Tethering Usage Tracker

[csanberg]

Ok, I'm new here...just got my Droid last week and I love it.

I've been reading a lot about tethering the Droid, particularly using PDAnet.

I also see there is a lot of debate as to the legality of doing this, as well as the risk of over-using your data allotment.

Please, do not post your opinions here in regards to the "tether, not to tether" debate. Please do not post any technical questions about how to tether or how to troubleshoot tethering situations.

I am intrigued by this whole situation, especially Verizon's response to someone who is tethering and exceeds their 5Gb limit. I am also interested to see how someone reaches their 5Gb.

So the purpose of this thread is for those who tether to let the rest of us know:

1) How often you tether.

2) The duration of each tethered session.

3) What you do while tethered (what types of sites you visit [nothing too specific:blink:], how much you stream, how much you download, etc.).

4) How much of their data they have used during each billing period (assuming you have a way to keep track of it).


I am not condoning tethering outside of Verizon. I just find the whole situation interesting. If anyone has exceeded or gotten close to their data limit I would love to hear whether or not Verizon took any action.

 

[LtKen]

1) How often you tether.

2) The duration of each tethered session.

3) What you do while tethered (what types of sites you visit [nothing too specific:blink:], how much you stream, how much you download, etc.).

4) How much of their data they have used during each billing period (assuming you have a way to keep track of it).

1) Once or twice a week, depending on where I'm working

2) 2 or 3 hours per session

3) Pull down PDFs and docs, Google Searches, E-mails.

4) Maybe 50 to 100Mb per session, depending.

And to clarify, there's no 5Gb limit for data on the phone. VZW's paid tethering program has a 5Gb limit, but the phone itself has no such limit. If you could somehow download 1Tb browsing and watching YouTube videos, then that's well within the terms of the contract.

 

[slayda]

I only use it when I'm away from my home computer and have remembered to take my laptop - i.e. rarely & usually for checking email and light surfing.

 

[jakenovak]

1) How often you tether.

2) The duration of each tethered session.

3) What you do while tethered (what types of sites you visit [nothing too specific:blink:], how much you stream, how much you download, etc.).

4) How much of their data they have used during each billing period (assuming you have a way to keep track of it).

1) Once a month, if that.
2) Less than an hour.
3) Anything from light browsing to watching an episode on hulu...
4) I've never breached 3GB in a month so far.

 

[thebowers]

1) All the time.

2) Sometimes up to 6 hours.

3) Browse, help on the forums, download ROMS, upload files.

4) Past couple of monthes only around 3g, but I think I am already around 5g for the month. This is totally data used not all through tethering.

 

[R1Lover]

I never even get to my 5gb limit on my mifi card and I use it 4 days a week for 3-4 hours a day.

I just checked my droid and my usage last month was 1gb.

 

[Guurzak]

And to clarify, there's no 5Gb limit for data on the phone. VZW's paid tethering program has a 5Gb limit, but the phone itself has no such limit. If you could somehow download 1Tb browsing and watching YouTube videos, then that's well within the terms of the contract

...except that any tethering technically violates the terms of the contract unless using Verizon's paid tethering.

 

[LtKen]

...except that any tethering technically violates the terms of the contract unless using Verizon's paid tethering.

Of course, but the OP specifically stated they wanted to avoid the discussion of ToS violation (they used the term 'legality').