How much does this REALLY cost per month, over and above a cell phone?

[Mosca]

The Verizon salesman told me that it is $30/mo. For some reason, I doubt that. Does it mean that if I tethered my phone to my PC, I can ditch my ISP?

What is it, really? Verizon doesn't make it easy to find out.

 

[Fail Tactics]

$30/mo is unlimited data. There is a bandwidth limit of 5GB, to prevent people from ditching their ISPs.

 

[jsh1120]

$30/mo is unlimited data. There is a bandwidth limit of 5GB, to prevent people from ditching their ISPs.

No, there is no five gigabyte limit. There is, however, a prohibition against tethering with your Droid in your service agreement. Whether it is ever enforced is another question.

 

[Mosca]

Thank you. I think I'll be OK, I'm not going to be downloading music or watching streaming video or anything like that. I'm fairly well personally tethered at the hip to laptops and desktops most of the day, I can do the heavy lifting there.

 

[Mosca]

$30/mo is unlimited data. There is a bandwidth limit of 5GB, to prevent people from ditching their ISPs.

No, there is no five gigabyte limit. There is, however, a prohibition against tethering with your Droid in your service agreement. Whether it is ever enforced is another question.

Aha! I will be careful with my usage, then. I intend to only do that when traveling, it is very hard to check forums from the little screen.

 

[Fail Tactics]

Wrong. Holding a grudge still eh?

Verizon Wireless: When we say “unlimited data,” we mean 5GB worth of “unlimited data”

Verizon Droid Tethering Will Cost You - PCWorld Business Center

Unlimited Data Plan (Verizon) - Android Central Forums

 

[jsh1120]

$30/mo is unlimited data. There is a bandwidth limit of 5GB, to prevent people from ditching their ISPs.

No, there is no five gigabyte limit. There is, however, a prohibition against tethering with your Droid in your service agreement. Whether it is ever enforced is another question.

Aha! I will be careful with my usage, then. I intend to only do that when traveling, it is very hard to check forums from the little screen.

In that case you should be fine. My laptop provides wifi so I seldom have need to tether it to access 3G. In some cases, however, a hotel's "free wifi" is worth exactly what you're paying for it. And in those cases being able to access the internet via 3G is very convenient.

 

[jsh1120]

Wrong. Holding a grudge still eh?

Verizon Wireless: When we say “unlimited data,” we mean 5GB worth of “unlimited data”

Verizon Droid Tethering Will Cost You - PCWorld Business Center

Unlimited Data Plan (Verizon) - Android Central Forums

Sorry, but this topic has been beaten to death on literally dozens of threads. The fact is that VZW's broadband access plan (for pc's) has a five gigabyte limit. There is no limit on the Droid. However, if VZW determines that you are using your Droid to provide access to another device (tethering) they can unilaterally charge you for a monthly broadband plan (a $30 premium) or terminate your service.

Many users here have reported exceeding 5 gigs per month on a regular basis without being charged. In some cases, they claim to exceed five gigs without tethering; in other cases while tethering.

 

[pyro6128]

Wrong. Holding a grudge still eh?

Verizon Wireless: When we say “unlimited data,” we mean 5GB worth of “unlimited data”

Verizon Droid Tethering Will Cost You - PCWorld Business Center

Unlimited Data Plan (Verizon) - Android Central Forums

Sorry, but this topic has been beaten to death on literally dozens of threads. The fact is that VZW's broadband access plan (for pc's) has a five gigabyte limit. There is no limit on the Droid. However, if VZW determines that you are using your Droid to provide access to another device (tethering) they can unilaterally charge you for a monthly broadband plan (a $30 premium) or terminate your service.

Many users here have reported exceeding 5 gigs per month on a regular basis without being charged. In some cases, they claim to exceed five gigs without tethering; in other cases while tethering.

Correct, as long as youre just using your phone the way inteded, then you'll be fine. If you decide to tether and go over 5g and somehow verizon figures out that youre tethering, then you'll be charged. Which is how it should be to be honest. Yea we pay for unlimited plans, but I don't want some clown slowing down my connection because he decides hes going to be cheap and try to pull a fast one by not paying for internet service at home and just tethers all the time. Using it for basic needs is fine, but when you're destroying the bandwidth for everyone else, you should be charged.

 

[TimChgo9]

My Verizon rep explained it to my son and I this way:

Unlimited means exactly that, unilimited so long as it is used in the manner that it is supposed to be used. In other words, I can surf the net, play online games, and read email and what not on my Droid as much as I want, so long as that is all I am doing. The 5GB cap pertains to "tethering". If you were to use your Droid in such a manner that you were "broadcasting", sending spam emails, streaming video, or audio in a constant manner then, you might be in violation of the "unlimited" part of your contract, because using your phone in that manner is outside the scope of the contract.

Now, I don't know of anyone that has been nailed for the bandwidth they use when tethering, but, that's not to say it won't happen at one point or another.

 

[Mosca]

Got it! This is actually very fair, IMO, and I will not be dropping my ISP, nor tethering my Droid for extended periods. I was more worried about keeping an eye on how much I used my device; I don't want to be shocked by a phone bill that already is carrying 5 lines. Now that I know that streaming audio and video is not a big deal, I can have fun.

We were at Caesar's AC a couple weeks ago; $20 for 24 hours of super slow access, on the order of shotgunned 56k modems. And at WDW, it is $15/day. Ugh. But using the Droid for access, I can edit and resize my photos to a nice 250k or so on my computer, and email them around. I suppose I could even transfer them to the phone and sent them untethered, thereby not violating any agreements... I suppose. Just sayin'.

 

[Womp]

Don't worry, everything you do on your Droid via your Droid's 3G connection within the Droid itself is covered unlimited - Want to run Pandora for Android 24/7? No problem. You don't need to be OCD about how much data it is chewing. It's a beaten to hell subject, eat drink and be merry. $30 UNLIMITED.

As a matter of fact I use as much data on it as I can everyday to get my monies worth and quite honestly my laptop has been very lonely since getting my Droid.

 

[takeshi]

The Verizon salesman told me that it is $30/mo. For some reason, I doubt that. Does it mean that if I tethered my phone to my PC, I can ditch my ISP?

What is it, really? Verizon doesn't make it easy to find out.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. Just act as if you're buying/upgrading and go though the motions. The site walks you through it all. If the data plan is all you want then that's all you have to pay additionally.

That obviously doesn't include any optional services such as insurance, extended warranty, text messaging packages, ringback tones, etc etc.

 

[rda990]

Verizon TOS

DATA PLANS AND FEATURES

Data Plans and Features (such as NationalAccess, BroadbandAccess, GlobalAccess, Push to Talk, and certain VZEmail services) may ONLY be used with wireless devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, email, and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force, and field service automation). The Data Plans and Features MAY NOT be used for any other purpose. Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (ii) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (iii) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses, continuously for one hour, could typically use 100 to 200 MBs, or, if engaged in prohibited uses for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, could use more than 5 GBs in a month.

For individual use only and not for resale. We reserve the right to protect our network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We reserve the right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, and to deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using an Data Plan or Feature in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Anyone using more than 5 GB per line in a given month is presumed to be using the service in a manner prohibited above, and we reserve the right to immediately terminate the service of any such person without notice. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.

WTF so I can't watch endless amounts of videos on youtube on the droid??

What the f...so if im really using 5 GB by only browsing on my droid and not violating TOS i can get my service cut without notice?

 

[pyro6128]

i must say that is a little concerning. I never get close to 5g, but thats all a bit shifty. I welcome verizon attempting to terminate my service on those grounds. I would raise such hell. I love verizon's service, and my droid, but advertising "unlimited" and having your store employees advertise the feature as "unlimited" while at the same time altering signed contracts without much notice to the customers is just begging to get sued. In no manipulation of the english language does "unlimited" really mean the exact opposite. Verizon got bagged by the FCC for their outrageous early termination fees. People won't stand for unethical treatment.