Wireless Tethering

So today I watched the latest BBC Click episode on wireless tethering and also read the worded version of this story/article.

See the article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m9ry




Some say it's "stealing" from carriers as it costs extra and tethering wasn't supposed to be included in the data plan.

I'm an Android user personally, my phone comes with "Mobile AP" which is a mobile access point, that allows me to tether other devices over wifi to my phone and uses my phones 3g network as the hotspot. I however don't use this and went with rooting to allow me to use Wireless Tether app from the Android store.

The two biggest networks in the US have clamped down on what they say is "illegal" tethering.
Instead of allowing users to install unofficial apps to workaround any barriers, operators are now re-directing them to a page indicating the cost of upgrading to a tethering plan.

AT&T says its aim is "fairness for all of our customers" by making all users pay the additional fee. But even analysts are divided as to whether it can legally justify charging more.

"The simple truth is that those who go the unofficial tethering route are stealing service from the carrier, with the exception of those lucky customers whose plans allow tethering as part of the basic service,"

Good thing I'm UK based on Vodafone network who have allowed it this year in the more updated smartphones, and I agree with Martin Hocking on this when he said it's our data and we should be able to use it as we want to - we should. But what gets me here is how tethering is illegal? if whoever wants to suggest that I'm stealing, then go ahead, I don't care, I'll admit I'm stealing then, screw what you think.

For those other carriers who think it's right to charge more for tethering, honestly your wrong. We pay for data, it's ours to use as we see fit, I pay for my 500mb of data on my phone and it's no one elses business but my own what I use it for, tethering included.

Some carriers want to ban tethering by detecting large spikes in data usage. Sorry, but from my stand point, doing this will only result in law suits. You as a carrier gave us 500mb/1gb of data and we'll do what we want with it, when we want to.