Verizon can't charge for wifi tethering anymore

Bokeh

Let my Wi-Fi go: FCC rules Verizon can't charge for Wi-Fi tethering | ZDNet

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mapletune

Just curious,

Do each tethered device use up a different ip address? or can your smartphone or mifi "route" tethered traffic so that overall you only use one ip?

demonfurbie

i wonder if that applies to my grandfathered in unlimited data plan

paul78

@demonfurbie - funny you said that. that was the first thing that crossed my mind.

@Bokeh - thanks for sharing. I know what I will be doing tomorrow - where I work we pay Verizon a mint in mobile fees.

blargoe

They'll just start charging even more per gigabyte now to offset this

eansdad

Only applies to 4G tethering, watch them cut 4G and only allow tethering over 3G.

Tackle

demonfurbie wrote: »

i wonder if that applies to my grandfathered in unlimited data plan

I am in the same boat, wondering if I can use the built in Verizon tethering now? If you're rooted there is an app called "wifi tether" that works very well and Verizon has never said anything about using it (I'm sure it is/was against TOS).

mapletune wrote: »

Just curious,

Do each tethered device use up a different ip address? or can your smartphone or mifi "route" tethered traffic so that overall you only use one ip?

Each get their own IP. What it does is turn your phone into an Access Point.

ptilsen

@Tackle & Mapletune, I believe tethering will use NAT in many cases. It depends on the device/app/service. Using your phone as an access point will likely result in the use multiple public IPs, but I would imagine most corded tethering uses NAT. Either way, Mapletune, what you are describing is NAT.

It will be interesting to see what Verizon does. High-bandwidth free tethering is definitely attractive.

Roguetadhg

Well those with the grandfathered plans will probably need to be worried. Lucky people.

I'm sure that the "Unlimited" data plans will somehow be 'glitched' and you'll be unable to recover the old plan. I believe that's already happened, I don't see why it can't happen again :P

I can already see plan prices will be increased equally among everyone to offset this loss.

They could also kill tethering altogether.

Tackle

I talked with a Verizon Rep, he said you're able to keep the grandfathered Unlimited plan until a change is made (upgrade phone, add features, any change in services). This was a week before the June 28th switch to Share Everything.

the_Grinch

Yup only way to keep the unlimited plan is to pay full price for the phone when your contract is up.

demonfurbie

or just not upgrade the phone

tpatt100

I am switching to Virgin Mobile eventually and going with the prepaid. I really do not "need" unlimited data and my productivity will probably go up lol.

The cost savings with a prepaid plan is too hard to ignore for me.

demonfurbie

ive thought about that as well , but i live out of the major cities and travel alot so coverage is a major concern for me

if you live in a large city and dont travel much ... prepaid is the way to go

dmoore44

Interesting that this ruling applies to 4G devices only... what about us 3G users? I would love to be able to use my phone as a hotspot...

Edit: nevermind, I should have read the article first. Apparently this is due to the spectrum licensed for the range that LTE operates in, and the licensing agreement stipulates that the carrier will not restrict device usage.