Verizon Cuts Off Data to Unauthorized Tether Users
Verizon Wireless may be following rival AT&T in making it difficult for users who do not subscribe to an official tethering plan, valued at $20 per month for 2 GB of data, to unofficially connect their WiFi-enabled laptop to share their Android smartphone’s mobile broadband connection.
One user noted that his data connection was blocked after he had upgraded to the most recent built of Android–presumably Android 2.3 Gingerbread–on his Droid X and proceeded to install an unofficial tethering app that attempts to bypass Verizon’s tethering plan. That user says that soon after, all webpages that he attempted to connect o redirected him to a page asking him to subscribe to the official $20 per month tethering plan. However, a quick reboot resolved his data connection as usual, but he’ll be re-directed to the upsale landing page again should he try and unofficially repeat his tethering experience.
Carriers have restricted tethering in the past, and unofficial use of tethering without the appropriate mobile broadband data plan is in violation of your terms of service with the carrier. AT&T had begun to block tethering recently as the carrier had recently introduced its own tethering data plan.
