How risky is tethering?

[altjx]

Earlier, our lights went out, and I wanted to use this tethering app I have. It works and I've already tested it. My question is what are the chances of getting in trouble for tethering? The only times I need tethering, I usually dont need over 5MB of bandwidth.

 

[pc747]

If you constantly using it like a router then you will have issues. If you tether every now and then I doubt they will notice.

 

[jacobrv]

This is not evidence, just my personal experience. I tether lightly, usually between a few mb's to maybe a few hundred mb's per month and have not received any notices or been charged extra. As long as you only use when necessary, and don't do any torrenting or anything like that, you will probably be fine. Seeing as I have a 16mb connection through my cable, the roughly .75-1.5mb I get with tethering feels like it's crawling, so yeah, I only use when I have no other choice.

 

[choklitcow]

Shouldn't be risky at all then. This is purely based on observation throughout other forums when asked this question. The only times that I have specifically seen anyone get red flagged were when their usage spiked significantly (We're talking 1000% increases, etc not just your typical couple gig difference).

Without this spike, you are generally fine. With the millions of customers they serve, it would be a waste of man hours to check every individual person. Also, I personally have never heard of them doing any form of random checks.

 

[altjx]

Sounds good, thanks all =)

 

[keaton7095]

If I could shed some light. Tethering using the app on android does not even notify them you are tethering. You have unlimited data on your droid and that is that so there is no way for them to tell what data is tethered versus just used.

 

[adrynalyne]

If I could shed some light. Tethering using the app on android does not even notify them you are tethering. You have unlimited data on your droid and that is that so there is no way for them to tell what data is tethered versus just used.

Yeah, right. And desktop browsers use the same amount of data as their mobile counterparts.

Listen to the above posts and be careful. Throwing caution to the wind is just asking for a big bill at the end of the month.

 

[RW-1]

Pssst!

Hey, lean closer to the screen everyone and I'll share the secret to tethering:

Common Sense!

If you have to ask after the above, tethering is not for you.

 

[LouD]

Here's something I'm curious about: When I'm connected to my Verizon wi-fi network with the droid, how much of my bandwidth is going thru Wi-fi, and how much, if any, through the phone network? I'd say 80 percent of my usage is at wi-fi networks at home or at work. If the Droid is working mostly thru wi-fi, it may well be using less network overhead than more traditional smart phones. That might explain why they're tolerating reasonable use of tethering.

It would be a smart move for Verizon, at some point, to "bundle" official droid tethering with their dsl and FIOS offerings.

 

[sockmess]

I tether as my only access to the net. I easily use around 3-8 gigs a month. I stay away from torrents of course but youtube and hulu are killers. I usually try to keep d/l below 50mb, and no online gaming with it, just too slow.