21–30 of 73 posts
Why do carriers care if I'm accessing my paid-for data via the phone's interface or a tethered computer? It makes no sense to me.
Because they havent got nearly as much capacity as they sell.
Can someone explain why the carriers even care? Bandwidth is bandwidth; isn't it?
Tethering is built into Android from Version 2.3 (or even 2.3), no marketplace apps needed. Anyway, I don't understand what Google is supposed to do if carriers choose to disable it. Maybe customers should be looking into other carriers if they don't like the way their carriers conduct business.
Tethering is built into Android from Version 2.3 (or even 2.3), no marketplace apps needed. Anyway, I don't understand what Google is supposed to do if carriers choose to disable it. Maybe customers should be looking into other carriers if they don't like the way their carriers conduct business.
And Google does have some leverage, if they choose to use it, in the Market compatibility requirements --- there are minimum requirements for both hardware and software if you want to get the Market, or Google's other proprietary apps. (Which, say, the Nook Color flunks --- no camera.) It might be a bridge too far for some of the carriers, but from the outside, it's not obvious that they're trying.
(And looking for other carriers is not a hugely practical option in an environment where there are basically four, and the one with the most generally consumer-friendly policies, T-mobile, is up for buyout by the one with the least, AT&T, which is the only one to ban sideloading altogether.)
Why do carriers care if I'm accessing my paid-for data via the phone's interface or a tethered computer? It makes no sense to me.
The carriers have put themselves into a corner where they have to make someone unhappy. All customers are paying the same $30/mo. Given the choice what would you rather do, make 10 of them unhappy or 1000 of them? Subscriber volume is your lifeblood, it's a numbers game.
The Galaxy S goes beyond tethering and has a Mobile AP feature which just turns the phone into a wifi access point that runs NAT in front of the 3g modem. People I know who still have 'unlimited' data plans have used this for weeks to provide internet to their whole household in the absence of working cable. I assume this feature is removed in the US carrier-modified firmware builds?
My Desire HD does that as well, as do most (all?) other Android mobiles I've seen in Greece. However, we don't have unlimited data plans, we only have ones that cost 0.10 cents (yes, cents, apparently) per megabyte for overage.
Why do carriers care if I'm accessing my paid-for data via the phone's interface or a tethered computer? It makes no sense to me.
On my N1 the easy solution to the block was just to power down the phone, pull the SIM, then access the market over wifi. All those carrier blocked apps suddenly reappeared. I don't know if carrier locked phones still "remember" their carrier when you pull the SIM, though, and in any case I guess you're stuck with sideloading on those non-LTE Verizon devices where there's no SIM to remove.
Tethering is built into Android from Version 2.3 (or even 2.3), no marketplace apps needed. Anyway, I don't understand what Google is supposed to do if carriers choose to disable it. Maybe customers should be looking into other carriers if they don't like the way their carriers conduct business.