mobile hot spot question

[djspy]

With the recent ruling against Verizon concerning the blocking of apps that enable wifi tether I've read some things about the hot spot feature now being free but only to those that have tiered data plans. Is this true? I have an unlimited data plan so when I try to activate it I get the message about needing the $30 Hot spot feature.

[bsweetness]

With the recent ruling against Verizon concerning the blocking of apps that enable wifi tether I've read some things about the hot spot feature now being free but only to those that have tiered data plans. Is this true? I have an unlimited data plan so when I try to activate it I get the message about needing the $30 Hot spot feature.

It is true. If you have unlimited data, you're still supposed to pay for the hotspot feature. If you have a tiered plan, you don't have to pay for the hotspot feature.

[MattyP]

And if your phone is rooted the Hotspot can be free as well ... just sayin

[djspy]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies. My friend bought her first smartphone in February (RAZR thanks to me ) and got double the data (10 gigs for $50). She doesn't have internet at home so she kept going to Starbucks to do work on her computer until i showed her she could use USB Tethering. I just wanted to make sure she could now use The Hot Spot before telling her. Thanks again for the replies!

[tjk629]

USB tethering is perfectly fine. Verizon doesn't seem to block that at all, and hasn't for a long time on LTE devices.

The only reason the family share plans have hotspot for free is because it's included in their plans.

As for hotspoting now, just be careful. You're technically not supposed to it, and it is in violation of the contract. While I haven't heard of verizon doing anything to people who hotspot without paying. It doesn't mean they won't start.