[zone97]

Found this article on Gizmodo this morning. "Do not Talk About Tethering" Which was triggered by the predevwiki

Personally, I think Palm and Sprint are both Foolish to believe that when not if tethering is discovered that it wont spread on the internet like wild fire. Sprint needs to understand that tethering is not optional in this day and age. Why on gods green earth would we WANT to pay for a separate internet data device when the phone on our hip or pocket will do the exact same thing for FREE... And it should be free.

[Jackalo]

It should not be free, because when tethered to a real computer, you're not just using a phone sized amount of data, you're using a computer sized amount of data. Sure, I can use up a lot of bandwidth on a phone, but I can use up MUCH MORE bandwidth on a computer.

I don't understand why people keep expecting to get more and more for free. Just pay for a data card, or whenever Sprint deems it, pay for a Phone-as-a-modem plan.

[quahtrader]

And it should be free.

Exactly how do you come to this conclusion that tethering should be free?

[dkotoric]

nope I disagree it should be free, it should be a feature of my phone, that's why I'm forced to have a unlimited everthing plan with the pre.

[zone97]

So why have a smart phone, just use the data plan on your laptop to surf, email, twitter ect. ect... The tethering is for times when you are out, and your "phone" reaches a limit that only your laptop can handle say an attachment, or application that needs internet.

I don't agree that people should use it as their only internet just because they don't like the small screen browser or tiny keyboard. That would be abuse of the service. With that in mind the usage would be minimal. So yes THAT should be free. Hell, put a cap on it. Just not a FEE.

[Jackalo]

You're forced to have unlimited data because the phone on it's own uses up quite a bit, and people would have been upset with Sprint over their bill if it was a few hundred dollars more because they didn't have unlimited data and were paying per kilobyte.

Your unlimited data plan is for the phone itself, not for whatever else you want to hook up to it. If you want more data options, pay for them.

[quahtrader]

I don't agree that people should use it as their only internet just because they don't like the small screen browser or tiny keyboard. That would be abuse of the service. With that in mind the usage would be minimal. So yes THAT should be free. Hell, put a cap on it. Just not a FEE.

Ok, so what would that cap be? How would you define "abuse of the service"?

[Jackalo]

I don't agree that people should use it as their only internet just because they don't like the small screen browser or tiny keyboard. That would be abuse of the service. With that in mind the usage would be minimal. So yes THAT should be free. Hell, put a cap on it. Just not a FEE.

While I may agree with your idea (just capping the tethering), it's still a different product entirely from the phone itself. Sprint is in a horrible financial situation right now. They've already got the lowest price plans around. You can't keep expecting them to throw in freebies, because if they go out of business, we're all stuck with higher prices and less competition.

[zone97]

Exactly how do you come to this conclusion that tethering should be free?

Lets do the math..

Average phone line cost (land line) 24$ = $288 for a year
Average Broadband cost $60 = $720 for a year
Total = $1008

Cell phone service with unlimited data $99 = $1188
Data card service $60 = $720 for a year

On the cell phone data plan subtract $720 for the phone portion. $900 for ?data?

So you are paying $180 EXTRA, to walk around with your phone and modem in your pocket. but are being limited to how you use it..... You pay more for the yearly data usage than you do for your always on broadband connection that you use 90% more than the data on your phone.

Yes, I know this really is not apples to apples. But more like apples to pears. But the principal is the same. We are already paying for a service that should not cost extra....

[zone97]

Ok, so what would that cap be? How would you define "abuse of the service"?

Sprint has always had the means to monitor what you do, just add the ability to say, using as tethering you get X amount of data per month, after that it stops working.. AND make the data role over. so if you go a month with out using it next month you have more time.

Abuse of service would be downloading your limit of X data per month with HUGE files like MP3 Movies ect. and nothing else, things you really should do from home. But.... If you only get say 1 or 2 in a month its no big deal.

[quahtrader]

Yes, I know this really is not apples to apples. But more like apples to pears. But the principal is the same. We are already paying for a service that should not cost extra....

More like apples to cosmic dust. Your comparison makes no sense whatsoever.

Again, you keep saying "should not cost extra". It's not up to you to decide if a company should or should not charge for anything that it provides. How does that make any sense?

"Hey, Ferrari - give me a car at the same cost as my Toyota! I say it should not cost more because they both drive me to the 7-11!"

[quahtrader]

Sprint has always had the means to monitor what you do, just add the ability to say, using as tethering you get X amount of data per month, after that it stops working.. AND make the data role over. so if you go a month with out using it next month you have more time.

Abuse of service would be downloading your limit of X data per month with HUGE files like MP3 Movies ect. and nothing else, things you really should do from home. But.... If you only get say 1 or 2 in a month its no big deal.

I'm absolutely certain that if Sprint were to pick a "X", that "X" would be less than what you think is should be.

[xenophonite]

A friend of mine uses his Treo to tether to his laptop as his fulltime connection to the Net. He doesn't do much though and only uses 500M-1GB a month. I stream on my phone and am a power user but rarely tethered my (old) phone and use 1-2GB a month, maybe more if streaming video on phone.

There needs to be some kind of casual tethering plan for getting connected when no WiFi available. A cheaper by the MB plan would be good, like $1 for 15MB - that's $10 for 150MB for casual use when not WiFi available. I'd do it.

[ImNoPrince]

Well I need tethering and I need it via Bluetooth So all you Developers get to work on this.

I also think if I pay for Unlimited data and I use my Phone as a bridge for that Data then it should be included.

Sprint is in no more trouble then any other carrier and stuff like this makes people want to just switch and go to the other carriers. To just do away with it and not even offer it as at a price is just bad business.

Data card won't work for me as I have one UBS port on my UMPC and that's for my WebCam for Live Streaming.And why should I pay for Mobile Data when I'm already paying for it lol

[palandri]

Sprint offers SprintTV for $10 a month, SprintTeleNav for $10 a month and people pay it. They should offer tethering for $10 a month and just cap it at so many GB's per month. It's another source of revenue they should be looking at.

[zone97]

We really have gotten off point to the logistics of the issue. Why does sprint want to "BLOCK" tethering on the PRE? When its other handsets offer it. I currently have a Palm PRO and it has SEVERAL ways legitimate and not so much. But there is no stink about that unit?

Basically tethering will happen, and unless sprint has some method of detection or blocking (other than threats of law suites) they won't be able to stop it. If for some unforeseen reason that manage to block it. They will have just lost A LOT of sales. I for one look for certain features of a phone one of which is the ability to "share" it internet with pc WITHOUT a pam. call it wrong or what, but that's just the way it is, and I am not the only one.

[VKitty]

I don't understand why people keep expecting to get more and more for free. Just pay for a data card, or whenever Sprint deems it, pay for a Phone-as-a-modem plan.

But they will pay for a 1st gen, brand new OS phone, and be happy with all the bugs & problems with said phone.

If you want 1st gen, brand new OS phone, then PAY for the privilege of having it, or take it back.

[drmegabyte]

Found this article on Gizmodo this morning

The First Rule of Tethering Club: Do not Talk About Tethering!

[zone97]

More like apples to cosmic dust. Your comparison makes no sense whatsoever.

Again, you keep saying "should not cost extra". It's not up to you to decide if a company should or should not charge for anything that it provides. How does that make any sense?

"Hey, Ferrari - give me a car at the same cost as my Toyota! I say it should not cost more because they both drive me to the 7-11!"

Ok what is better your Toyota or a Ferrari (quality and power?) Whats better your home broadband or what you get on your phone? hummmmm

[hparsons]

nope I disagree it should be free, it should be a feature of my phone, that's why I'm forced to have a unlimited everthing plan with the pre.

Do you folks not understand that absolutely nothing is "free" from a business? The cost of your "everything plan" is based on an estimate of how much you (and others) will use their phone device on Sprints data network. If/when people start using computers too, which will use more bandwidth, the price would have to go up.