diogen]

...if it's not network impacting they arent doing anything about it to keep enthusiasts from leaving their network.

Most likely.
Pi$$ing off early adopters is business as usual in Apple "ecosystem" but can have negative long term effects for the rational part of the world.
Especially at this volatile point in smartphone history...

Diogen.